One word: mindshare. (Ok, two words: social relevancy)
IMHO, that's the driver behind the purchase. "Bing", anyone? MSN? Etc. Sean Walberg <[email protected]> wrote: >How could Skype become *less* open than it is now? :) > >WRT Skype/Asterisk, I'm curious what kind of revenue that means. If I had to >guess, the revenue is insignificant. Microsoft probably got rid of Skype's >payroll department, but that didn't make the news. > >Skype has two things to offer: > >1. The technology >2. The user base (which by extension, includes the revenue stream) > >For $8B Microsoft could have easily built their own. So it must be about the >users and/or revenue. But Skype's revenue ($1B/yr est) pales compared to >Microsoft's ($65B/yr). The business division (which I think is where the >VoIP stuff is) has about $21B of revenue attached. Skype would be a fraction >of that. And Skype users don't necessarily overlap with the corporate users. > I really don't know what Microsoft gets out of this. > >The other possible reason for Microsoft's purchase of Skype could have been >to prevent someone else from buying it. > >Sean > >On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 12:23 PM, John Lange <[email protected]> wrote: > >> In my opinion Skype will be replaced in a heartbeat by whatever the >> next big thing is and MS will be left holding an empty bag where >> $8Billion dollars used to be. >> >> Once cell providers are finally pushed (kicking and screaming) into >> offering data-only "phones" and one of my "apps" is something that >> lets me "phone" anywhere any time for free, why do I need Skype? You >> might argue that Skype will end up being "the app" in question, but >> with Microsoft at the helm it surely will not be. >> >> Microsoft did not buy Skype to get into the "Skype business", it >> bought Skype to help push it's traditional software products. That, by >> definition means Skype will become less open. Already they've yanked >> Skype for Asterisk. Will Microsoft continue to push Skype for >> iPad/iPhone/Android ? I can't think of any reason why they would. >> >> So the app that unites all "phone" users will have to be something else. >> >> John >> >> On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 11:54 AM, Bill Reid <[email protected]> wrote: >> > I generally agree with what you are saying John but in reality Sean is >> correct. >> > Skype just works. >> > >> > The big problem with non-Skype VoIP solutions is still the lack of a >> global >> > directory. I was hoping that your email address would be the VoIP UID for >> > contacting people but that has not happened. All the infrastructure is >> there to >> > allow this but it is just not implemented. Once you get the PSTN part up >> we seem >> > to stop at that point. My impression is that almost all corporate VoIP >> systems >> > do not allow contact from the Internet. You have to go through a PSTN >> gateway. >> > Like IM if you have to know the system that a person is on before making >> contact >> > then it is basically broken. So far I think the PSTN and email are the >> only >> > systems that do not have this requirement. >> > >> > Skype of course is not a solution to this problem but like Facebook it >> wins by >> > having the most members. >> > >> > -- Bill >> > >> > On 26/05/11 09:29, John Lange wrote: >> >> Personally I've always failed to see the appeal of skype since it's >> >> something that could be replicated using other voip related tools with >> >> the added benefit of being tied to a larger database of potential >> >> users that you could reach. >> > _______________________________________________ >> > Asterisk mailing list >> > [email protected] >> > http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/asterisk >> > >> >> >> >> -- >> John Lange >> www.johnlange.ca >> _______________________________________________ >> Asterisk mailing list >> [email protected] >> http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/asterisk >> > > > >-- >Sean Walberg <[email protected]> http://ertw.com/ > >_______________________________________________ >Asterisk mailing list >[email protected] >http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/asterisk _______________________________________________ Asterisk mailing list [email protected] http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/asterisk
