Microsoft buys itself an ex-executive's company for Christmas

Microsoft has purchased Talko, a tiny startup helmed by ex-Microsoft bigwig and tech legend Ray Ozzie, just in time for Christmas, per a blog entry.

Talko's tech lets users tag, bookmark, save, and search through phone conversations, letting workers share notes and snippets of conference calls with each other. Talko also uses sound analysis to let you know who's speaking on a conference call.

In that blog entry, Microsoft says that Talko's employees will join the Skype team - good timing, as Microsoft looks to boost Skype's credibility in the workplace.

The price of the deal was not disclosed. And Ray Ozzie, founder of Talko, will not be rejoining Microsoft, he confirmed to Fortune.

Ozzie is best known as the man who took over the title of Microsoft Chief Software Architect from 2006 to 2010, replacing Bill Gates himself in the role. Indeed, Gates once called Ozzie one of the greatest programmers on the planet.

Before that, Ozzie invented the Lotus Notes software, one of the first tools for workplace collaboration, and a big reason why IBM purchased Lotus for $3.5 billion in 1995.

Ozzie started Talko, originally called "Cocomo," in 2012. In 2014, Talko came out of stealth mode, but failed to set the world on fire. In fact, he indicated to Fortune that this sale wasn't actually his plan for Talko.

Also of note: This is actually Microsoft's 20th acquisition of 2015. Microsoft has given itself one more present under the tree.