I’m not a big newshound, but now Microsoft have bought Skype what happens will affect me directly. I’ve been using Skype for years and have found it invaluable for talking to people in other parts of the world, having instant conversations with colleagues, using it for group chats and for conference discussions. There’s been plenty of jokes since Microsoft took over about the requirement for glitches to be engineered into the Skype platform, but it does seem that since the buy out more problems have occurred than during the whole time I’ve been using it.
- A conference call produced quality so bad it made it hard for the attendees to hear what I was saying.
- Instant messages don’t get delivered for AGES!
- Now only two of my list of contact seem to be online – wholly unrealistic in the middle of the afternoon – and Skype seem to know that some people can’t get online, but don’t know why, so can’t immediately fix it.
It may have made sense for Microsoft to pay $8.5 billion, but not if the value drops. It’s just as well their bid for Yahoo failed a few years ago – now Yahoo’s value has dropped by about half. I’m sure Mr Gates and his board are hoping that doesn’t happen to Skype – and the solution is in their hands. They need to put their not inconsiderable technological expertise to work to ensure that Skype performs at a consistently high level in order to make that investment worthwhile.
If a good product or service deteriorates, people will leave in droves. After all it’s not the only option.
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