Skype yanks support for Asterisk, Microsoft blamed

VoIP giant Skype has yanked support for Digium's open source Asterisk PBX, and many observers are buzzing that it may have something to do with Microsoft's planned acquisition of Skype. That would be surprising, given that the deal was just announced, and Microsoft can't have any active input in Skype's plans just yet.

PC World reports that decision probably has more to do with Skype wanting to work with SIP signalling. Microsoft is a SIP fan, and Digium's Asterisk actually does compete with Microsoft Lync, but Skype reportedly had been thinking about pulling itself from Digium's software for some time.

So, to some degree, this could be a lot of Evil Empire bashing, but it does raise the question of how Microsoft's future ownership of Skype could affect Skype's other business relationships. Will competing platforms and open source activities suddenly be less popular with Skype?

For more:
Here's the PC World story

Related articles:
Microsoft announced earlier this month that it was acquiring Skype
Digium and Skype announced interoperability in 2008
Skype has been active in the mobile sector of late