A new job posting at Microsoft hints that an HTML5 version of the video chat client that took over the world might be coming. Microsoft has posted 4 job openings for its Skype division, with the stated goal of helping to “bring [the] Skype experience on to the Web,” as the job posting puts it.
The position requires that the applicants have HTML5 know-how and experience with .Net languages like C# along with others like Java and C++.
Skype already has a bit of a web presence, regardless of what these postings make it seem like. Skype is what powers Facebook’s video chat service. But this posting indicates that Microsoft is looking to move beyond a basic web presence into a full-fledged product, a move that can only be good for the internet.
Skype has long been one of the few respected applications to use a peer-to-peer infrastructure for its services. Moving to the web will mean divorcing itself of its heritage. But while this isn’t great for peer-to-peer technology, it is good for the tech world in general. Skype clients have long varied platform to platform, with Linux and Mac usually getting shafted compared to the PC version of the software. When Skype was bought by Microsoft, the assumption was that Microsoft would do little to fix that, perhaps even encouraging the sad state of affairs mac and Linux users (like me) had to suffer through.
A move to the web, however, means a more portable future. If the client complies to HTML5 standards, it will be playable on any browser and any operating system. That means that the future of Skype is much, much brighter than we worried it would be.