Facebook Wants To Buy Skype 192
An anonymous reader writes "Remember when we learned that Facebook had resumed talks with Skype? Well, it turns out that Facebook is considering buying Skype outright. 'Skype is reportedly talking to Facebook about some sort of deal. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has been involved in internal discussions about buying Skype, while Facebook also reached out to the Luxembourg-based company about forming a joint venture.'"
So where's the FLOSS/open codec Skype alternative? (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously, Skype has been a grudgingly-necessary eyesore for years, and yet we don't seem to have a widely-accepted and/or functionally-equivalent OSS project in the wild. How can this be?
Re:So where's the FLOSS/open codec Skype alternati (Score:4, Insightful)
It's not just about the POTS service, though. I rarely, if ever, see folks using it for voice-only calls. People use it for (in my experience):
1) Text-only chat (which is bat-guano-insane, IMHO)
2) Video chats
#2 sees the most use in my family and company circles. If we want voice-only, we call the other person's cell phone.
Confidentiality and insider trading laws, anyone? (Score:4, Insightful)
Anyone at Facebook in a position to know anything about any such possible deal is not legally allowed to say anything. If Facebook isn't dumb, they started any discussions with a confidentiality agreement due to their legal requirements not to say anything. Also, since Skype is privately owned, the majority owner would have nothing to gain by publicizing the talks.
That means that whoever is talking to the press about this is either:
1. some other party with a motivation for derailing the deal, such as eBay (a minority owner of Skype),
B. an insider at Facebook illegally attempting to manipulate the stock price, or
III. somebody with no clue who wants to seem cool to the business press.
Re:Google looking too? (Score:4, Insightful)
https://github.com/facebook [github.com]
Facebook: putting ing in your soc (Score:5, Insightful)
Don't worry, they'll recommend that you keep Skype open in the background... For added connectivity.
I'd rather put Skype in the hands of GLaDOS.
Re:So where's the FLOSS/open codec Skype alternati (Score:4, Insightful)
Seriously, Skype has been a grudgingly-necessary eyesore for years, and yet we don't seem to have a widely-accepted and/or functionally-equivalent OSS project in the wild. How can this be?
There are plenty of OSS alternatives out there...
All sorts of VoIP softphones, text chat programs, videoconferencing apps...
But that's kind of the problem. Skype is a single company and a single app. There isn't any confusion or choice. You say "I'm on Skype" and folks know how they can get in touch with you. You say "I use Ekiga" and they look at you like you've grown a third eye.
Do Not Want... (Score:5, Insightful)
I like Skype -- I'm a paying customer. I like Facebook. I wouldn't trust Facebook (the company) with anything that I don't mind becoming 100% public, including my credit card, and use it with that knowledge in mind. I am not necessarily interested in Skypeing with my Facebook friends or the awkwardness of socially networking with my Skype contacts (who are mostly business collaborators). [One would hope that everyone has learned the lesson of Google Buzz].
I don't like the fact that the Internet is turning into AOL 2012.
Re:Privacy in China at stake (Score:5, Insightful)
Privacy in China at stake
* Privacy Everywhere at Stake *
Fixed that for you. Do you really want Facebook to know the phone numbers of everyone you call with Skype and share it with 300 of your closest friends in one of their inevitable revisions of "privacy" practices?
Re:New name? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Noooooooo (Score:5, Insightful)
The difference is what they sell to get that profit.
Skype sells time to use their service for web<->phone calls. Their product is their product.
Facebook sells their users' information to advertisers. Their users are their product.