Leaving a program to which you have been strongly committed can be a very emotional personal experience. In a follow up to the news released in my post yesterday about changes in the Skype Developer Program, Paul Amery, who headed the program since August 2006, has very professionally authored an Exit Letter which has been posted on the Skype Developer Blog by Antoine Bertout, Developer Partner Relations Manager. I can certainly concur will Paul's summary of the team's accomplishments during his tenure:

• We created the route to market you requested, in the shape of Extras Manager since 3.0 launch
• Downloads of third-party apps have increased from a few thousand a month to 40m downloads in 12 months
• Finally, we’ve made progress on Web Services. wolli will keep you posted on plans for the Directory Web Service, open sourcing plans and the shape of Client APIs
• Thanks to sterling work from Antoine, partners and press are reporting healthy relationships with SDP
• Events in Tokyo, San Jose, Prague and New York help you meet us often
• Comms are much better, I kicked off a monthly newsletter, and Halina is working hard on a new Devzone rebrand and launch. It looks good.

Once again, Paul, and I'm sure the Partners join me in this, thanks for your program leadership and accomplishments. As I was told by a mentor when I started my career in the technology business many decades ago: "The only constant in this market is change".We know this is only a juncture in your career and there is an opportunity out there somewhere for your skills and experience.

(Photo taken at eBay Developers Conference, Boston, MA, June 2007)

Tags: Skype, Skype Developer Program, Paul Amery