Obviously Skype made big news yesterday. And there's been lots of reaction. Here are some comments that caught my eye.

First, from Jeff Pulver

I come to Praise Skype, not to Bury Them.
History was made on September 12, 2005 when Skype was purchased by eBay.And I still stand by the words I posted in my September 12, 2005 blog entry:"Usually we don't see revolutions until after the fact...I suspect that historians might come to recognize today's announced acquisition of Skype by eBay, as one of the great indicators of the historic transformation in communications. Today's move by eBay in purchasing Skype is transformational because it signals the ability and value of an "Applications Company" adding a "Communications Company" to its portfolio. The acquisition turns the entire telecom industry picture on its head, and demonstrates that voice, presence, text messaging and other IP-based applications will be essential for the company of the future.

Alec Saunders

Stop wringing your hands. Skype is a huge success.There has been fascinating soul searching on the web these last few days as the "failed experiment" called Skype is dissected by the whole world. Wall Street has belched up numbers, and concluded that EBay over-paid.  Bloggers are busy micro-analyzing the various failures, and offering advice. Me, I'm in the Jeff Pulver camp.  No matter how you look at it, Skype has been a remarkable achievement.  200 million users have downloaded the application, and use it somewhat regularly.  "Skype Me" is common parlance for many individuals.  Every telco in every jurisdiction worldwide has a Skype strategy, and for most of them it has involved dropping prices in order to compete.  Consumers won handsomely.

Daily Payload

eBay: What to do with Skype?
Don't call it a bust just yet, but it's fair to say eBay executives aren't thrilled with what they're getting out of Skype, which the auction king bought for $2.6 billion two years ago.

Other nice comments from Jim Courtney at Skype Journal too.

Overall, I think the community at large is still waiting to see what happens. There ahve been times I have not been a fan of Skype at all. That siad, I want to see them succeed. I want to see them thrive more than they ever have. And like others, I'm optimistic that under the right leadership, Skype can set the bard far higher than they ever have before.


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