SkypeKit Beta

zester

Just wanted to let people know that the SkypeKit Beta program is now open and downloadable.

You have to register first and get accepted not sure if there accepting everyone or just a select few.

In the sdk they have Qt Creator examples :)

Windows, Linux, Mac are all supported
There are also runtimes for Arm and Mips but there only for Linux

The SDK ships with C++, Java, and Python wrappers.

The documentation is excellent.

They do charge you a one time fee of $10 to download the sdk

https://developer.skype.com/

The sdk supports everything that skype does except ....
Multi-party video is currently not enabled in SkypeKit, this application does not support conference calls.

Not sure what that means.

zester

Here is my 60 min review of SkypeKit Beta.

I've never done any development with a closed source library before, but I can tell you
one thing Skype goes out of there way to protect there sdk. So much so that writing
even a simple hello world application is like trying to code in a strait jacket typing
with your tongue.

The support on the forum's is terrible alot of questions go unanswered
and the ones that do get an answer from skype support never get any type
of real solution to there problem.

If your not an extremely advanced programmer don't even bother.

They amount of errors and warnings that the examples throw is insane.

Not to mention that you have to register for a hash key every 60 days
our your application won't work anymore and your not allowed to develop
and distribute any application free or commercial if it competes with skype.

Was it worth $10?
Yup gave me peace of mind. It cost microsoft $8 billion dollars to learn what only
cost me $10 dollars

I am off to go play with an open source sip stack now.

Later :)

lgeyer

Is it still required to have Skype running in the background or is it a "real" SDK for the Skype network?

jim_kaiser

That is certainly interesting. Thanks for the review Zester. The coding environment sounds bad.. No real surprise there.. they are probably looking to control what you can and cannot implement..

bq. not allowed to develop and distribute any application free or commercial if it competes with skype

Lol... they're scared of competition from small-time developers.. sounds like such a half-assed effort by MS-Skype!

@Lukas: It sounds like they do offer the base functionality of Skype needed to make audio/video calls, so you can integrate with your own UI.

lgeyer

[quote author="jim_kaiser" date="1308379711"]It sounds like they do offer the base functionality of Skype needed to make audio/video calls, so you can integrate with your own UI.[/quote]

This will be definitly an improvement over the previous solution, which required you to run the official Skype client in the background.

However, this

bq. not allowed to develop and distribute any application free or commercial if it competes with skype

is the most stupid restriction to a library I've ever read.

I mean, how would anyone write an application that does not compete in some way with the official client?

zester

There are three parts to make an run a app....

```
1. The SDK
```
```
2. The Binary Runtime
```
```
3. The AES Hash Key
```

You code your application with the SDK.

The runtime you have to configure and build on skypes servers, it will only work with the options
and platform you choose there and it only works with the generated hash key.

So basically Windows, Linux, Mac, Arm, Mips all have to have a different binary runtime, each
app is also suppose to only use the runtime that you register'd for it.

Your hash key is only good for 60 days and each app needs that in it's directory to work.

The binary runtime isn't a full-fledged skype client it's more of a command-line version and
yes it has to run in the background.

I thought that them making you pay for the sdk and then telling you that your not allowed
to make certain types of apps was kinda stupid.