While I don't run Skype and won't comment directly on it's hogginess, that screenie shows a small footprint of only 23.25MB. The Virtual Memory column doesn't neccessarily have anything to do with actual memory in use, that is the size of memory that is currently mapped in the memory subsystem. That means the 187MB may just be how much memory would be consumed if all the current addresses in the memory map were used, not how much is currently consumed. That number is almost always quite a bit larger than what is actually in use ay any point in time.
The OS plays these games so it can conserve how much real space is needed to keep track of the memory maps. So what the 187MB is really saying is you are using FAR less than the 4GB the program is entitled to and the OS is only currently doing accounting on the first 187MB of those 4GB. As those 187MB fill up with real information that VM size will expand in proportion until it hits the 4GB max space for a 32-bit machine or the 16 exobyte max on a 64-bit one. This is a good thing or you could fill 16GB of RAM plus more swap space with a single memory map for a single 64-bit process.
Also my guess is Skype is a hog when in use, but not so much when just waiting around. Even if the VM size balloons, it can be almost entirely empty after a call is completed as long as the program cleans up after itself nicely, something that cannot be determined by looking at VM sizes alone. If you want to play it safe, just quit and relaunch after a call is completed and things should stay cleaned out.
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