As Microsoft (nasdaq: MSFT - news - people ) fights for Web dominance with Google (nasdaq: GOOG - news - people ), it's hoping those numbers will give it an edge: Google had 133 million users in December and put ads in front of 77% of the Web's audience.

FORBES: Climbing The Web Ad Landscape

"For seven minutes or so, the years fall away and it seems as if the group were still at the cutting edge of pop - something their two new numbers, sadly, never quite manage, " he said.

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Yet while it was the free Skype-to-Skype calls that attracted the enormous numbers, it was Skype's paid options which allowed it to edge ahead of pre-existing rivals such as MSN and Yahoo.

BBC: Profile: How Skype connected