I would like to make a suggestion to the Skype development team:

Start over in how you create business relationships and accounts.

Clearly, you have no one on staff who understands the power of Skype, and equally the time-challenged nature of small business.

Speaking for our company, we have found that the product is wonderful, but it is solely a retail product. For example, to use it in California with employees we are required by law to be able to archive instant message traffic. I can't, despite repeated requests OVER THREE YEARS. So it is FORBIDDEN to be used by employees here on company machines.

We also concur with the many comments on the so-called "business control panel" label. Business customers control very little. We can't control login names or numbers; the employee does. We can't lock down numbers for more than twelve months, so I play monthly whack-a-mole making sure we don't lose a number. We currently have a Skype-In number, but it doesn't show on the panel and I so have no way of renewing it.

Please get yourself a group of small business people to advise you on small business. E-Bay clearly doesn't get this, as it is a large company. Since most new jobs are created by small businesses in the US, it would be advisable to not create a market and then effectively walk away from it. We fully expect Google to see your mistakes and eat Skype's lunch.

Regretfully, we feel like we watching the demise, not birth of a great product.

Hi,

Thanks for your feedback, I hope that this will answer some of your issues that you address:

- Chat history logging: Apart from the local logging of chat history in Skype, there are several certified 3rd party logging tools available. Please visit http://www.pamela-systems.com/ and try out their software. Skype itself cannot develop specific tools for every bespoke need a company has, for that reason we cooperate with our software partners who are experts at their particular field.

- SkypeIn numbers. As you mention you can buy SkypeIn numbers (online numbers) for 12 or 3 months. When that time period has passed, you are alerted of this and can renew the numbers. Even though the numbers expire, they are still reserved for your benefit for a further 90 days.

- Any number bought within the Business Control Panel, which is the tool we recommend businesses to use, is within the company's control and can be assigned and reassigned to employees in a few clicks. A SkypeIn number that is bought buy a personal account cannot - for obvious legal reasons - be managed by a separate company/entity.

- As a company using the Business Control Panel, the ability to invite employees is within your control. If you want to assign specific Skype Names to your employees, you are naturally free to do so.

Please continue to provide feedback!

Kind regards,
Wilhem