When any cross-platform product is purchased by an "operating systems" company there's always going to be some element of cross-platform questioning. After all

When any cross-platform product is purchased by an "operating systems" company there's always going to be some element of cross-platform questioning. After all it's not Microsoft's job to further the Linux, iOs, OSX, Android, WebOS et al platforms. That said, MS spent $8.5B on the deal, so it seems to be something they're likely to take seriously. I guess a Windows-Phone-7 version will get a lot of love, and expect to see new versions ship on Windows before other platforms. But that's a long way from removing Skype from existing platforms. MS has a history of programs on other platforms, not least MS Office on the Mac. If there's a business case for it, it should fly ok. It's a long way though from selecting a live-stream platform for the website, to the cross-platform strategy overall. By implication, since Silverlight pretty much only runs on Windows, you could argue that this isn't a snub of Linux, it's a snub of _all_ non-Windows platforms. I just can't see MS deprecating support for Skype on all mobile devices, and all other non-Windows devices anytime soon. I would imagine that makes up a significant chunk of the Skype userbase, and it doesn't make sense not to leverage them. I wouldn't spend this sort of money to reach Windows-only users. Of course MS the company has no shortage of haters in the non-MS OS community, so expect to see much wailing and gnashing of teeth from them. Every little action MS makes, no matter what, will be met with loud cries of anguish, and predictions of doom. Perhaps though it's sanest to consider what is actually happening, rather than what "definitely will happen any day now" from pundits with an axe to grind.