RIP Skype for Asterisk - you will be sorely missed.Is that Microsoft we can see digging the grave? Thoughts from our Founder.

London England- 10th June 2011

It's only been a couple of weeks, but we're already starting to see what Skype's future under Microsoft could look like.The fact it has decided not to renew its agreement with open-source telephony system Asterisk, suggests we could be moving towards a closed, proprietary integration between Skype Microsoft Lync.

Some will say this is a mere change of strategy from Skype and nothing more or that it's too early for Microsoft to have had an influence. But I'm sure I won't be alone when I say the timing feels more than a coincidence!

This summer Microsoft is due to launch an online version of Lync, a Microsoft-hosted version of its Lync unified-communications server - Asterisk happens to be a competitor to the Lync line. And are we really supposed to believe that it didn't pop up in conversation when Microsoft chief executive Steve Ballmer and Skype chief executive Tony Bates discussed a £5.2 billion deal?

Sadly the biggest losers in all of this are the SMEs that rely on Skype for Asterisk to conduct their business. Not only did Skype for Asterisk represent an affordable piece of functionality allowing cheap integration with a free network, but it gave SMEs an alternative option.

However, this all stands to change. While businesses still haveand use third party support for Asterisk/Skype software for a couple more years, we're undoubtedly facing a future of less choice and more rigid standards.

What does it mean in practical terms? That nice convergence of Asterisk and Skype where our desk-phones and mobiles talked nicely and 'freely' with our Skype accounts, meaning we only needed one set of devices for everything and could work the way we wanted is no longer. And, if your Asterisk supported website (like ours) has a little Skype button for customers to call you - it probably will no longer work – or at least not at the nice price levels we were used to.

I'm afraid it leaves SMEs with little option than to embrace the new face of Skype - and it has Microsoft's smile written all over it.