Dave Winer, one the people most responsible for popular web standards like RSS and for spreading the blogging meme back in the last century, spoke up on one of my favorite topics today.

I just joined eBay. I know, what took me so long. Anyway, I'm bidding on something, and want to be notified by SMS or IM, and thought I'd use Skype (eBay bought it for $2.6 billion) but it isn't an option. That's pretty amazing. You'd think the Skype guys would have some sway over there. You can use PayPal (another big eBay acquisition) to pay for what you buy.

Dave, the reason Skype doesn't offer Skype alerting is that Skype doesn't operate a web service or offer a "naked Skype" client or a Skype server that can talk through the Skype P2P network.

There are two reasons to hope.

First, Skype is working on IM interoperability with Google, supporting click-to-call. At some level, this means building at least an IM gateway.  

Second, it's much easier to do once someone's shown it can be done. The demo of TalkPlus's gateway to the Skype network is proof enough.