When I first went on Skype, I used to marvel that there were half a million or so people online at anyone time. Then I kind of stopped using it because everyone else that I convinced should try it out, didn’t use it either. Most of them didn’t have a microphone, when it came down to it. Some didn’t have speakers!

I knew a tipping pint had been reached, when my 83 year old father in law emailed me to check he’d installed Skype properly. He had and we had a chat.

I then went and set my wife’s machine up with Skype and plugged in my son’s old toy Lego camera for a webcam. She thought I was being stupid. Why would she want video conferencing?

I then called up my father in law and they had a chat. She was amazed and told her old friend Sue who is already on Skype. Yesterday they were chatting away quite happily, having forgotten that that she ever pooh-poohed the idea. I now have Skype on so I can call her up from my studio at the bottom of the garden. Yes, we use Skype as an intercom!

I now see that 14 million people are online. That’s a lot! With built in webcams and microphones, more and more people have the necessary to begin Skyping. In fact I can now Skype from my iPhone. I never thought Apple would allow that. Maybe my wife and father in law’s acceptance of the concept and the well-developed ease of the software have come together and we have reached the tipping point for Skype. How fast will those numbers rise in the coming year? Should I have shares in Skype?