Microsoft in Talks to Acquire Discord

[Apparition]

Reports indicate that Microsoft is in talks to acquire Discord for more than $10 billion.  The deal is supposedly in the very early stages with nothing finalized.  Word is that both Amazon and Epic Games have also held discussions with Discord in regards to a sale.

[TemporalVileTerror]

Given the public stance of the original lead developer of discord, I wouldn't be surprised if this sale went through, and discord ended up getting the "Skype Treatment."

May be time for discord users to start looking at alternatives to prepare for that inevitable decline.

 

Element (previously Riot) has been pretty good to me.  Not perfect, but fairly reasonable.

https://element.io

[rookery.]

*sighs and starts packing bags again*

 

*awaits the inevitable, 'Nothing will change' announcement, before things change, for the worse*

[DougGraves]

I'm not bothered by MS owning something as such.  But I also assume that they will ruin it once they buy it.

[Hyperstrike]

18 minutes ago, DougGraves said:

I'm not bothered by MS owning something as such.  But I also assume that they will ruin it once they buy it.

 

I am.  I trust Microsoft about as much as an army of crack addicts with long, violent criminal histories.

I basically assume that they'll simply fold it into Skype and Office and privatize it.

[CFIndustries]

I just always assume all chat software with either:

• Be bought, and my privacy violated by, a large corporation when I'm not looking.
• Be a hive of scum and villainy, and I'll avoid using it even before it gets bought.

I just try and reduce my exposure by avoiding chat systems like this altogether. Besides, I generally find my life is alot more peaceful this way.

Edited March 23, 2021 by CFIndustries

[Apparition]

37 minutes ago, Hyperstrike said:

 

I am.  I trust Microsoft about as much as an army of crack addicts with long, violent criminal histories.

I basically assume that they'll simply fold it into Skype and Office and privatize it.

Skype is pretty much dead.  I wouldn’t be surprised though if parts of Discord were to be folded into Microsoft Teams.

 

No matter what, should Microsoft acquire Discord, you will eventually need a Microsoft account which I am not thrilled about.  I have managed to avoid a Microsoft account so far.

[Number Six]

I really doubt they'd try to integrate it with Teams since Teams is much more business-focused and positioned as a Slack/Webex/Zoom competitor.

 

Discord is a lot more gaming-centric, so it seems likely to me they'd try to tie it in with all their XBox network stuff.

[rookery.]

initial look at element.io is promising. Also appears to be open source.

[honoroit]

What's wrong with Xbox and msft, aside from 'big == evil' or some such? 

 

If anything you'd see tighter integration with windows, Xbox streaming services in win 10, the consoles, else. 

 

They just wanna anon your data and number crunch it so to better target things to sell you. 

 

Problem there: msft can seeee meeeee, oh no!

Problem there: msft will psychomine me and others, and exploit weaknesses masked as product offerings. 

Problem there: msft may conduct anthropology research, oh no! 

 

Potential benefit there: better stuff, potentially

[Apparition]

5 minutes ago, honoroit said:

What's wrong with Xbox and msft, aside from 'big == evil' or some such? 

 

If anything you'd see tighter integration with windows, Xbox streaming services in win 10, the consoles, else. 

 

They just wanna anon your data and number crunch it so to better target things to sell you. 

 

Problem there: msft can seeee meeeee, oh no!

Problem there: msft will psychomine me and others, and exploit weaknesses masked as product offerings. 

Problem there: msft may conduct anthropology research, oh no! 

 

Potential benefit there: better stuff, potentially

 

Microsoft is not your friend.  There are reasons why the very first things I do after installing Windows 10 is to run about a half dozen PowerShell scripts, go into the Group Policy Editor, and even into the Windows registry itself to intentionally neuter as much of Cortana and their various tracking systems as possible, and am looking towards switching to Linux.  "Tighter integration" with Windows and Xbox streaming services are what I'm afraid of.  Those are not good things, and would cause me to abandon Discord.  I run Windows 10 without a Microsoft account.  I'm not about to create nor use a Microsoft account for something else.

Edited March 23, 2021 by Apparition

[honoroit]

1 minute ago, Apparition said:

 

Microsoft is not your friend.  There are reasons why the very first things I do after installing Windows 10 is to run about a half dozen PowerShell scripts, go into the Group Policy Editor, and even into the Windows registry itself to intentionally neuter as much of Cortana as possible, and am looking towards switching to Linux.  "Tighter integration" with Windows and Xbox streaming services are what I'm afraid of.  Those are not good things, and would cause me to abandon Discord.  I run Windows 10 without a Microsoft account.  I'm not about to create nor use a Microsoft account for something else.

 

OK, sure, I get optimizing sys processes allowed for a gaming or general compute platform. I take it this is primary motivator there. 

 

But why would a company be my friend, why might I care. The exchange is transactional, if I can derive benefit. 

[WanderingAries]

5 hours ago, Number Six said:

I really doubt they'd try to integrate it with Teams since Teams is much more business-focused and positioned as a Slack/Webex/Zoom competitor.

 

Discord is a lot more gaming-centric, so it seems likely to me they'd try to tie it in with all their XBox network stuff.

 

This is my guess. Look for it to become the Xbox themed streaming service.

[TemporalVileTerror]

The biggest problem is something akin to, let's say . . . a car.

Cars have roads, and some can even off-road!

But let's say your car's manufacturer decides one day that you're no longer allowed to drive on your own street, because of "reasons."  Suddenly your car just won't do it.  You try to turn the wheel, but it locks up and the engine seizes.

 

That's the problem with "integration" when it comes to a corporation like Micrsoft or apple; they're not integrating anything for the users' benefits.  They're doing it for their own at the expense of the users.

 

@Number Six, is the Homecoming Team already looking in to alternatives?  I've recommended Homecoming distance themselves from discord in the past due to other issues.  While I don't want any of you to be inconvenienced if it can be helped, this situation at least provides a more 'vibrant' reason to establish use of a chat application that will have less risky terms of use.

[Techwright]

35 minutes ago, WanderingAries said:

 

This is my guess. Look for it to become the Xbox themed streaming service.

I don't own an Xbox, (I only play the occasional Halo game on friends' consoles when we're all in the room) so please pardon my naivety, but you're saying MS never integrated something like this into their Xbox service already?  How do Xbox players communicate on cooperative games?

[TemporalVileTerror]

This is Microsoft we're talking about.

The same people who bought Skype to replace their MSN Messenger, since they recognized that Skype was the more popular option and didn't have the same taint about its brand as their Messenger did.

[Glacier Peak]

I like Microsofts' Windows 10. I bought the pro 64-bit because it had less bloat. I would gladly pay over double the price I paid for a pro'er version if it had a no bloat or privatized user data, but it wouldn't be economical for Microsoft to sell something like that to the consumer. So, since it can't create my own operating system and I need to use a computer, I make the best choice I can 😅

[Hyperstrike]

9 hours ago, honoroit said:

What's wrong with Xbox and msft, aside from 'big == evil' or some such? 

 

Going to assume you're joking here.

 

9 hours ago, honoroit said:

If anything you'd see tighter integration with windows, Xbox streaming services in win 10, the consoles, else. 

 

Screwing everyone not on a Microsoft platform.

 

Embrace
Extend
Extinguish

[WanderingAries]

4 hours ago, Techwright said:

I don't own an Xbox, (I only play the occasional Halo game on friends' consoles when we're all in the room) so please pardon my naivety, but you're saying MS never integrated something like this into their Xbox service already?  How do Xbox players communicate on cooperative games?

 

In Windows 10, there is Xbox integration. AFAIK, the Xbox runs a custom version of Windows 10 at its core.

[honoroit]

1 hour ago, Hyperstrike said:

Going to assume you're joking here.

Really, no. I understand it was the fashion to hate on msft in the 2000s, but as a gaming platform win 10 is good. 

 

Xbox seems to know its ass from elbow this console gen, and Xbox game pass is very good value all round - there's not a lot of dispute there either. 

 

Aside, msft research pumps a lot of money into medical tech, look at recent complex surgery done via AR. Likewise they conduct actual anthropology research.

 

In workplace productivity, they have great apps. The information workers life would be worse without them

 

Shit, visual studio is a nice ide, and VS code is free. 

 

Bloody hell, even net core runs cross platform. 

 

I don't get the hate. 

 

So yes, serious question, not joking. 

[Troo]

who uses discord anyway? meh.

[Hyperstrike]

3 hours ago, Troo said:

who uses discord anyway? meh.

Don't make me break out the car battery and the testicle clamps...

[The_Warpact]

I use Discord for our VG for news, chat, builds, the voice chat we use only for backup in case anything happens to teamspeak which we use exclusively. 

MS takes over Discord I'll delete it and never look back. 

[Moka]

[Apparition]

12 hours ago, Troo said:

who uses discord anyway? meh.

 

Just about everyone I know under the age of 45, and quite a few older than that. :P  The ones under 35 mostly refuse to have anything to do with forums.  Too old school.