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Ancestry kills its desktop software, moves to online subscriptions
Ancestry.com has announced that it's getting rid of its desktop software options at the end of the year. The company is reacting to what it sees as the "declining desktop software market" (and that pesky smartphone and tablet user boom), adding that it will allow the company to better provide support and updates to users. Its Family Tree Maker software will cease sale on December 31st 2015, but will continue working until January 1st 2017. This will include its TreeSync service that links to the web service -- important if you still want to keep scouring your lineage for that all important (yet tenuous) link to royalty.
Facebook to launch in-browser video chat powered by Skype?
Microsoft's $8.5 billion acquisition of Skype hasn't closed yet, but it looks like Redmond is already working behind the scenes to make the service even more ubiquitous. According to an anonymous source interviewed by TechCrunch, Facebook is going to introduce video chat next week, and that service will be powered by none other than Skype. And while the service will be browser-based, it's also said to include a desktop component. We'd say none of that sounds too fantastical -- video calls would be a logical extension of Facebook chat, and let's not forget about the $240 million Microsoft invested in the site back in 2007. What's more, Facebook sent out invites for an event next week, where Mark Zuckerberg was clear the outfit would unveil a new product from its Seattle team. That's in Microsoft's backyard, of course, the invites themselves have chat icons on 'em, and, most tellingly, that Seattle office has been snapping up engineers specializing in desktop software. All told, that adds up to a likely true story to us, but we won't know for sure until the long, beachy weekend is through.
