Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Microsoft Acquires Skype

Microsoft is paying over US$8 billion for Skype. First question: are they nuts? Yes, they are most definitely nuts paying that much for a company that is basically on life support. Their reasons for acquiring Skype are a mystery.

But the more important question is: how long before they kill the the Linux client? Of course, Microsoft is promising to continue supporting Skype on non-Windows platforms, but I'm not convinced. Linux being a competing OS has nothing to with it. The Skype Linux team will likely fall with the employee cuts that are SOP when you acquire another company.

I will be looking more seriously at other options. Perhaps this will be the wake up call that provides the impetus to develop a good free VOIP client. I can only hope.

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