Microsoft To Buy Skype

The giant wheels are in motion for Skype to become Microsoft’s largest ever acquisition at $8.5bn (£5.2bn).  

Luxembourg-based Skype has 663 million global users but doesn’t make a whole lot of money, so what is in it for Microsoft?

Well Microsoft’s chief executive Steve Ballmer summed it up: "Skype is a phenomenal service that is loved by millions of people around the world.”

So in truth, they are buying into potential, and it is huge potential if you consider what could be achieved if the Skype software is married up with the Xbox Kinect and an HD television set. 

For home use, we could potentially be talking home schooling or even patient care delivered remotely and in vision.  For business, Microsoft could potentially challenge the dominance of firms like Cisco and Polycom.

One major stumbling block has to be overcome first though; how do you marry an open voice/video-over-the-internet service with a company notorious for bureaucracy?

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Microsoft Poised to Buy Net Addresses

Microsoft has offered to pay $7.5m (£4.7m) for 666,624 IP version 4 (IPv4) net addresses from bankrupt telecoms firm Nortel.

The blocks of IPv4 are valuable at the moment because the pool of addresses is close to running dry and some companies are therefore facing a costly migration to the newer IPv6.

The suggested deal is yet to be approved, and anyone who objects to it can file their comments before 4 April.  However, Microsoft's bid was the highest of the 80 firms asked if they wanted to make an offer for the IP addresses.

If it goes through, Microsoft will get hold of 470,016 of the IP addresses instantly and the remaining 196,608 will be released as former customers of Nortel are moved to other telecoms firms.

Microsoft and Nokia Join Forces

Following earlier concerns this week that Nokia were in trouble following a leaked memo from Stephen Elop, Chief Executive of the mobile company, Nokia staff are now facing a new challenge.

Nokia has joined forces with Microsoft in an attempt to regain lost ground on market leaders iPhone and other Android-operated devices.  The deal means that Nokia’s existing operating systems will be replaced with the Windows Phone 7 operating system for its smartphones, the company has said.

Windows Phone 7, whilst receiving much critical acclaim, has remained quite a small market player to date.  It has been rumored that Mr. Elop opted to use Windows over the Google Android Operating System because he feels more comfortable with the company as that is where he worked before his move to Nokia. 

The move does mean that Nokia employees across the world will be facing inevitable job losses.  As with all coalitions, the future is unknown, but this collaboration has the potential to shape the future of the industry.  

Microsoft Explain Windows 7 Data Problems

Early January has seen "a small (low single-digit) percentage of Windows Phone customers" complaining on net forums of data issues.  The problem seems to consist of the phones software sending and receiving "phantom data".

In some cases, particularly in the US, customers claimed that that their phone was sending "between 30 and 50MB of data" every day; an amount that ate a hefty chunk of their 20 day, 1GB allowance.

Microsoft said its investigation found that most problems were caused by an unnamed "third party" service.  They are currently in contact with said “third-party” working on potential solutions, and in the meantime, potential workarounds to pacify customers.   

However, the cause of the issue does not appear clear cut, as Microsoft has also admitted that there may be more than one root cause.

Google unveils OS for Notebooks

The world is ready for an OS for netbooks and notebooks that is built on cloud connectivity, Google has the product, but we will have to wait six or seven months to get our hands on it. 

Chrome OS is Google's boldest bid yet to challenge Microsoft's market dominance with Windows software.  The idea is that it will coordinate with cloud services, especially Google's, to minimise the amount of local storage required.  It also allows people to use any Chromium device to access the same cloud-saved data and synchronise locally-stored data to the cloud.

The operating system will power a new range of notebooks but will not be ready for Christmas as the system has too many bugs.  With this in mind, they have delayed the launch until “mid-2011” with no real indication of price. 

Whilst we all wait with baited breath for the launch of Chrome OS, a "pilot programme" has been launched "for people who live in the web" to keep us going.  Everyone who takes part will receive a Cr-48 notebook, a new piece of reference hardware for Chrome OS, and will be expected to tell Google how they progress. Unfortunately, you have to be 18 and based in the US!

Internet Searching At The Speed of Thought

Google have launched their new product this week that is set to significantly speed up its internet search engine facilities. So fast they have described it as "search at the speed of thought".



It’s called Google Instant and it predicts a user's query and modifies the displayed results as more letters are typed into the search box. The service will initially be rolled out in the US, UK, Spain, Germany, France and Russia.


But is speed everything?


Surely not if it means I see a lot of things I have no interest in before I give the engine enough information to actually find what I’m looking for.


Either way, it has certainly laid down the gauntlet for Microsoft and Bing once again. Furthermore, the Search Engine Optimisers will have to adapt as the rules of the game have changed.

Microsoft Office 2010 Worldwide launch

Unless you were asleep all day, visiting Mars or living in a bubble you will already know that yesterday, Microscoft launched the 2010 version of Office worldwide. But is it any good?



Despite the growth of its rivals such as Google, Adobe and OpenOffice who provide a wealth of web-based office software alternatives, Microsoft Office is still dominant inside businesses. With Office 2010, that dominance may grow even further with the introduction of Microsoft’s own web versions of the popular programs.


Alongside the launch of Office 2010, Microsoft has released cut-down versions of Office programs for the web and handsets that can be used by those who do not possess the "full" version. The release concludes a long trial programme which saw details of its web-friendly features widely previewed. They have even included features that hook into popular social networking sites such as Facebook.


Office 2010 is being made available in a variety of formats suited to different groups of people. Microsoft said it expected the Home and Student version to sell for about £109 and the Professional edition for £429. Stand-alone versions of the programs making up Office are also available.


They have done what they can to make functionality as consistent as possible on the PC, web and mobiles.



So what do you think? Post your comments here!