Cisco Loses Microsoft-Skype Challenge in EU

Microsoft’s $8.5 billion takeover of Skype is not anticompetitive, says the EU.

Norad Santa-Tracker Is Now 3-D, Touch-Enabled and Claymationized, Courtesy of Microsoft

Since 1955, children of all ages have tracked Santa’s global route with the help of Norad’s radar, satellites and jet fighters.

Four Years Later, How Does the Xbox’s Kinect Stack Up to Its Original Vision?

The new Kinect is central to the Xbox One’s marketing. How does it compare to the original “product vision” video?

Skype Marketing Exec Steele Heads to Jive in Top Strategy and Marketing Role

The social business platform grabs former Microsoft and Yahoo vet.

News Byte

Microsoft Names Exec to Top Skype Post

Microsoft has named Gurdeep Singh Pall to replace the departing Mark Gillett as corporate VP for Skype, as well as its Lync communications product. Gillett, who took a job as head of value creation at private equity firm Silver Lake, had been responsible for Skype’s product, engineering and operations worldwide, duties that will now fall to Pall. An experienced engineer, Pall was most recently CVP of Information Platform & Experience in Microsoft’s new Applications and Services division. Before that, he was CVP of the Office Lync & Speech group.

Departing Skype Exec Gillett to Become Head of “Value Creation” at Silver Lake

Mystery managed, as the British exec might say!

News Byte

Top Skype Exec Mark Gillett Departs Microsoft

According to an internal memo sent this morning to employees, top Skype exec Mark Gillett is leaving Microsoft. Sources said that Gillett — who is corporate VP for Skype, as well as its Lync product — has another job he is headed to, although the memo did not mention where he was going. Gillett, who is responsible for Skype’s product, engineering and operations globally, has been with the online telephony company for several years, including before Microsoft bought it. Previous to that, he worked at private equity giant Silver Lake in Europe.

News Byte

GroupMe Co-Founder Steve Martocci Launches Music Collaboration Startup Splice

Steve Martocci, who co-founded messaging service GroupMe in 2010 and sold it to Skype in 2011, has a new project: Splice. The service, co-founded by Matt Aimonetti, is supposed to let musicians collaborate on projects and share the results with fans. Union Square Ventures’ Andy Weissman led a $2.75 million seed round, along with other investors including True Ventures, Lerer Ventures and SV Angel.

Is Ford’s Alan Mulally Now in the Lead to Be New CEO of Microsoft?

Can the car maker fix what ails the tech giant?

Videoconferencing Startup Blue Jeans Network Raises $50 Million

Building out to stream a billion minutes worth of videoconferences every year.

VOIP of the People (Comic)