I just explained Skype to my mom. I setup an account for her, then demonstrated how to dial phone numbers and save them as contacts.
She has family in Canada, Hawaii and the Philippines, but the appeal is the free calling within the US and Canada.
Within minutes, she was talking to her brother in Hawaii using my laptop. She got a few more phone numbers, and called some more people. (I also showed her how to save the numbers she already dialed so she wouldn’t have to look them up again.)
Before I knew it, she talked for over 30 minutes to various people using Skype!
In regards to her family in the Philippines, It currently costs about $0.20 USD/minute. With the calling cards she buys, it’s about the same, but she has to use it up all at once. At least with SkypeOut, “Skype Credit will remain active for 180 days after your last SkypeOut call.”
Even though I don’t have a pressing need to use Skype, it’s still totally cool because my mom can use it and save some money.
All Narfed Up 