Skype has pulled the plug on Skype for Asterisk which it says will not be available for sale or activation after July 26, 2011.

The software was developed by Digium in cooperation with Skype. It included proprietary software from Skype that allows Asterisk to join the Skype network as a native client. However Skype has decided not to renew the agreement that permits the outfit to package this proprietary software.This should not affect any existing users of Skype for Asterisk for at least two years.

However there are dark mutterings on the world wide wibble that Skype has pulled the plug on the software to appease its new Microsoft masters. Quite why this would be the case is anyone's guess. It is probably more rational to think that Skype did it to improve the books before Microsoft took over. Even saner heads might say that Skype simply decided to kill off the third party hack and focus on building native SIP connectivity.

If it pulled this off it would make its products look more appealing to business users as they would have the ability to plug into virtually any IP-PBX.