Microsoft VoIP Buyout Will Change Everything

Microsoft's buyout of VoIP startup Teleo is easily the most significant VoIP news of the year. More than those highly annoying Vonage ads, it shows that VoIP is not just the wave of the future -- it's very much of the present. The Redmond behemoth only throws its money after technologies it figures are for the mainstream.What's most interesting about the move is that appears Microsoft doesn't plan to focus on a separate VoIP consumer product. Rather, it will incorporate VoIP into MSN services. For example, you'll use MSN to look up a local restaurant, say, then click on the restaurant's phone number, and your VoIP phone will make the call.It's a way to shore up MSN against Google and Yahoo, and it's also a very clever way to employ VoIP. In fact, that kind of use changes everything. Voice, data, Internet access...they'll all be rolled into one. It'll be interesting to see how Google and Yahoo respond.