back to article Microsoft to link Lync voice and IM to Skype by June

Microsoft kicked off its first-ever Lync Conference in San Diego, California, on Tuesday by announcing a series of planned upgrades for its Lync unified communications platform, including new mobile apps and interoperability with Skype. In a statement, Tony Bates, president of Microsoft's Skype division, said that all Lync …

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    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: 90 of the Fortune 100 companies are now Lync customers

      Lync client alone does not a Lync customer make.

      Those customers however could be using Instant Messaging and Presence without Enterprise Voice (a common deployment first step) - but even that requires Lync server (or Office 365) and licenses. That would count as a Lync deployment, but it would only enable peer-to-peer voice chat.

      Full disclosure I work for a company that deploys & supports many telephony solutions including Cisco, Avaya and Lync.

  2. Tony Proudlove
    Meh

    Good news but not unexpected

    "Lync is a relatively new product line for Microsoft, having been launched in November 2010 as a replacement for Office Communicator and Office Communications Server."

    It's not really a new product though, is it? It's essentially not much more than a rebranding of Communicator - many of the tools used to manage it still refer to it as Office Communicator (the .adm, for example, last time I looked). So it's essentially been around since 2007.

    Not really a surprising announcement this. IIRC Lync has interoperability with Live Messenger, so if that's being phased out to be replaced with Skype, it's only natural they'd have to provide the same functionality.

  3. Don Jefe

    It Is OK

    We've been using Lync for a little over a year and we like it just fine. It does what it supposed to do.

    1. turkey
      Meh

      Re: It Is OK

      I have found it a little rough at the edges. Sound quality is not as good as Skype, and running an "Online Meeting" with Lync doesn't work with external attendees that don't have lync unless you manually edit the url that the meeting request creates, every time.

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Windows

    How long will it last?

    "In a statement, Tony Bates, president of Microsoft's Skype division, said that all Lync users would be able to share presence, IM, and voice communications with Skype users by June, with Lync-to-Skype video connectivity planned for some time in the next 18 months."

    That's almost the same kind of story which Messenger users got, and now look where we're at; they're about to pull the plug on it.

    SO; how long before they'll do the same to Lync?

    And yes; I know Skype doesn't provide the same functionality as Lync does, but that hasn't stopped MS before; just take a look at Messenger vs. Skype on the Windows Phone...

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Acronym incorrect

    Surely it should be B4X as it's obviously bollox

  6. Inachu
    Devil

    It goes on and on and on.

    So far Microsoft kept killing its MSN messenger at least once every 2 or three years.

    People called it innovation. I call it intrusive interruptions. I still prefer the very first Messenger that comes along with the WIndows XP retail CD. It was small. Fast and loaded quickly.

    Now they spent billions and I am pretty sure they will keep the trend the same as in the past.

  7. Will Godfrey Silver badge
    Unhappy

    Bye bye Skype. It was nice knowing you (for a while)

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