Another complaint is the compatibility with existing Skype equipments. You may want to stay with version 3.8 until this issue is resolved. You can get an older version from here.

Since I did not know what to expect, I searched through Skype Help and found the following features related to Outlook contacts. This is certainly a reasonable list for first attempt in integrating with Outlook.

• View Outlook contacts in Skype contact lists.
• Make Skypeout calls to Outlook contacts.
• Send SMS messages to Outlook contacts.
• Add Outlook contacts to contact groups.
• Update Skype contact lists automatically when changes are made to Outlook contacts in Outlook.

I was really excited about these new features and would like to try them out; however I soon discovered that my excitement was too premature. Of the five bullet points listed above, only the first one is functional. I can see my Outlook contacts and all the phone numbers in the Skype contact list; however I cannot call any of the numbers nor send any SMS messages. In additional, there is an error message at the bottom- “You don’t have a mobile number saved for …”; however the mobile number shown at the tab is corrected.

OK… I have to wait for the next release.