I think this is a great point, and the one that designers (and anyone feeling threatened by the evil onslaught of spec work) should be focusing on rather than t

I think this is a great point, and the one that designers (and anyone feeling threatened by the evil onslaught of spec work) should be focusing on rather than the notion that the mere existence of 99designs is "insulting" to the profession. Spec work is a good way to quickly and cheaply solve a simple problem where top quality is not the primary concern. Many problems (and I would agree that the Skype UI is one of these) are more complex and require a more specialised approach. The latter is where top designers spend all of their time anyway.