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Visually, little has changed, but the Skype engineers promise that audio quality has been improved, and you can now - for the first time - transfer outgoing calls to other Skype users, but only if they, too, are using the latest version of the software.

A new update service will either prompt you when a new version is available, or download and install it automatically, depending on your preference, while previously Windows-only features have finally been added. These include the ability to use DTMF tones in Skype-to-Skype calls, join public chats, call Skype Prime premium numbers, and see when others are writing a message with a typing indicator.

Skype for Mac 2.6 beta is a 30MB download from here. It is free, and requires a PowerPC G4 800MHz processor or better, Mac OS X 10.3.9 Panther or later, 512MB of Ram, a microphone and 40MB of free hard drive space.

Skype Ltd was acquired by eBay in October 2005.