Skype & Facebook Join Forces....Will This Be Supported In Mango?

[deadwrong03]

Microsoft just bought Skype, Skype will be on wp7 when mango comes out this fall and now skype and facebook are joining forces...

Skype >>>>>>> Tango, Oovoo and all them other bs videocalling services on android


Skype comes to Facebook, and Facebook comes to Skype (update: available now!)
By Darren Murph posted Jul 6th 2011 1:24PM
Breaking News
It ain't the first time Mark Zuckerberg has taken the stage to announce... something, but today's shindig is resulting in "something" that's a bit more exciting for the average user. As rumored, the world's most notable VoIP service is set to become exceedingly integrated with the world's most notable social network. Skype has just thrown up a teaser page for v5.3 for Windows (and v5.5 Beta), noting that Skype and Facebook will aim to provide "the best of both worlds."

Zuck is primarily announcing three main things today: group chat, a new way to chat ("an easier way to find someone who is online") and Skype-enabled video chat. Oh, and the tiny, tiny fact that there's now 750 million Facebook members. What's notable is just how easy it is to fire up a group chat (or send transcripts to group members who miss out) and get a video call going using your existing Skype contact list. A single click is all it takes, and we're told that it'll be rolled out to everyone "over the next few weeks" in 70 different languages. The new chat design will be scalable based on your browser size, and the company made a point to mention that it'll be listening closely to user input in order to iterate as it moves forward.

Tony Bates stepped up to the plate, and noted that over 300 million videocall minutes a month are going through Skype, and at peak times, over half of its traffic is video. He also noted that the technology behind it was "tough" to construct, but somehow it managed to hammer this whole thing out in around six months via joint development. There's also talk about future "paid products" in due time, and it's strikingly clear that this partnership isn't going to fade anytime soon. If you're looking to take a dive yourself, hit up the source links below for the Windows applications, and wear that F5 button out over at Facebook's homepage if you're more of the "in-browser" type.

Oh, and if you're curious about mobile -- video chat isn't active on that front yet, and Mark's not spilling any details on "when." To quote him on a question of time tables: "We'll see."

Update: Those on the web can get started right now. Of note, this forces open the familiar chat bar, so it doesn't much look like you can hide from "those people" while attempting to find folks on Skype. Sadly, we're also seeing that doing so can add loads of Facebook contacts to your Skype program, and there's no real way to see that it's happening until it's too late. Clever, Mark.

Update 2: We've spent a little time with both of the new options, and you can read up on our impressions here!

Skype comes to Facebook, and Facebook comes to Skype (update: available now!) -- Engadget

[DavidinCT]

If models come out with front cameras in fall (like everything is leaning to) I'm sure there will be Skype support, now that MS owns it, I think it will be a seamless app or built into mango when we get to that point.

Microsoft has been very big about the Metro UI and the seamless look and feel about WP7, and if they were going to add "facetime" type of chat with Skype, I would expect nothing less than a perfect seemless app.

but, I don't know for sure but, if it was just a cheap app in WP7, I would be really disapointed.

[eric12341]

Originally Posted by DavidinCT

If models come out with front cameras in fall (like everything is leaning to) I'm sure there will be Skype support, now that MS owns it, I think it will be a seamless app or built into mango when we get to that point.

Microsoft has been very big about the Metro UI and the seamless look and feel about WP7, and if they were going to add "facetime" type of chat with Skype, I would expect nothing less than a perfect seemless app.

but, I don't know for sure but, if it was just a cheap app in WP7, I would be really disapointed.

im sure they'll do great things with Skype. I doubt they'd spend billions just to disappoint.

[mindfrost82]

If not Mango, I'm sure it would be in the next version

[soma]

definitely great news but will the merged entity be a success? I'm a bit skeptical, all great things coming together may not yield something great. privacy will be lost for some who don't want to be that overt, some layman like me might find the technology a bit confusing to operate, and if not done exactly from day 1 some users might find it unattractive to continue. nevertheless it is a great news and definitely i will give it a try and look forward for the apps to come to mobiles

[eric12341]

definitely sounds better than that Google- I can't stand them and their attempt to take over the world

[GoodThings2Life]

It's always possible that Microsoft still has some surprises up their sleeves for Mango, but I wouldn't bet on this integration happening in Mango just yet. As Frosty said, probably in the spring update to follow. It's kind of a no-brainer considering the level of deep Microsoft-Facebook integration occuring already with multi-SMS/IM capabilities.

[deadwrong03]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 7.0; Windows Phone OS 7.0; Trident/3.1; IEMobile/7.0; HTC; mwp6985))

Originally Posted by eric12341

definitely sounds better than that Google- I can't stand them and their attempt to take over the world

I don't see Google plus being a hit probably another failure like buzz