LONDON. 1 April 2008. After extensive investigation, the independent Skype Journal found a leaked prototype of the "Send Curry" button on the Skype 5 Beta for Windows. "It's part of our new direction" said Josh Silverman, Skype CEO. "We're serious corporate citizens in this time of crisis."

• The UK Curry Crisis:

• Number of curry houses:
     10,000

• People who work in them:
      50,000

• Skilled worker shortage:
       27,500
  UK schools for curry chefs:
        1
• Indian takeout meals delivered to Skype HQ weekly:
        507

A drastic labor shortage of skilled curry chefs threatens the UK's national cuisine. New immigration laws administered by the Border & Immigration Agency are cutting off the supply of culinary talent from Pakistan, India, and Bangladesh.

Skype has a five-fold plan to ease the pain.

1. Morale: Skype for Curry.

The sounds and sights of a great cuisine to lighten your day.

• Skype Wallpaper: Download Naan and CTM wallpaper to keep you warm until your next fix.
• 24-Hour Skypecasts from the great curry houses of Britain. Tune in to dining rooms and kitchens for the authentic sounds of the select few remaining chefs and those lucky enough to be seated.
• 3 Skypephones in Indian Flavors. 

2. Education: SkypePrime Culinary Academy.

Skype is launching a portal to match cooking instructors with British students. They hope to add fire and spice to professional and amateur cooks accustomed to making fish and chips.

Chefs will tutor by wire, using Skype high quality video and Skype chats to share their cooking skills. Sessions should run from £2 to £10 per hour. Skype High Quality Audio, providing more clarity than ordinary phones, helps people understand each other despite wildly different accents.

3 and 4. Skype Find and the Send Curry Button.

Skype's yellow pages will now feature the menus and ordering forms for all ten thousand sub-continental restaurants. Order in advance for take out or delivery, or to make reservations. Easily add your favorites to your contact list.

The Send Curry button will let everyone in a multichat order for themselves or others in the room, paying with PayPal or Skype credits. A new twist lets you send email and SMS Evites to your Skype contacts for a f2f gathering.   

5. Dining Interop: The Curry Powder APIs.

Skype will make the SkypePrime Culinary Academy, the Skype Find Curry directory, and Send Curry order processing available to programmers through the so-called Curry Powder API, scheduled to come online with the proper release of Skype for Windows 5.

Skype has not confirmed whether you will be able to take your restaurant reviews with you to Skype partners Bebo and MySpace through their DataPortability.org efforts. One developer said, off the record, "we're not sure if this more of a microformats thing or we should just wait for OpenSocial to get around to realtime communities like Skype."

Since we're entering eBay's "quiet period" before Q1-2008 financial results, we're not expecting much more comment from Skype on how this effort will affect Skype's competitive position and cash flow. CEO Silverman hasn't commented on whether this Skype for Curry initiative will help or hurt the Skype for Cows project announced last year.

See also:

• The (London) Independent: Has the great British curry house finally had its chips?
• The Guild of Bangladeshi Restaurateurs: Indian restaurants facing 'staffing crisis'
• Guardian.co.uk: Curry houses feel the pinch of immigration restrictions
• Guardian.co.uk: Hélène Mulholland explains the shakeup of the immigration system
• BBC News: Curry houses 'need more migrants'
• BBC News: Britain's curry house crisis
• BBC Inside Out: Curry Crisis
• DesPaardes: Britain's Curry Crisis
• AP: Curry crisis seen in Britain’s immigration rules. Restaurateurs: Restrictions on Bangladesh immigration hurt business
• Slashfood: The UK is in a curry crisis
• Yumsugar: Britain's Curry Crisis