Close
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
Read Down
Sign in
Close
Welcome!Log into your account
Forgot your password?
Read Down
Password recovery
Recover your password
Close
Search
Logo
Logo
  • Latest News
  • Artificial Intelligence
  • Big Data and Analytics
  • Cloud
  • Networking
  • Cybersecurity
  • Applications
  • IT Management
  • Storage
  • Sponsored
  • Mobile
  • Small Business
  • Development
  • Database
  • Servers
  • Android
  • Apple
  • Innovation
  • Blogs
  • PC Hardware
  • Reviews
  • Search Engines
  • Virtualization
More
    Home Cloud
    • Cloud
    • Mobile
    • Networking

    Microsoft’s Skype Deal, Windows Phone Trash Talk Marked Week

    By
    Nicholas Kolakowski
    -
    October 16, 2011
    Share
    Facebook
    Twitter
    Linkedin

      Microsoft’s week proved fairly momentous in the acquisitions department: The company announced the finalization of its $8.5 billion Skype purchase, transforming the formerly independent communications entity into a business division.

      “This represents a huge leap forward in Skype’s mission to be the communication choice for a billion people every day,” Tony Bates, formerly Skype’s CEO and now president of Microsoft’s Skype unit, wrote in an Oct. 13 posting on The Official Microsoft Blog. “Joining forces with Microsoft is the best way to accelerate this mission and capitalize on our position at the intersection of social, mobile and video communications.”

      Bates now reports directly to Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. Skype’s services will be meshed with a variety of products in Microsoft’s portfolio, including its Lync unified communications (UC) platform, Outlook and Xbox Live. Moreover, Skype’s enormous user base gives Microsoft increased influence over the evolving voice over IP (VOIP) and video conferencing market.

      Microsoft has indicated that it will continue to support Skype on non-Microsoft client platforms. Certainly the acquisition places Microsoft on an even-tighter collision course with Google, which offers its own VOIP services, and Apple, whose iOS devices feature the FaceTime video-conferencing app. But the potential market upside is huge: according to a 2010 survey conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project, the combination of Skype, Google and Apple has lifted the number of American adults participating in online video calls to nearly 20 percent.

      Speaking of partnerships, Microsoft also announced that it would include pairing with Hortonworks to augment Windows Server and Windows Azure with Apache Hadoop, a scalable solution for companies looking to crunch massive amounts of data, sorting through it to find the tendencies and patterns necessary to make better business decisions.

      Organizations such as eBay and Facebook already use Apache Hadoop’s open-source framework for production or educational purposes. Yahoo nurtured Hadoop as a “science project” of sorts for six years before it split off under the umbrella of the venture capital-funded Hortonworks.

      “Over 80 percent of new data being generated is from unstructured sources,” Eric Baldeschwieler, CEO of Hortonworks, wrote in a statement released by Microsoft. “We are excited to work with Microsoft to help make Apache Hadoop a compelling platform for storing and processing data.”

      Microsoft also kept up with its Windows 8 ramp up, with a new blog post justifying its next operating system’s tile-based start screen. Like its choice to include the “ribbon” user interface in the Windows 8 version of Windows Explorer, the decision to include a start screen composed of active tiles is proving somewhat controversial for a subset of Windows watchers.

      “We know major changes like this can be controversial and we are looking forward to continuing this dialog with you,” Marina Dukhon, a senior program manager lead on Windows’ Core Experience team, wrote in an Oct. 11 posting on the “Building Windows 8” blog, which serves as one of the primary channels for Microsoft talking about the upcoming operating system. “I wanted to address some of the specific topics that have been brought up so far as they pertain to the design.”

      In the current Windows format, the Start button opens a menu with a list of applications. An “All Programs” tab within that menu opens a plethora of folders and subfolders. Microsoft’s engineers believe this is an inefficient system, particularly in light of increased user focus on apps and Websites-hence the shift to this new format, which will supposedly help with touch-centric form factors such as tablets.

      Microsoft is also ushering “Mango,” a major update to its Windows Phone platform, into the world. Microsoft hopes that Mango’s new tweaks and features, combined with some new phone-producing agreements with manufacturers such as Nokia and Samsung, will allow Windows Phone to finally gain some traction among businesses and consumers.

      To help it toward that goal, Windows Phone division president Andy Lees used an Oct. 11 interview with The Seattle Times to take some swipes at Microsoft’s competitors in the smartphone realm. He criticized the new iPhone 4S for not giving consumers “more choice” in terms of hardware. But he reserved some of his strongest words for Google Android.

      “I think Android is heading down this chaotic phase,” he said. “If you’ve used some of the (Android) phones, some of them are great, but some of them are not great. But it’s random.”

      It remains to be seen, though, whether Windows Phone can threaten either Apple’s iOS or Google Android in terms of market share.

      Follow Nicholas Kolakowski on Twitter

      Nicholas Kolakowski
      Nicholas Kolakowski is a staff editor at eWEEK, covering Microsoft and other companies in the enterprise space, as well as evolving technology such as tablet PCs. His work has appeared in The Washington Post, Playboy, WebMD, AARP the Magazine, AutoWeek, Washington City Paper, Trader Monthly, and Private Air. He lives in Brooklyn, New York.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.
      Get the Free Newsletter!
      Subscribe to Daily Tech Insider for top news, trends & analysis
      This email address is invalid.

      MOST POPULAR ARTICLES

      Latest News

      Zeus Kerravala on Networking: Multicloud, 5G, and...

      James Maguire - December 16, 2022 0
      I spoke with Zeus Kerravala, industry analyst at ZK Research, about the rapid changes in enterprise networking, as tech advances and digital transformation prompt...
      Read more
      Applications

      Datadog President Amit Agarwal on Trends in...

      James Maguire - November 11, 2022 0
      I spoke with Amit Agarwal, President of Datadog, about infrastructure observability, from current trends to key challenges to the future of this rapidly growing...
      Read more
      IT Management

      Intuit’s Nhung Ho on AI for the...

      James Maguire - May 13, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nhung Ho, Vice President of AI at Intuit, about adoption of AI in the small and medium-sized business market, and how...
      Read more
      Applications

      Kyndryl’s Nicolas Sekkaki on Handling AI and...

      James Maguire - November 9, 2022 0
      I spoke with Nicolas Sekkaki, Group Practice Leader for Applications, Data and AI at Kyndryl, about how companies can boost both their AI and...
      Read more
      Cloud

      IGEL CEO Jed Ayres on Edge and...

      James Maguire - June 14, 2022 0
      I spoke with Jed Ayres, CEO of IGEL, about the endpoint sector, and an open source OS for the cloud; we also spoke about...
      Read more
      Logo

      eWeek has the latest technology news and analysis, buying guides, and product reviews for IT professionals and technology buyers. The site’s focus is on innovative solutions and covering in-depth technical content. eWeek stays on the cutting edge of technology news and IT trends through interviews and expert analysis. Gain insight from top innovators and thought leaders in the fields of IT, business, enterprise software, startups, and more.

      Facebook
      Linkedin
      RSS
      Twitter
      Youtube

      Advertisers

      Advertise with TechnologyAdvice on eWeek and our other IT-focused platforms.

      Advertise with Us

      Menu

      • About eWeek
      • Subscribe to our Newsletter
      • Latest News

      Our Brands

      • Privacy Policy
      • Terms
      • About
      • Contact
      • Advertise
      • Sitemap
      • California – Do Not Sell My Information

      Property of TechnologyAdvice.
      © 2022 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

      Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.

      ×