I can confirm this.

This will start to become an issue when Microsoft pulls the plug on Messenger 
later this year (2013). Hopefully it's resolvable and not a limitation of 
Skype's.

The Skype plugin is only for Skype contacts. If you want to talk to Facebook or 
msn contacts, you should add separate accounts for them to Pidgin

Hi Eoin, I think you missunderstood the issue... if I login with my live.co.uk 
account into skype (their client) I get a list of contacts, which is different 
from the one available via the plugin... that is not right...

Alin

I think you need to familiarize yourself with the current state of play vis a 
vis the status of Windows Live Messenger and Skype¹. Microsoft intent to 
retire the Messenger service in 2013 in favour of Skype. As such, current 
messenger users are being encouraged to merge their Messenger account and 
contact lists with their Skype account and contact list. I've done so myself, 
and so my Skype contact list now comprises a mixture of classic Skype contacts 
and grandfathered (if that's the right word) Messenger contacts (all of whom I 
can communicate with via the Skype client). 

Whether the grandfathered Messenger contacts are 'seen' as Skype contacts 
proper or even passed onwards to other services (they don't appear in Pidgin) 
via the API/Skype4Pidgin, I can't say. Also, I don't know what happens to these 
grandfathered contacts once the messenger service is retired. Will they become 
Skype contacts proper (assuming that they already aren't)? Will only contacts 
who have likewise migrated over to Skype remain? Will this issue with 
grandfathered Skype/messenger contacts not appearing in pidgin resolve itself?

So with respect Eoin, this probably does need looking into. As when Windows 
Live Messenger is retired (end of first quarter 2013?), the only place anyone 
is going to be able to connect with their erstwhile messenger buddies, is via 
the Skype client. 

[1] https://blogs.skype.com/en/2012/11/skypewlm.html

I posted about this on my blog a couple of months ago 
Http://Eion. robbmob.com/blog

The Skype client connects to msn via xmpp (just like it does for Facebook), you 
can do the same in pidgin via another plugin of mine. 
Skype does not pass on any msn or Facebook contacts via its api. 

Again, this plugin is just for Skype contacts, if you want to use other 
services you should connect to them directly. 
(I also recommend *not* connecting your live account to your Skype account as 
you will receive all your Skype messages as off line msn messages, a blatant 
privacy concern) 

Ahh, well that makes sense. I guess that the situation /may/ change once the 
messenger service has been retired. Very much out of your hands either way 
Eion, thanks for educating me. :-)

"I posted about this on my blog a couple of months ago 
Http://Eion. robbmob.com/blog"

One to add to the feed reader. I was out of the loop as far as messengers 
demise until a couple of days ago. I've got to pay more attention. ;-)

[deleted comment]

As the MSN servers appear to have finally been shut down, this is now a pretty 
serious concern. However, if the Skype API doesn't show the MSN/WLM contacts, 
there probably isn't much that can be done about this.

On the other hand, hopefully this issue will rectify itself as those MSN/WLM 
users who were holding out start using Skype and (hopefully) get recognized as 
Skype contacts, which can then be passed along to Pidgin via the API. (This 
includes anyone who was using a multi-protocol client like Trillian or Pidgin 
for MSN.)