Microsoft Close to $7 Billion Deal to Buy Skype, WSJ Reports

[Newsjock]

Source: Bloomberg News

Microsoft Corp. is close to an agreement to buy Skype Technologies SA for more than $7 billion, the Wall Street Journal reported, citing unidentified people familiar with the matter.

An accord may be announced as early as today though the deal may still fall apart, the Journal reported. The report said that representatives for Microsoft and Skype declined to comment.

The purchase amount would make Skype among Microsoft’s largest acquisitions in its 36-year history, the Journal reported. Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer sees the Internet as an essential battleground for Microsoft, which still makes the majority of its profits from Windows and Office software systems, the report said.

Read more: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-05-10/microsoft-close-to-7-billion-deal-to-buy-skype-wsj-reports.html

[Amerigo Vespucci]

1. Wonder how long it will take them to screw it up...only runs on Windows 8, etc. etc. etc.

I guess it's a big "huzzah" for the developers getting the $7 billion payday, but for Skype users? We shall see.

[marasinghe]

9. yea; there goes another dream down the tubes.

these rich assholes are so fucking greedy & envious, they can't leave anything decent, anything that's working well, anything that's helping the ordinary street crowd, anything that doesn't affect them in the least - well enough alone. they aren't satisfied until they've bought it, stolen it, or, destroyed it and reduced it to ashes & dust. fucking scum of the universe.

[primavera]

18. They don't like to have to compete...

... with anyone who can do something better and thus make them look bad. Yet another example of just how flawed the assumption is that the free market stimulates competition and thus provides consumers with more and better choices.

[Xithras]

20. I doubt they'd go that route.

Microsoft has quietly been in the midst of a major Windows retooling for a while now. They're keeping a lot of things very quiet, but one of the biggies that has leaked is SoC support. SoC, which is currently only supported by some flavors of Linux, will allow you to install your entire operating system onto a USB drive, a flash chip, or other portable media device. They are also working in support for mobile processors.

From a technological standpoint, this is a HUGE change, and represents a potential redefinition of what a "home computer" really is. It's a divorcing of the computers HARDWARE from its SOFTWARE. You sit down at your computer in your office, plug the chip in, and boot your home PC. Not a copy, but your actual home PC. At the end of the day, you swing by Starbucks for a coffee, and plug that chip into your laptop, and you have the same computer. If you suspended the PC rather than shutting it down, IE9 will even have your old webpages showing, and all of your applications will be ready to go. Sound cool? Now take it further: Plug that chip into your PHONE. Or your TABLET. Or the dashboard of your CAR.

Your computer, instead of being a "device" that you carry around, is now merely a "chip". When you want to use it, you simply plug it into any available hardware device and get to work. Everything from your files and applications, to your desktop background, are ready to work.

The potential advantage here for Microsoft with Skype is huge. Don't think about it as a standalone application. If the Windows OS itself is going mobile, it makes sense to integrate Skype functionality directly into the OS. That way, any hardware you plug into instantly becomes a communications device. If you're driving down the road, people can Skype you on your handsfree. Walking down the sidewalk? No problem, because the chip is in your phone, so you're still available. Sure, you can do ALL of this with multiple PC's today, but we're talking about ONE mobile installation that follows you wherever you go. That would transform it from the realm of the tech-savvy geek into a technology that anyone could manage with little trouble.

And the other platforms? If Microsoft wants their technology to become the standard, they MUST know that cross platform compatability will remain a requirement. It will be built-in to Windows, but should remain available to everyone else as a downloadable product (like Silverlight, I'd assume).

By the way, the SoC thing isn't a fairytale. I have a Xubuntu SoC install on my 16gb flash drive. I'm not talking about a LiveCD/USB, but a full SoC installation (Swap occurs in a ramdrive). I can plug my USB stick into any computer, boot off the drive, and turn it into "my" computer. It's incredibly cool, but it's not something that your average computer user could pull off. If Microsoft, or Apple, or Google could bring this concept to the masses, it would completely revolutionize computing.

[Fearless]

2. Unless they lobby for real net neutrallity...

There won't be the bandwidth to use the program anyways. Maybe this could be a good thing.

[boppers]

5. Skype's essentially a modem. As in "that thing you used to get online before the web existed".

Takes almost no bandwidth, maybe 24k/sec at peak.

[Fearless]

6. I don't think the transfer of HD video can possibly take that little bandwidth.

[boppers]

7. When I think of skype, I think of phone. You are correct.

Skype HD video requires MS Windows, 2 CPU cores, and 512 kbit/s bandwidth.

[Fearless]

8. Indeed. I was thinking first along the lines of the business aspect...

The paid clients of Skype. I would assume that is what Microsoft sees of value, although I could be mistaken.

[pnorman]

12. I'll "borrow" that image, if you don't mind.

[snooper2]

15. ROFL

:rofl:

[MilesColtrane]

3. Hello Pay-Per-Call!

[wtmusic]

17. And goodbye encrypted communication for the masses. nt

[on point]

4. Oh well, that's the end of Skype!!

[truebrit71]

16. I know, right?

..oh well, so much for that then...

[Fool Count]

10. In related development, Google is getting ready to

increase Google Talk capacity in preparation for the coming massive influx of new users.

[mackerel]

11. I heard it's a done deal :(

I'll miss my Friday night skype calls to Canberra.

[MattSh]

13. Sadly...

Google bought a VIOP service called Gizmo, which I much preferred to Skype. Sadly, they killed it, at least of most of us outside the USA.

No doubt this added Google Talk capability comes at the expense of former international Gizmo users.

:mad:

[meegbear]

14. Good for them! Congrats MS!

[woo me with science]

19. As soon as anything gets popular, it gets swallowed up by

one of the four people who own the world.

[fascisthunter]

21. buh-Bye Skype...