While I think you're just making a joke and may already know this, it is important to keep in mind that Microsoft's involvement with this is probably very minimal and seems to be a no-win situation for it (edit: them? Interesting. It seems natural to say "them" here verbally but we use companies in the singular form. E.g. "Microsoft is.." instead of the British way of "Microsoft are..." yet the pronoun of Microsoft is them?)
eBay (mainly through their own incompetence) managed to screw up a Skype deal badly.
I actually think Microsoft could build something more worthwhile out of Skype, and that Microsoft in 2011 is actually fairly non-evil -- certainly less so than Skype or SLP seems to be.
The thing I'm really waiting on is a16z's response to this whole thing.
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Especially since being bought by Microsoft, it seems.
Steve Ballmer must have a reality distortion field as well, only with the opposite polarity than Steve Jobs's.
While I think you're just making a joke and may already know this, it is important to keep in mind that Microsoft's involvement with this is probably very minimal and seems to be a no-win situation for it (edit: them? Interesting. It seems natural to say "them" here verbally but we use companies in the singular form. E.g. "Microsoft is.." instead of the British way of "Microsoft are..." yet the pronoun of Microsoft is them?)
Offtopic, but ex-British journalist here. Every styleguide I've seen over here says 'companies are singular'.
The edit comment is just a distraction. It/them/blah doesn't matter. Pick one. Stick with it. People will understand.
PS: Agree with the rest of your comment.
It was a bitter joke, I think it's not too far from the truth.
eBay (mainly through their own incompetence) managed to screw up a Skype deal badly.
I actually think Microsoft could build something more worthwhile out of Skype, and that Microsoft in 2011 is actually fairly non-evil -- certainly less so than Skype or SLP seems to be.
The thing I'm really waiting on is a16z's response to this whole thing.