Skype Pursuing "Unarticulated Needs"

I just came across this blog post from Skype CEO Josh Silverman. Basically, it says what has been obvious from Skype's behavior for a long time - they know what is best for you, whether you know it or not, and if you would just think a little harder, you'd see how right they are.

However, what I found more interesting was the comments made on the blog post - "Please Help, Skype has taken money from my bank account", "Why is it so difficult to contact Skype Support", "I agree it is difficult to contact Skype Support", and so on.

As I have said many times before, Skype 'Support" is non-existent. This is becoming more obvious all the time, as desperate Skype users are posting pleas for help to the Skype Journal (aka the Skype Cheerleading Squad), to other user forums, to various blogs, and just about anywhere else you (or they) can imagine.

If you want to risk your business on a product which has no customer support, go with Skype. If you want to risk your money with a company that openly says they will take a MINIMUM of four days to respond to any inquiry and has a company policy of "take the money first, and ignore the questions later", go with Skype. If you are going to take a trip, and want to risk setting everything up so you can communicate with friends and family back home, only to arrive at your destination and find that it doesn't work, and there is no technical support, go with Skype. If you want to chat using a product which promotes itself as "secure", but then won't give a simple answer when asked if there is a back door for monitoring, and they are passing out the keys to that door, go with Skype.

If any or all of these possibilities disturb you, look carefully at the alternatives to Skype.

jw 31/7/2008