It's not entirely clear why progress on Skype seems to be slower than creeping treacle, but at least the developers behind the Skype (Preview) UWP app took to the Internet yesterday to answer questions from the general public. Don't worry, you didn't miss a scintillating set of revelations, almost everything asked was "err... coming soon". But hey, at least the team were open to suggestions and questions.

From the helpful summary by MSPU:

• We really appreciate your feedback. This is a really interesting area that we are looking into. We love Windows 10 AU and are really looking to use all the new capabilities it offers.
• We are looking into having a richer experience for notifications.  Regarding transparent tiles, we are currently working on it and you should be seeing it in a future release.
• Finally, for your notifications [questions regarding utilization of Windows 10 Anniversary Update features like rich notifications ]we have this in our plans and should be coming soon as well.
• We are currently working on some really cool features around SMS [relay]capabilities in Skype UWP
• Integrating with the Windows Share charm is something we’re invested in.  You should see the functionality added in a future update.
• You should see video messaging and IM quoting in an update soon. Integrating with ink support within Windows is also an investment area for us.
• We really appreciate your feedback. We’ve been working on Pasting images and screen clippings feature and it is coming in a future release. We’re also looking into “sharing your location” feature for a future release.
• Thank you for the feedback.  Ability to quickly send voice messages is something we are considering to bring to Skype Preview in the future.

On the subject of the name ('Skype Preview') and status in the Skype stable:

• Thanks for the great feedback.  Once we get to feature parity with our existing Skype Win32 application we’ll be changing the name to just “Skype”. To improve user experience and to prevent users getting multiple notifications due to multiple instances of Skype, we have logic where if you use Skype Preview, then it automatically exists the older Skype app and vice versa. So though we hope that Skype Preview will address all your Skype needs going forward, if you use only the older version of Skype and never launch Skype preview, then you will stay connected on the older version of Skype.

Aha - so the reason for the current name is that the new UWP is still getting features added to bring it up to par - which makes sense, even though 'Skype UWP' would be less confusing all round, perhaps? Or 'Skype Universal'? 

Also mentioned in the Q&A was that updates to the Skype Preview UWP app were scheduled 'monthly'. It's good to see the system still evolving, though in a world of iMessage, Whatsapp and Facebook Messenger, it lost the chance to compete in consumer hearts and minds a long, long time ago. Like Windows 10 (Mobile) itself, Skype has ended up as more a professional tool. Mind you, if that means that there won't be bouncing balloons, themed emojis, stickers and fireworks, then sign me up. #grump