Skype goes open source

Linux client of popular instant messaging software Skype, will be soon available as open source. It should help its further development.

Today Skype representatives announced on their blog:

Yes, there's an open source version of Linux client being developed. (...) Having an open source UI will help us get adopted in the "multicultural" land of Linux distributions, as well as on other platforms and will speed up further development.

Making available any software as open source means that its owners offer practical accessibility to a software's source code and allow other developers to tinker and re-publish it. Open source software is free and, in most cases, other developers can use it even for commercial purposes. But it seems not whole code of Skype for Linux will become open source, only its client. The difference is quite significant, as Mashable blogger describes:

Without going into too much detail, Skype says that an open source version of the Linux (linux) client is being developed. This is not the same thing as the Skype code itself becoming open source. (...) In other words, it might be easier for the Gnome or KDE teams to integrate Skype into the existing X-Windows platforms, but the base of what makes Skype work will still be closed off.

Still it is good news, especially for Linux users, as Skype for Linux seems to be always behind its Windows counterpart.