Skype,

I am hereby asking you to please communicate with us, your paying customers, regarding this alarming article which was published today July 31, 2009 in the The Age newspaper of Australia. Here is the URL:

http://www.theage.com.au/technology/biz-te...90731-e3qe.html

Many of us have invested a lot of time and energy to distribute our Skype numbers, and get family and friends to sign-up to the service, and it is extremely disturbing to see everything go down the drain from one day to the other.

We rely on Skype to be able to communicate with friends and family and the idea that it could disapear is just amazing.

If the article is right (and it is high unlikely that it would not be right since The Age is a very reputable newspaper), then it is just amazing that Ebay went through the HUGE expenditure to buy up Skype, and that they forgot to make sure that all necessary components to run the service were included in what they bought; OR that they had the right to license the software forever.

One doesn't need to be a rocket scientists to arrive at such a simple conclusion; and as such I am just puzzled, and frankly a bit upset at the possibility being discussed on the The Age.

Please ask Skype or Ebay to publish an official response to the allegation; I think those of us who are paying customers of Skype with subscriptions deserve an official explanation of what is happening, whether Skype has a good chance to win the fight, and what you are planning to do about this very grave situation that could affect millions upon millions of users.

Kind Regards,

Paul E. Witschey

Financial Times

Seems like its being picked up on all over. Should we expect loss of service at any moment. Should subscriptions be cancelled or can we expect a refund if Skype services are cut part way through a monthly subscription ?

How about some feedback on the situation.

I agree i have been a paying member for sometime and this bothers me also, I would like some feedback also, VALID QUESTION

I came to the forums specifically to ask this question, and I think as loyal Skype customers begin to pick up on this story, you'll be asked this more and more.

How about addressing this in your "news" section of the website? Skype had to know these questions would come, I wonder why there is not already a response on the website?

We have until June of next year to see what happens. I believe eBay will settle and agree on a settlement regarding the software being used. Don't think they will just shutdown and lose 480+ million users.

I came to Skype from other VoIP because the sound was bad, and truly enjoy using Skype with the Skype Phone So, I hope they could settle this before then.

Skye has about 14,000,000 users at anyone time. The 480,000,000 downloads is a bit misleading.

This is absurd and ridiculous!

I am in agreement that with over 400 million subscribers, it is difficult to believe that whoever (the owners will turn out to be) would let Skype fail.

I do not understand, though, in such a major financial transaction, how could any company as large as E-bay purchase Skype without purchasing the core technology? This is similar to the idea of buying a car but not the motor.

Is this also the reasaon why the service has been pretty bad lately or it's just me? I've noticed that sending and receiving messages has been pretty difficult lately ... INSTANT messages are delayed. Does this have anything to do with it? I have high speed internet so I'm sure that it's not a connection problem. Anyway, the news that Skype might be shut down is disturbing. I've relied on Skype for communicating with clients, family and friends and it is a way better tool for transferring files fast (compared to using Yahoo Messenger). I hope that they get this fixed.

I also agree that Skype should address this somewhere in the website for the benefit of their loyal customers.

And, as usual, Skype is completely silent on the matter...

SKYPE IS FAR BETTER FOR VOICE AND VIDEO...

BUT FOR SENDING ANY FILES,, YAHOO IS MUCH FASTER...

Exactly my point. Either Ebay hired some of the worst legal and technical advisers back when they purchased Skype, OR the original owners are trying to claim something that they have no right to claim; just because they see 'deep pockets' in Ebay.

It is absurd to think that Ebay would buy Skype without making 100% sure that they either purchased all the technology required to run it, or that they had a lifetime agreement on the underlying technology. Its ridiculous frankly. Next time they better hire one of us instead of whomever they hired to 'advise' them on the deal. That firm needs to be suit for incompetence!

I for once not only have a yearly worldwide subscription with Skype, but I got all my internationally dispersed family to switch to Skype; so their disconnection would be a major family blow!

Besides we have hundreds of dollars invested in General Electric standalone Skype phones for all our homes.

So I DO expect an answer from Skype. The lack of response is ridiculous.

I want to make a proposal if Skype is listening. How about making sure that people with subscriptions get a response from Skype within 24 hours. I think that's fair. If revenues are not enough, then charge us more, but provide us a service level agreement where one gets a response that addresses the question in 24 hours. You have a great technology, but a TERRIBLE customer service; and I would rather pay a few extra bucks but make sure that I have somebody that listens to my questions/concerns and answers them.

I got Euro6.84 balance in my account...

That makes me one of Skype's creditor I guess..

I have skype account and creditor to but belive it will there till I end my end my money calling back home

-

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i'm with Pepe Le Pue:-)