See this email as a webpage: http://www.skype.com/email/devzone-apr07/

To subscribe, send a blank e-mail to sdp_newsletter-subscribe@skype.net.

Guest writer – Morné van Dalen, talking about Call Transfer project

I suppose I should start by stating who I am what I do. My name is Morné van Dalen and I am a technical project manager in the Windows desktop team at Skype. And yes, you guessed it: For my sins Call Transfer is one of my projects and it is earmarked for the future release of Skype for Windows.

This feature has been one of the most requested/anticipated features for a long time, so it is important for us to make sure we get it right. We want to be able to offer a feature that not only matches functionality available on your landline or mobile, but be able to deliver an even better experience. That seems like a tall order, so how are we going to do it?

Functionality: between Call forwarding and Call transfer (read more)

Transfer methods: Direct transfer or Screening transfer (read more)

Which calls can be transferred?

• Skype to Skype (P2P)
• Skype to SkypeOut (P2P to SipOut)
• SkypeIn to Skype (SipIn to P2P)
• SkypeIn to SkypeOut (SipIn to SipOut)
• Skype to Group
• SkypeIn to Group

Will it be available to everyone? No. (read more)

Integrating with existing functionalityThere should be no problems integrating with existing functionality like call Forward and Voicemail. (read more)

Integrating with our developer partners/community

All the functionality is available via the Skype API. The restrictions on functionality available to SkypePro users still apply, as this “privilege” is verified on the back end, the library & the client UI. In fact the Skype to Skype capability has been in the API for a while now and people like Don Kennedy have already been playing with this feature.

Read the whole article about Call transfer

Updates: What is new in the Developer Zone?

Why and how to get your software certified?

In our January newsletter, we introduced our recently relaunched software certification program. Things have been a bit slow to start but as I'm writing this, we have 11 Skype Certified software products, and requests to test new programs and updated versions of already certified ones keep coming in at increasing pace.

So why we do this at all? First and foremost because we want our -- and your -- users to be able to easily identify Extras and other Skype-enabled applications that just work like Skype itself. We try to be both tough and fair in doing this. All of our testing is done against publicly available test specifications; a program must meet all applicable priority 1 requirements in order to become Skype Certified. Failing just one P1 is enough to fail the entire test [...]

How software certification works? First, you have to submit a software certification request along with your application's installer (.sparc in case of Extras) and a completed self-certification checklist into the STS project on Jira. Soon thereafter, you'll receive an invoice via PayPal. As soon as you pay the testing fee (€500), your request will be queued for testing, and you'll receive a confirmation which also includes the date when you should expect the test results. [...]

Will the test specifications ever change? [...] We release updated test specifications into production use twice a year -- in each January and July. The specifications evolve under the eyes of the entire Skype developer community, and everyone is welcome to contribute their suggestions for improvement. Please log into DevZone and add your thoughts to the Test Specs 7.07 discussion page.

Read how to get certified!

Geek event : Meet and greet at Skype London office

As summer is coming and we enjoy meeting colleagues and friends after work ,we would like to raise to your attention that Skype is inviting you!

In fact, we are organizing a Meet and Greet at our London office (map). This will take place Thursday May 10th from 5PM to 8PM and there will be no agenda just beautiful people who use Skype and/or work at Skype. It should be a non formal event, with food&drink plus few entertainments (pool, baby-football table, Xbox tournament).

Remember, Skype API is:

Free to use (as in beer) with commercial and non-commercial applications.

So now it is time to meet you. For the security of the event, we are requiring you to subscribe by email:

• Your name
• Your company
• Your location
• Are you an existing Skype developer? (Y/N)

We, Skype, are all looking forward to meeting with you. Just come over and say Hi!

Apply now and meet the Skype team

Caitlin's corner: New Extras

There have been lots of exciting updates and new extras that have joined the Extras manager over the past few months. We can’t go through them all but here’s a basic rundown of three of our most recent.

WhiteBoardMeeting: For those who are a fan of online collaboration programs, WhiteBoardMeeting is another extra to take a look at. As the name suggests, the program helps you collaborate with text, images and vector graphics on new or existing projects. You can also be in different meetings at the same time and invite users after you have created the work offline.

SIN: It can be annoying to receive popups on the status of every contact in your Skype account, but if you’re waiting for a particular contact to come online, the new SIN extra is the ideal tool. It allows you to select which contacts you’d like to be informed about and whether you’d like to know about change of status or just when they’re online.

CallButler: Although CallButler has been certified for Skype for a while, this is the first time we’ve seen them in the Extras Manager. Ideal for small businesses, it is an easy to use PBX system that can set up a call flow as well as provide voicemail, personalised recorded messages and call diversions with email integration.

PS: If you’ve got a new extra being developed for Skype, you too could appear in this corner.

Read more about these new Extras

Thanks for developing for Skype,
Paul and the rest of the people at Skype

Don’t want to hear from us again?
We don’t want to send emails you don’t want to receive, so remember that you can anytime unsubscribe from Skype Developer Newsletter, just send us a blank mail.

© 2003-2007 Skype Limited.
Skype Communications S.a.r.l., 15 rue Notre Dame, L-2240 Luxembourg

Skype, SkypeIn, SkypeOut, Skypecasts, Skype Certified, SkypeMe!, Skype Pro, SkypeFind, Skype Prime, Skype To Go associated logos and the ‘S’-symbol are trademarks of Skype Limited.