Ordinarily I'd agree, but a huge part of businesses like Skype is the network effect. In other words, Skype is useful because basically everyone has an account

Ordinarily I'd agree, but a huge part of businesses like Skype is the network effect. In other words, Skype is useful because basically everyone has an account and knows how to use the software. So the attitude towards free users has to be more subtle than 'fuck them'. Skype is mature from a user base perspective. Holding off on monetizing free users until network effects start to bring real pull is a great game plan.