Will the sale of Skype be a big deal for Apple users?

This morning most of the Internet learned that Microsoft officially bought Skype for a price around $8.5 Billion. It was a big surprise to some, as only days ago there were rumours that Google and Facebook were trying to buy the peer-to-peer online telephone service.

Now that Microsoft has bought Skype we wonder what will happen with the company and its direction.

Here at Motion Media we use Skype almost everyday. We have a team member in Victoria, BC, Lethbridge, AB and even Spain, so when it comes to inner office communications we rely on these services. Skype is used primarily in our office for our morning meetings, where we all discuss what we have planned for the day.

Now there isn't any threat that Skype will be disappearing anytime soon. Judging from all the news and blog posts out there, it sounds like Microsoft has some big plans for Skype. But because we all use Apple computers here (with the exception of maybe one) we are a little concerned that we will lose support of the Mac version of Skype.

This threat has also been shared around the Internet today. Many wondering if Apple users, both computer and mobile devices, will end up being kicked to the curb and forgotten about.

We certainly hope not. Although Skype 5 for Mac is not the greatest update out there, it still does what it is suppose to and relatively well. To date there isn't any other program that handles group voice chats well. This may change though, Google and Apple may see this as an opportunity to grow their services, Google Talk and FaceTime. One can only hope.

What is your take on Microsoft buying Skype? Do you think it is a good thing for Skype users or a bad thing?