On Wed, May 11, 2011 at 11:59 AM, Aaron Toponce
<aaron.toponce@gmail.com> wrote:
On Wed, May 11, 2011 at 10:58:21AM -0400, Curt Howland wrote:
> So Skype has been bought by Microsoft.
>
> I expect the Linux version of Skype to be abolished in short order. Oh
> well, thus the fate of proprietary software. I'm sure St. Ignucious is
> shaking his head with the inevitability of it all.
>
> This aught to re-ignite the effort to develop the alternatives.
>
> And if it doesn't, that will say more than any success could.
First, you're speculating. You have nothing to base your guess on.
Microsoft may not have been the most "Linux-friendly" company in the world,
but that doesn't mean that they are going to cut the GNU/Linux client of
Skype.
I offer, as a case in point, Nokia. It just seems too coincidental that they hire a former MS exec in the person of Steven Elop, and within 3 months decide to re-close-source Symbian, scale back their successful Linux smart phone line, scale back their Linux offerings to R&D only...Which includes dropping out of their alliance with Intel on Meego.
Second, http://www.wired.com/epicenter/2011/05/ballmer-skype-announcement/.
Quote:
Both executives sought to reassure Skype customers who might be
worried about Microsoft’s ability and willingness to support the
multiplatform software, which is available for Windows, OS X and Linux
PCs; Android, BlackBerry and iOS smartphones; and even televisions.
“We’re one of the few companies that has actually has a track record of
doing this,” said Ballmer, pointing to the company’s Mac support over
the years. “Fundamental to the value proposition of communications is
being able to reach everybody, whether they happen to be on your
devices or not.”
Their Mac support used to include MS office, back in the mid 90s. I know IT people from that era that said the Mac version of Office was so buggy, thanks to their putting the Intel debugging symbols into the Mac version, that entire IT departments switched from Mac to PC running Windows.
So forgive me if I don't trust Ballmer's altruism...
“The commitment from Microsoft to support multiplatform clients is
absolutely critical,” Bates said, indicating that Skype got assurances
from Microsoft that it would continue to support all of Skype’s
platforms.
I can believe this in the short term. Why lose half of your customer base out of the gate?
--b