Skype Insanity: No Longer Worth It

Tonight I noticed that I didn't have Google Voice or Skype installed on my primary desktop, which I recently upgraded to Linux Mint 13, so I decided to remedy the situation. Installing Google Voice was painless, easy, an quick. Installing Skype appears insane, I don't remember it being so bad in the past. Anyhow, to install Skype, I need to install 240-some additional packages. No frigging way:

The following NEW packages will be installed:
  bluez bluez-alsa:i386 gcc-4.6-base:i386 glib-networking:i386
  gstreamer0.10-plugins-base:i386 gstreamer0.10-plugins-good:i386
  gstreamer0.10-x:i386 gtk2-engines:i386 gtk2-engines-murrine:i386
  gtk2-engines-oxygen:i386 gtk2-engines-pixbuf:i386 gvfs:i386 gvfs-libs:i386
  ia32-libs ia32-libs-multiarch:i386 ibus-gtk:i386 lib32asound2 lib32gcc1
  lib32stdc++6 libaa1:i386 libacl1:i386 libaio1:i386 libao-common libao4:i386
  libasn1-8-heimdal:i386 libasound2:i386 libasound2-plugins:i386
  libasyncns0:i386 libatk1.0-0:i386 libattr1:i386 libaudio2:i386
  libaudiofile1:i386 libavahi-client3:i386 libavahi-common-data:i386
  libavahi-common3:i386 libavc1394-0:i386 libbz2-1.0:i386 libc6:i386
  libc6-i386 libcaca0:i386 libcairo-gobject2:i386 libcairo2:i386
  libcanberra-gtk-module:i386 libcanberra-gtk0:i386 libcanberra0:i386
  libcap2:i386 libcapi20-3:i386 libcdparanoia0:i386 libcomerr2:i386
  libcroco3:i386 libcups2:i386 libcupsimage2:i386 libcurl3:i386
  libdatrie1:i386 libdb5.1:i386 libdbus-1-3:i386 libdbus-glib-1-2:i386
  libdrm-intel1:i386 libdrm-nouveau1a:i386 libdrm-radeon1:i386 libdrm2:i386
  libdv4:i386 libesd0:i386 libexif12:i386 libexpat1:i386 libffi6:i386
  libflac8:i386 libfontconfig1:i386 libfreetype6:i386 libgail-common:i386
  libgail18:i386 libgcc1:i386 libgconf-2-4:i386 libgcrypt11:i386
  libgd2-xpm:i386 libgdbm3:i386 libgdk-pixbuf2.0-0:i386 libgettextpo0:i386
  libgl1-mesa-dri:i386 libgl1-mesa-glx:i386 libglapi-mesa:i386
  libglib2.0-0:i386 libglu1-mesa:i386 libgnome-keyring0:i386 libgnutls26:i386
  libgomp1:i386 libgpg-error0:i386 libgphoto2-2:i386 libgphoto2-port0:i386
  libgpm2:i386 libgssapi-krb5-2:i386 libgssapi3-heimdal:i386
  libgstreamer-plugins-base0.10-0:i386 libgstreamer0.10-0:i386
  libgtk2.0-0:i386 libgudev-1.0-0:i386 libhcrypto4-heimdal:i386
  libheimbase1-heimdal:i386 libheimntlm0-heimdal:i386 libhx509-5-heimdal:i386
  libibus-1.0-0:i386 libice6:i386 libidn11:i386 libiec61883-0:i386
  libieee1284-3:i386 libjack-jackd2-0:i386 libjasper1:i386 libjpeg-turbo8:i386
  libjpeg8:i386 libjson0:i386 libk5crypto3:i386 libkeyutils1:i386
  libkrb5-26-heimdal:i386 libkrb5-3:i386 libkrb5support0:i386 liblcms1:i386
  libldap-2.4-2:i386 libllvm3.0:i386 libltdl7:i386 libmad0:i386
  libmikmod2:i386 libmng1:i386 libmpg123-0:i386 libmysqlclient18:i386
  libncurses5:i386 libncursesw5:i386 libnspr4:i386 libnss3:i386 libodbc1:i386
  libogg0:i386 libopenal1:i386 liborc-0.4-0:i386 libp11-kit0:i386
  libpango1.0-0:i386 libpciaccess0:i386 libpcre3:i386 libpixman-1-0:i386
  libpng12-0:i386 libproxy1:i386 libpulse-mainloop-glib0:i386 libpulse0:i386
  libpulsedsp:i386 libqt4-dbus:i386 libqt4-declarative:i386
  libqt4-designer:i386 libqt4-network:i386 libqt4-opengl:i386
  libqt4-qt3support:i386 libqt4-script:i386 libqt4-scripttools:i386
  libqt4-sql:i386 libqt4-sql-mysql:i386 libqt4-svg:i386 libqt4-test:i386
  libqt4-xml:i386 libqt4-xmlpatterns:i386 libqtcore4:i386 libqtgui4:i386
  libqtwebkit4:i386 libraw1394-11:i386 libroken18-heimdal:i386 librsvg2-2:i386
  librsvg2-common:i386 librtmp0:i386 libsamplerate0:i386 libsane:i386
  libsasl2-2:i386 libsasl2-modules:i386 libsdl-image1.2:i386
  libsdl-mixer1.2:i386 libsdl-net1.2:i386 libsdl-ttf2.0-0:i386
  libsdl1.2debian:i386 libselinux1:i386 libshout3:i386 libslang2:i386
  libsm6:i386 libsndfile1:i386 libsoup-gnome2.4-1:i386 libsoup2.4-1:i386
  libspeex1:i386 libspeexdsp1:i386 libsqlite3-0:i386 libssl0.9.8:i386
  libssl1.0.0:i386 libstdc++5:i386 libstdc++6:i386 libtag1-vanilla:i386
  libtag1c2a:i386 libtasn1-3:i386 libtdb1:i386 libthai0:i386 libtheora0:i386
  libtiff4:i386 libtinfo5:i386 libudev0:i386 libunistring0:i386
  libusb-0.1-4:i386 libuuid1:i386 libv4l-0:i386 libv4lconvert0:i386
  libvisual-0.4-0:i386 libvisual-0.4-plugins:i386 libvorbis0a:i386
  libvorbisenc2:i386 libvorbisfile3:i386 libwavpack1:i386
  libwind0-heimdal:i386 libwrap0:i386 libx11-6:i386 libx11-xcb1:i386
  libxau6:i386 libxaw7:i386 libxcb-glx0:i386 libxcb-render0:i386
  libxcb-shm0:i386 libxcb1:i386 libxcomposite1:i386 libxcursor1:i386
  libxdamage1:i386 libxdmcp6:i386 libxext6:i386 libxfixes3:i386 libxft2:i386
  libxi6:i386 libxinerama1:i386 libxml2:i386 libxmu6:i386 libxp6:i386
  libxpm4:i386 libxrandr2:i386 libxrender1:i386 libxslt1.1:i386 libxss1:i386
  libxt6:i386 libxtst6:i386 libxv1:i386 libxxf86vm1:i386 mysql-common odbcinst
  odbcinst1debian2 odbcinst1debian2:i386 oss-compat skype xaw3dg:i386
  zlib1g:i386
0 upgraded, 246 newly installed, 0 to remove and 14 not upgraded.
Need to get 105 MB of archives.
After this operation, 288 MB of additional disk space will be used.
Do you want to continue [Y/n]? n

Abort.

It appears that many packages listed are specifically 32b--this on a 64b version of Linux Mint. I went back and checked, and I did click the 64b Ubuntu link and the .deb downloaded has a 64 in its name. So, WTF, Microsoft?