Microsoft to buy Skype?

Apparently yes.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...#ixzz1LukLsDR6

Me wrote:

> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...#ixzz1LukLsDR6

Anyone sell bargepole extensions?

On 10/05/2011 09:29, Me wrote:
> Apparently yes.
>
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...#ixzz1LukLsDR6

Netmeeting MK II

--
Adrian C

eBay's purchase price was jaw-dropping enough, but ***? Beats giving money
back to shareholders, I suppose!

Perhaps they're going to use this as a lever to favour their own mobile
platform, but I would have thought as soon as they try and play a trick like
that, it'll have more of an effect on Skype's userbase than WinMoPho's.

Or perhaps Skype will be the next MySpace.

--
<http://ale.cx/> (AIM:troffasky) (UnSoEsNpEaTm@ale.cx)
22:34:31 up 4 days, 2:33, 6 users, load average: 0.08, 0.12, 0.20
"People believe any quote they read on the internet
if it fits their preconceived notions." - Martin Luther King

alexd <troffasky@hotmail.com> wrote:
> eBay's purchase price was jaw-dropping enough, but ***? Beats giving money
> back to shareholders, I suppose!

There's some interesting analysis here:
http://www.theregister.co.uk/2011/05...t_buys_skype1/

I can see that making a 'business' version of Skype with decent QoS and
integrated into Office might be a potentially attractive proposition (to
people who already run Office).

> Perhaps they're going to use this as a lever to favour their own mobile
> platform, but I would have thought as soon as they try and play a trick
> like that, it'll have more of an effect on Skype's userbase than
> WinMoPho's.

They claim not, but we've been here before (anyone still running IE for
Mac?).

> Or perhaps Skype will be the next MySpace.

Does feel a bit that way... I thought eBay overpaid, but this price seems
even more crazy. Some VCs seem to have turned a $2.75bn company into an
$8.5bn company in 2 years. Nice work if you can get it. Looks like there's
a tech bubble on the horizon... companies selling at 32x earnings:
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/2e142854-7...#axzz1LtCJH6ph

But Microsoft is probably a more useful owner than eBay.

Theo

On Tue, 10 May 2011 11:03:51 +0100, Andy Burns wrote:

> Me wrote:
>
>> http://online.wsj.com/article/
SB10001424052748703730804576313932659388852.html#i xzz1LukLsDR6
>
> Anyone sell bargepole extensions?
Yes, I can see trouble ahead.

"Andy Burns" <usenet.aug2009@adslpipe.co.uk> wrote in message
news:38qdnVWQ2vwakFTQnZ2dnUVZ8jmdnZ2d@brightview.c o.uk...
> Me wrote:
>
>> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...#ixzz1LukLsDR6
>
> Anyone sell bargepole extensions?
>
>

For MS or Skype?

I avoid Skype more than MicroSoft as the former is rigidly proprietary and
use SIP extensively.

R. Mark Clayton wrote:

> "Andy Burns" <usenet.aug2009@adslpipe.co.uk> wrote:
>
>> Anyone sell bargepole extensions?
>
> For MS or Skype?

For skype. Same as you I won't touch a proprietary VoIP protocol, let
alone a proprietary encrypted p2p protocol that jumps firewalls and
steals bandwidth ...

Me wrote:

> Apparently yes.

Looks like they've put a two year death sentence on Digium's
Skype<->Asterisk gateway.

http://now.eloqua.com/es.asp?s=491&e=162556