[Best of the Web — Thursday, 4 March 2010]

Skype arrives on Nokia smartphones: More than 200m Nokia smartphone users worldwide can now use voice-over-Internet Protocol calling software Skype on their handsets, potentially causing a headache for mobile operators everywhere. The application is available now as a free download from Nokia’s Ovi store. Skype plans to extend the software to all Symbian-based smartphones, including Sony Ericsson devices, in the near future. The software allows users to place cheap voice-over-data calls over Wi-Fi networks and on 3G/Edge cellular connections, and could eat into the mobile operators’ voice revenues. [The Telegraph] [PC World] [The Register]

Novell to go private in $2bn deal?: Software maker Novell may have been very quiet in recent years, but it’s still around. So much so that it’s just received an offer from hedge fund Elliott Associates to take it private for US$2bn. Elliott has offered $5,75/share in cash. Elliott is already one of Novell’s biggest shareholders, owning nearly 10% of the company’s stock. Novell, best known for its NetWare office networking software, has unsuccessfully attempted to reinvent itself a provider of open-source software solutions in recent years. [Reuters] [InformationWeek]