What web users think of the Microsoft-Skype deal

(AFP PHOTO / Kimihiro HOSHINO)

While Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer described the $8.5 billion deal to acquire internet communications company Skype as the start of "exciting times," web users and analysts are not so keen on the partnership.

Investors voiced their opinion on the deal collectively, "sending shares of Microsoft down more than 1 percent in afternoon trading," reported the online edition of The New York Times.

Many technology blogs and their readers think Microsoft paid too much for Skype, "the largest deal in the software giant’s history."

An ongoing poll on tech blog Mashable asks users if Microsoft paid the right price for Skype. Almost 65 percent (1,048 people) of the current 1,620 voters said the company paid too much.

A further 29 percent (476 votes) said the price was just about right. Only 6 percent (95 people) said Microsoft should have spent more money on their purchase.

"The money paid for skype is simply boggling," said people using microblogging service Twitter.

"Microsoft will destroy Skype almost instantly, the way they destroyed Hotmail and every other service they've acquired," commented a Twitterer by the name of GavinZy. A second Twitter user called aimersss agreed, adding, "How long do we give Skype before it, like anything Microsoft touches, starts to suck at life?"

Not everyone had bad things to say about Microsoft’s decision to purchase Skype.

Location-based public sentiment service Qriously asked 1500 smartphone users if they thought buying Skype was a "win" or a "fail" for Microsoft. Sixty percent of voters said the purchase was an overall win.

Technology blog The Next Web provided additional information on Qriously's results saying "the number of people who thought that it was a very large victory for the company made up roughly 30% of all respondents."

As for the future of the service? Twitterers have already (jokingly) announced Microsoft’s plans: "Skype [will] be renamed Microsoft Windows Live Hotmail MSN Video Chat Bing." 

http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2011/05/10/skype-deal-gets-a-mixed-reaction/?src=tptw
http://mashable.com/2011/05/10/microsoft-skype-poll/
http://thenextweb.com/microsoft/2011/05/10/60-of-smartphone-owners-say-the-skype-deal-is-a-win-for-microsoft/