April 17, 2013
Microsoft Integrates Lync and Skype
By Robbie Pleasant
TMCnet Contributor
The time is at hand. Microsoft (News - Alert) has begun integrating Lync with Skype, connecting the two services to combine their instant messaging, voice, and video communication capabilities.
While it was announced quite a while ago that the two services would be linked, this announced integration came sooner than anticipated. As such, it’s safe to assume that everything is moving at a nice pace, beating the anticipated schedule by at least a month. These are just the first steps of integration, though; it will still be a while until communication between the two is fully passable.
Within a short amount of time, instant messaging and voice communication will be able to pass between each service. Video, however, is still going to take some time before it’s linked from one to the other, with at least a 12-month wait time.
With the new updates, users can connect their Skype (News - Alert) and Lync contacts through Outlook, syncing up accounts and connections. There have been no official announcements from Microsoft as of this article, but people all over the Internet are posting about their experiences with the linked contacts and messaging.
Of course, not all is perfect in the world of Skype. While it is experiencing some competition from other mobile messaging apps, it still continues to serve many, many customers each day. Yet it is experiencing some difficulty from outside, such as French telecom authorities demanding it allow the police in France to listen in on calls from its users, while on the other side of the spectrum, people are demanding more transparency into the process of recording and requisitioning calls.
Still, the connection between Lync and Skype has been anticipated for some time, and now that it’s finally underway, it’s bound to appeal to many users of both. Being able to communicate between the two separate programs is a great step towards fully unified communication, and it will make business and casual communication much easier for many.
Edited by Rich Steeves