Then people started using it more and more and it became the most downloaded software on the internet.

Another differentiator is that Skype is free and simple to set up, and it costs us virtually nothing for a new user to join the Skype network, which is why we can offer the service for free.

We have 2 million users in the U.S. and about 13 million worldwide in more than 200 countries.

In fact, we just surpassed our first 1 million simultaneous users online.

If you can use a Web browser, you can use Skype.

With our work at Kazaa, we began seeing growing broadband connections and more powerful computers and more streaming multimedia, and we saw that the traditional way of communicating by phone no longer made a lot of sense.

It is very similar to companies like Google and other internet companies. When you go and search on Google you don't pay for that. But sometimes you click on an advert and Google makes money on that.

Then people started using it more and more and it became the most downloaded software on the internet.

If you could utilize the resources of the end users' computers, you could do things much more efficiently.

Skype is easy enough to use so that people don't need to be tech savvy - a lot of users just want to communicate with their friends and family, and they find this is the easiest, cheapest way.

We have just started, and if you compare the number of people using Skype to the number using a telephone network around the world, we're still just starting.

Skype is for any individual who has a broadband Internet connection.

What we are doing is taking advantage of the broadband Internet to provide basically unlimited free calls to anyone at a higher voice quality than they can with the phone lines.

We also have a conference call feature where up to five people can talk on one Skype call.

When radio stations started playing music the record companies started suing radio stations. They thought now that people could listen to music for free, who would want to buy a record in a record shop? But I think we all agree that radio stations are good stuff.

They also can combine voice with instant messaging and online file sharing.

People need to access Skype wirelessly, no matter where they are, and what happens is that we'll be taking advantage of the rollout of Internet everywhere - WiFi and WiMax in particular.

And the VCR did the same thing: the movie industry thought nobody would ever watch movies any more.

The telephone is a 100-year-old technology. It's time for a change. Charging for phone calls is something you did last century.

Angry Birds is one of the fastest-growing online products I've seen, growing even faster than Skype, and the company has done a brilliant job of extending it across different platforms and merchandise.

As an entrepreneur, if you're the originator, you need to be faster than ever.

As an investor, what we're not looking for is 'oh this is a cool app,' it's 'is this something that can become a big business?' You need to find those that can become real businesses.

If you want to be an entrepreneur, it's not a job, it's a lifestyle. It defines you. Forget about vacations, about going home at 6 pm - last thing at night you'll send emails, first thing in the morning you'll read emails, and you'll wake up in the middle of the night. But it's hugely rewarding as you're fulfilling something for yourself.

It's extremely hard to build a company with a product that everyone loves, is free and has no business model, and then to innovate a business model. I did that with Kazaa, had half a billion downloads but that wasn't a sustainable business.

Surround yourself with smart, dedicated people - to build something isn't a one-man show. It's more important to have smart people who really believe in what you're doing than really experienced people who may not share your dream.

When we look at investing, we always think about 'how defensible is this, how likely is it that somebody is going to copy this.' E-commerce tends to be something easy to copy because it's execution.

When we started Skype, if you look at analyst reports, no one forecasted it as a big business. Also when Google started, it was not fashionable to be in search. It's not trying to do the obvious - that's the hard part.

Silicon Valley is the best place to start a tech company in so many ways.

Video is moving online in a big way. It's proven to be a challenging market for some companies that start out as a pure Internet company such as Joost.

I love my DSL, but I love my WiFi more. And I probably get on the Internet 40 percent to 50 percent more because of the combination of those technologies.

I was stuck at home in bed with me and got more and more involved with the Internet. I used it to keep in contact with friends and to make sure I was up to date with everything that was going on in the world.

There's a statistical theory that if you gave a million monkeys typewriters and set them to work, they'd eventually come up with the complete works of Shakespeare. Thanks to the Internet, we now know this isn't true.

Five or ten years ago, when it was clear the Internet was becoming a mainstream phenomenon, it was equally clear that a lot of people were being left out and could be left behind.

I got sick and tired of my lady wearing ugly underwear to bed, so I turned to the Internet.

At the bottom, the elimination of spyware and the preservation of privacy for the consumer are critical goals if the Internet is to remain safe and reliable and credible.

In my column series "The Main Thing," I often talk about how Internet technology can improve the way people communicate - both within a business and between a business and its customers and partners.

The Internet is not just one thing, it's a collection of things - of numerous communications networks that all speak the same digital language.

I don't know much about the internet, I'm afraid.

Congress will pass a law restricting public comment on the Internet to individuals who have spent a minimum of one hour actually accomplishing a specific task while on line.

The new information technology... Internet and e-mail... have practically eliminated the physical costs of communications.

Those involved in the program are interested in how to use photography, videos, the Internet, film, and anything related to communications and transmission of information in the most up-to-date modern ways.

There are some scary statistics out there: one in five kids aged 10-17 have received a sexual solicitation or approach via the Internet.

When I get back from this book tour, I'm planning to learn the internet. Maybe I can hook up in cyberspace.

You can browse to your heart's content but it's hard work and not easy on the feet unless you do it through catalogs or the Internet, and I like to touch and try on the things I buy.

I'm a babe in the woods when it comes to the Internet.

I read on the Internet that I was dead.

We are going after a targeted group of businesses that are creating opportunities for themselves using other people's property. The Internet has very little to do with this.

The Internet makes it possible for people like me to live the way I do now. Without it, I'd have to be in New York or some other city. I think the Internet is the greatest invention in history after antibiotics.

With over 1 billion users and counting worldwide, the Internet has quickly become a critical place for individuals, business communities and governments to share and distribute information.