Microsoft announced today that it will be purchasing Skype for $8.5 billion in cash from Skype's intvestors. This move cancels the need for Skype's Initial Public Offerring (IPO) of stock. For the investors, this is a fantastic deal as they avoid having to parcel out the sale of their own shares over a number of years in order to get a return on investment. For us, the acquisition is a little unclear as to what we will receive out of this.

Installed with Windows
I'm positive we will see Skype being installed on all future windows desktops at some point in the near future instead of just a link to download as was shipped on some computers.

Integration with Windows Live Messenger
Skype already has a robust messaging application. I use it all the time with the people I normally connect with over Skpe. This begs the question, why would we need two applications that can handle messaging? Fact is, we don't. It would be an ambitious task for Microsoft to roll out a new version of Skype fully integrated with Messenger as their focus is probably better spent at integration into deeper levels of the OS.

Replacement for GoToMeeting for small groups
I love GoToMeeting, it's a fantastic tool for fascilitating business endeavours across geographic boundaries. There is a problem though, it's strenth lies in connecting a large number of individuals. Is it worth a monthly fee if you're only routinely connecting 2 to 4 people? For some this answer is no. With Skype's ability to conference in a number of people, and even up to 4 (I believe) in a video conference, this offers a much more personal experience than GoToMeeting. The main thing lacking though? Skype's screen sharing feature only works between two people. Once a third person is added ot the call screen sharing turns off. Also, the quality of the shared screen is far below that of what I experience in GoToMeeting. The same clear screen that fills my monitor ends up pixelated in Skype when stretched to full screen. If Microsoft can overcome these two issues than Skype could have better penetration in the enterprise.

Integration with Microsoft Office
This is probably a no-brainer for most people to come up with. There have been a number of attempts at collaborative projects for teams using Microsoft Office. With simpler sharing of documents within Skype, it could soon become a tool of choice for Office users.  Integration with Microsoft Outlook would also be a benefit as Skype dialing of Outlook contacts could be integrated within Skype and Outlook.

Shared Whiteboard
This would almost be a must for an addition to Skype if it is truly to penetrate deep within the business community. A shared whiteboard can dramatically assist collaborative team efforts and brainstorming sessions. This is just the sort of addition that can tie into online storage for snapshots of the generated whiteboards being shared on a service such as Windows Live SkyDrive.

Having been a corporate Skype user for almost two years now, I can say it has been a fantastic and highly econimical service. It allows me to communicate across the country (and to those cold Canadians far up in the Great White North) in a way I can't do by picking up the phone. I'm looking forward to all the possibilities this acquisition can generate.

Just to be clear, these are just some of my guesses, wishes, and speculative ideas.