When Microsoft bought Skype, the whole Internet began to worry. So many podcasts, conference calls, and personal calls rely on Skype as a free and at least semi-reliable platform that works on just about everything. Well, with today’s latest Windows beta of Skype version 5.11, Microsoft and Facebook logins now work in Skype.
This means you can now chat with anyone on Xbox 360, Messanger, or Outlook.com. Let’s just hope that Skype IDs remain operational completely separately. We all know the cluster that the Yahoo/Flickr ID merger caused. More interestingly, you can now use Skype directly with your Facebook credentials without even having a Skype account in the first place. This reminds us slightly of the way Spotify operates. Well, at least how they used to operate. You’re strong-armed into using Facebook now, sadly.
This isn’t available on the Mac yet, but it is very interesting. Facebook, more than ever, is becoming a vital marketing aspect of both Apple and Microsoft. While Google flails with their own social network, Apple and Microsoft have embraced Twitter and Facebook completely. Not only does that make the users of those platforms happy, but it also means that we can have an integrated experience without having separate networks for Apple and Microsoft users. We’ll see how long Google lasts with their most recent attempt at the social game. Let’s hope they take a page out of Microsoft and Apple’s playbooks.
Update: Just heard from Skype PR. Apparently, this was for Mac as well. I apologize for the confusion.
Source: The Verge