Getting your data out of applications has always been vital; it gives you the freedom to switch services. Skype is pretty good at this.

Through the user interface...

• For your buddy list, you can export your contacts to an Outlook-compatible file (Tools > Advanced > Backup Contacts to File...).

• There is no simple way to export your own profile from Skype. All the data can be copy/pasted from dialog boxes, but there is no export.

• The only way to export your chat contents is to open each one and copy/paste.

• Your history log is not exportable.  

• There is no log/history of your searches.

• There is no log/history of people requesting to become contacts.

• There is no log/history of changes to your profile, your availability (presence status), or mood message.  

The Skype for Windows API exposes most of your data to programs, much more than the user interface. The Skype Email Toolbar, and third party software like Skylook, can read most of this data and write some of it.

The sad part: even if you write a program that exports all of your data, there's no way for other programs to understand most of it.

That's where the DataPortability initiative comes in.

The folks supporting DP assert:

You should be able to see and use your data wherever you like, effortlessly.

No lengthy profile creation every time you go to a new site.

Skip the importing and exporting of contact data (and annoying your friends). 

No need to abandon your in-system conversations.

All of it is just where you need it.

At another place.

With new tools.

Now.

This is a gargantuan business opportunity for companies that make software or web sites. It means they get to add value with "verbs" (things they help you do) more than "nouns" (storing your data). So better verbs drive customers to bring their nouns, and their friends' nouns.

Many needed technical protocols exist: APML, MicroFormats, OAuth, OpenID, OPML, RDF, RSS, Atom. Relatively little needs invention, at least at the lower levels. DataPortability working groups are designing action packs, technical and policy blueprints, and other tools to plan, design, and code your DP project. 

I remember when email couldn't travel outside the firewall and was vendor specific. We're contemplating a change that ubiquitous and profound.