Microsoft’s Skype Purchase: What will happen?
Microsoft isn’t sharing any new information about its plans for Skype or a timetable for when Skype will be integrated with products and services. Microsoft officials said previously that Skype will be integrated into everything from Xbox Live and Windows Phone, MS Mail, to Office and its Lync unified communications offering.
Microsoft is pledging to continue to make Skype available for non-Microsoft products, including iPads, iPhones, Android phones, Mac OS X and more. It looks like Skype just removed Google toolbar distribution from the latest version of Skype for Windows, however.
Facebook, Skype, and Microsoft have joined forces in a deal that some experts think could kill telephones. The “Triple Alliance” was formed when Microsoft acquired the British-based VOIP operator Skype in May.
Now that the U.S. Justice Department has decided that Microsoft’s ownership of Skype does not violate antitrust laws, Facebook honcho Mark Zuckerberg has announced that his page will offer Skype video calling. That means that you will now be able to see all the people who call you live on your computer screen.
Also, it will be interesting to see how Google will react to this. Google has already announced plans for a new social network called Google+. Redesigns for such Google staples as Gmail are also in the works.
The Microsoft/Facebook alliance could be the biggest news of the year because it could lead to a game changer as big as Google Chrome OS. That is, if Microsoft’s Facebook/Skype actually works. If it does not, Microsoft could lose a lot of market share to Google.
Google will now have to create some sort of VOIP/video service of its own just to keep media attention. There’s a good possibility Google has not done this, because it does not have a working video calling feature available. There are some big technical issues with video calling, including bandwidth and server space.
