I enjoyed hearing where Skype is going by watching the video of Scott Durchslag's presentation at CES. However, I do think the folks at Skype "get ahead of themselves" with the "fun new stuff". There are still a lot of issues with "Skype Basic". It's still daunting for the new, non-techie user to get hooked up. Just downloading Skype doesn't make one a user.

I've been using Skype for a few years now and I am continually not able to find answers to simple questions- questions that I'm sure are ubiquitous and common- by searching the knowledge base. I will never forget the words of wisdom I read while reading up on "tricks for search engine optimization" for my website, which were: "Worry less about getting people to your website and more about keeping them there and selling them once they arrive!" I wish Skype would take this advice seriously to heart. Skype folks: You still need to work on your most basic fundamentals. For example, I still do not have a button (THAT WORKS EFFECTIVELY- important distinction) I can put on my website that customers who are not yet Skype users can click which will guide them easily thru set-up and connection with my company, not even for IM/chat if the customer doesn't have a headset or needs to be talked thru the next steps of voice connection by us.

I'd so much rather pay for Skype and have it work great than have it be free and issue-laden.