My roommate walked in on me topless Skyping with the dude this weekend. That was only slightly awkward. You'd think she'd learn from all the times I've shouted "DON'T COME IN!" when she attempts to barge into my room mid-Skype, but no.
I can see the headlines now, "Microsoft Skype is now part of the of the Office 201? Suite" Hopefully theyll keep it free. But if I know Microsoft, theyll have cascading versions with more and more features in each of the different packages just like everything else.
My company uses Avaya, and more specifically, I use Avaya One-X and it usually works pretty well. It lets me work from home and lets me call customers all across the world. I've never used Skype personally, but I set it up for my Mom and my sister so that my mom could read bedtime stories to my baby nephew. I got them my mom a laptop with a webcam for this purpose. They love the service, so as long as Microsoft doesn't fuck it up, I think most people won't care. It would be pretty awesome to be able to make a call through my Xbox.
I use Skype to podcast with a guy out in Ohio and am planning to use it for staff meetings when I start running a LARP in a couple years. One thing I've noticed about Skype that's a little strange to me is that it's polarizing amongst people my age (31). Either you use Skype and are comfortable with technology and think it helps productivity in various ways or they don't use it and wouldn't take notes on a laptop if their life depended on it. As for the buyout, if Skype keeps working for free the way it currently does, I don't much care. If MS invents tons of new features for paid subscriptions then I haven't lost anything. If they make Skype to Skype conference calls paid though, or similar currently free features, then I'm out.
If Microsoft has an ounce of sense, they have seen the writing on the wall that the days of "minutes" and "phone lines" are numbered. Everything will be VOIP, and MS is making sure that, when you are buying only a data plan for your phone and an internet connection for your house, they can provide a unified communications platform between your nice Windows Phone and your Windows 8 PC. Frankly, I think this is far less about the desktop market than it is about shoring up Windows Phone as a serious mobile competitor. Free Windows Phone-to-Windows Phone, or Windows Phone-to-Skype calling for everyone, and a giant existing user base to draw from.