Microsoft to buy Skype for $8.5 billion

It looks like that fuss over skype is over. As I have discussed in my earlier blog that Google and Apple are in race to buy Skype. Now it has turned out something different. Now Microsoft has apparently finalized a buyout – for $8.5 billion.

There is question that will it be like another good service, like hotmail once was, will now rot in MS possession? Well, the time will answer this question.

At a value close to $8 billion, the Skype deal would rank as the biggest acquisition in the 36-year history of Microsoft. Beofore that, in 2007, Microsoft paid approximately $6 billion to acquire online advertising firm aQuantive Inc.

Skype uses a technology called voice over Internet protocol, known as VOIP, which treats calls as data like email messages and routes them over the Internet, rather than a traditional phone network. Skype’s software, which can be downloaded free, allows users to call other Skype users on computers or certain cellphones for free. Skype users can also call land lines for a fee and conduct video calls.

Hope that Skype will grow into a much bigger brand in the coming time.