According to the folks at Skype, since the launch of its public beta program in August, 2003, the company has attracted "more than 7.7 million users across every country in the world."

"Thanks to our beta users evangelising Skype, their continued feedback and our exceptional development team, Skype now delivers on the long anticipated promise of Internet telephony," says Niklas Zennstrom, Skype CEO and co-founder.

His words come as Skype releases Skype 1.0 for Windows - which, Zennstrom says, includes SkypeOut, Skype's first commercial (i.e., paid-for) consumer offering. It enables Skype users to call any phone number in the world.

New beta versions of Skype for Linux and Skype for Pocket PC with the new SkypeOut feature are also available from today.

"Skype is helping consumers everywhere move beyond the limitations of last century's telecommunications tools to experience new value and quality," Zennstrom declares, adding that Skype 1.0 has numerous free features including conference calling, a Global Directory, call and message tracking, plus the ability to send and receive files via Skype and education and warning regarding virus potentials with file attachments.

"We've had more than 100,000 downloads of our software in the last 12 hours," a Skype spokesperson said yesterday.