The second beta of Skype 2.1 has been now released with a lot of improvements aimed at bringing the Linux client closer to that in Windows and Mac has to offer.
This release fixes a lot of stability issues and also brings a lot of UI improvements. Chats are faster, styles can be switched on the fly and audio is a lot better. This release also brings support for desktop sharing.
You can download Skype 2.1 Beta 2 for Linux from here.