I'll buy that. This is an $8B advertising play.<div><br></div><div>Sean<br><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 12:55 PM, Adam Thompson <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:athompso@athompso.net">athompso@athompso.net</a>></span> wrote:<br>
<blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;">One word: mindshare.<br>
<br>
(Ok, two words: social relevancy)<br>
<br>
IMHO, that's the driver behind the purchase. "Bing", anyone? MSN? Etc.<br>
<div class="im"><br>
<br>
Sean Walberg <<a href="mailto:sean@ertw.com">sean@ertw.com</a>> wrote:<br>
<br>
>How could Skype become *less* open than it is now? :)<br>
><br>
</div><div class="im">>WRT Skype/Asterisk, I'm curious what kind of revenue that means. If I had to<br>
>guess, the revenue is insignificant. Microsoft probably got rid of Skype's<br>
>payroll department, but that didn't make the news.<br>
><br>
>Skype has two things to offer:<br>
><br>
>1. The technology<br>
>2. The user base (which by extension, includes the revenue stream)<br>
><br>
>For $8B Microsoft could have easily built their own. So it must be about the<br>
>users and/or revenue. But Skype's revenue ($1B/yr est) pales compared to<br>
>Microsoft's ($65B/yr). The business division (which I think is where the<br>
>VoIP stuff is) has about $21B of revenue attached. Skype would be a fraction<br>
>of that. And Skype users don't necessarily overlap with the corporate users.<br>
</div>> I really don't know what Microsoft gets out of this.<br>
<div class="im">><br>
>The other possible reason for Microsoft's purchase of Skype could have been<br>
>to prevent someone else from buying it.<br>
><br>
</div><div><div></div><div class="h5">>Sean<br>
><br>
>On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 12:23 PM, John Lange <<a href="mailto:john@johnlange.ca">john@johnlange.ca</a>> wrote:<br>
><br>
>> In my opinion Skype will be replaced in a heartbeat by whatever the<br>
>> next big thing is and MS will be left holding an empty bag where<br>
>> $8Billion dollars used to be.<br>
>><br>
>> Once cell providers are finally pushed (kicking and screaming) into<br>
>> offering data-only "phones" and one of my "apps" is something that<br>
>> lets me "phone" anywhere any time for free, why do I need Skype? You<br>
>> might argue that Skype will end up being "the app" in question, but<br>
>> with Microsoft at the helm it surely will not be.<br>
>><br>
>> Microsoft did not buy Skype to get into the "Skype business", it<br>
>> bought Skype to help push it's traditional software products. That, by<br>
>> definition means Skype will become less open. Already they've yanked<br>
>> Skype for Asterisk. Will Microsoft continue to push Skype for<br>
>> iPad/iPhone/Android ? I can't think of any reason why they would.<br>
>><br>
>> So the app that unites all "phone" users will have to be something else.<br>
>><br>
>> John<br>
>><br>
>> On Thu, May 26, 2011 at 11:54 AM, Bill Reid <<a href="mailto:billreid@shaw.ca">billreid@shaw.ca</a>> wrote:<br>
>> > I generally agree with what you are saying John but in reality Sean is<br>
>> correct.<br>
>> > Skype just works.<br>
>> ><br>
>> > The big problem with non-Skype VoIP solutions is still the lack of a<br>
>> global<br>
>> > directory. I was hoping that your email address would be the VoIP UID for<br>
>> > contacting people but that has not happened. All the infrastructure is<br>
>> there to<br>
>> > allow this but it is just not implemented. Once you get the PSTN part up<br>
>> we seem<br>
>> > to stop at that point. My impression is that almost all corporate VoIP<br>
>> systems<br>
>> > do not allow contact from the Internet. You have to go through a PSTN<br>
>> gateway.<br>
>> > Like IM if you have to know the system that a person is on before making<br>
>> contact<br>
>> > then it is basically broken. So far I think the PSTN and email are the<br>
>> only<br>
>> > systems that do not have this requirement.<br>
>> ><br>
>> > Skype of course is not a solution to this problem but like Facebook it<br>
>> wins by<br>
>> > having the most members.<br>
>> ><br>
>> > -- Bill<br>
>> ><br>
</div></div><div class="im">>> > On 26/05/11 09:29, John Lange wrote:<br>
>> >> Personally I've always failed to see the appeal of skype since it's<br>
>> >> something that could be replicated using other voip related tools with<br>
>> >> the added benefit of being tied to a larger database of potential<br>
>> >> users that you could reach.<br>
</div><div class="im">>> > _______________________________________________<br>
>> > Asterisk mailing list<br>
>> > <a href="mailto:Asterisk@muug.mb.ca">Asterisk@muug.mb.ca</a><br>
>> > <a href="http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/asterisk" target="_blank">http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/asterisk</a><br>
>> ><br>
>><br>
>><br>
>><br>
</div>>> --<br>
<div class="im">>> John Lange<br>
>> <a href="http://www.johnlange.ca" target="_blank">www.johnlange.ca</a><br>
</div><div class="im">>> _______________________________________________<br>
>> Asterisk mailing list<br>
>> <a href="mailto:Asterisk@muug.mb.ca">Asterisk@muug.mb.ca</a><br>
>> <a href="http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/asterisk" target="_blank">http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/asterisk</a><br>
>><br>
><br>
><br>
><br>
</div>>--<br>
>Sean Walberg <<a href="mailto:sean@ertw.com">sean@ertw.com</a>> <a href="http://ertw.com/" target="_blank">http://ertw.com/</a><br>
<div><div></div><div class="h5">><br>
>_______________________________________________<br>
>Asterisk mailing list<br>
><a href="mailto:Asterisk@muug.mb.ca">Asterisk@muug.mb.ca</a><br>
><a href="http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/asterisk" target="_blank">http://www.muug.mb.ca/mailman/listinfo/asterisk</a><br>
</div></div></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Sean Walberg <<a href="mailto:sean@ertw.com" target="_blank">sean@ertw.com</a>> <a href="http://ertw.com/" target="_blank">http://ertw.com/</a><br>
</div>