Just a guy in Vermont trying to connect all the dots...
Dan York
Author's posts
Jul 01
Skype Shuts Down SkypeKit and the Skype Developer Website
Goodbye to SkypeKit... and perhaps more importantly to the developer.skype.com website. Prominently featured there now is a banner saying the site will close on July 31, 2014:
Leaving aside the bizarre way to end the warning banner ("... to integrate with" and then nothing more), I went to the site because I received an email from Skype in the form of a "SkypeKit License Termination Notice". The email says in full:
Dear Dan ,In July 2013, we notified you of our intention to end support for our SkypeKit SDK at the end of July 2014. With this date now approaching, this email serves as 30 days’ official notice of termination of the SkypeKit Licence Agreement (“Agreement”) pursuant to Section 13.2.4 of the Agreement. The Agreement will end on July 31st 2014. Upon termination of the Agreement you must promptly destroy all copies of the SkypeKit SDK in your possession or control, except that if you have already entered into the SkypeKit Distribution Terms and have received a commercialization keypair for your SkypeKit Product(s) then you may continue to distribute these SkypeKit Products(s).
Skype will not be issuing any new keypairs and we remind you that keypairs may only be used in connection with the SkypeKit Product for which they were issued. In addition, for hardware, keypairs may only be used for the specific version of the SkypeKit Product that was certified through our hardware certification program. Our hardware certification program for SkypeKit Products has now closed and no new hardware (including new models or versions of previously certified hardware) can be distributed.
Key investments in Skype’s application and service architecture may cause the Skype features to stop working without notice in SkypeKit products. As a result, we encourage you to end any further distribution of SkypeKit products.
We would also like to draw to your attention to the obligations that survive termination of the Agreement as described in Section 16.3 of the SkypeKit Licence Agreement.
The Skype Developer website will also close on July 31st, 2014. If you have any queries please contact Skype Developer Support.
Kind regards
Skype Developer Team
Looking back, I don't see the email from July 2013, but in truth I probably deleted it or it wound up in a spam folder. Sadly, I long ago lost much of my interest in Skype's latest developer follies.
If we jump back in time a bit, Skype first released a "preview" of their "SkypeKit" Software Development Kit (SDK) back in early 2011. Jim Courtney had a great writeup of their release of the public beta at eComm 2011. Like many others, I signed up and paid my $10 to see what was under the hood. I didn't do much with it but I remember looking at the python SDK a bit. Later in October 2011 I wrote about Skype's renaming of their public APIs and provided some clarification about what SkypeKit was all about.
And then I pretty much wrote nothing else about it... and much of the program gradually started fading away. In all my many posts about Skype, the only subsequent mention I find of SkypeKit was in a September 2010 post about Grandstream adding in Skype video to their IP phones.
In fairness, this was all happening before and then during the Microsoft acquisition of Skype in 2011 and so it was not surprising to see APIs created before Microsoft's acquisition being phased out.
What continues to surprise me is that there has never been any real replacement. Skype's 5th, 6th or 7th attempt (I lost track) at a developer program finally... just... died...
The folks at Skype wrote last November about the demise of the Desktop API and the need to support mobile devices. With that API's demise they also killed off their App Directory, which was their latest incarnation of a way to help developers get their apps out to Skype users.
Now Skype's entire "developer support" seems to be a category of pages on their support site, most of which seem to have answers about how the Skype Developer Program is no longer accepting registrations... or about why certain systems no longer work.
I get it... applications evolve. And Skype certainly has evolved away from its roots. It's just too bad, because once upon a time there seemed to be such promise for Skype as a communication platform that could be used widely by other companies and applications.
R.I.P. SkypeKit.
R.I.P. Skype Developer Program.
If you found this post interesting or useful, please consider either:
- following me on Twitter;
- adding me to a circle on Google+;
- subscribing to my email newsletter; or
- subscribing to the RSS feed
Jun 30
FIR #762 – 6/30/14 – For Immediate Release
Book review still coming; Quick News: How to view your website as Google does, GE's new policy hub, setting up Twitter Cards for a WordPress blog, big changes with Google Authorship and Technorati; Ragan promo; News That Fits: Digging deeper into Facebook organic reach, Michael Netzley's Asia Report, is PR Hacker spamming on an industrial scale?, Media Monitoring Minute from CustomScoop, listener comments, can attention replace the pageview?, Dan York's Tech Report, Igloo Software promo, last week on the FIR Podcast Network, drawing the legal line on reselling ebooks; music from Assembly of Dust; and more.
Jun 25
ICANN 50 DNSSEC Workshop Streaming Live TODAY From London
As we mentioned last week, the DNSSEC Workshop at ICANN50 will take place from 8:30 – 14:45 London time TODAY, June 25, 2013 and will be streamed live via audio or via Adobe Connect (combined audio, slides and video). More info can be found at:
http://london50.icann.org/en/schedule/wed-dnssec
The links for remote listening can be found there, as can the presentation slides. The session will be recorded for later viewing if you can’t see it live. This is the week’s big session on DNSSEC and covers topics such as:
- Introduction and DNSSEC Deployment Around the World
- DNSSEC Activities in the European region
- The Operational Realities of Running DNSSEC
- DANE and DNSSEC Applications
- DNSSEC Automation
- Panel Discussion/Demonstrations on Hardware Security Modules (HSMs)
We’ll also have a presentation from CDN provider Cloudflare about their plans for DNSSEC, a session about key rollovers and some great demos of new tools and services. It should be quite an interesting and educational day!
Getting to the room for the DNSSEC Workshop
If you are here in London it turns out that finding the room where the DNSSEC Workshop will be held is a bit of a challenge. The location is “Hilton 1-6″ on the third floor of the Tower Wing (the wing in the middle). The directions are as follows:
- Go right after exiting the elevators on the third floor and take an immediate right again (there will be a sign on the wall for Hilton rooms 1-17)
- Take a left at the next corridor.
- Take a right at a wide corridor where there are some tables on the right (there will be a sign on the wall for Hilton rooms 1-17)
- Go down the stairs under the sign “Hilton Meeting Room Business Center”
From this point there are two ways to enter at the back of the room (there is a third way but it is harder to describe):
- Go straight ahead through the ICANN staff breakfast/lunch area to the door marked Hilton 1.
- Go down the left-hand corridor to the door on the right marked Hilton 3
When in doubt, ask any Hilton staff person or ICANN staff person. We hope to see you there!
More information
All the slides for today’s session can be found on the ICANN web page for the session.
To learn more about DNSSEC, please visit our “Start Here” page to find resources tailored to your type of organization.
Jun 23
Reminder – “DNSSEC For Everybody” Streamed Live From ICANN 50 Today
Just a quick reminder that, as we mentioned last week, the DNSSEC For Everybody: A Beginner’s Guide session today at ICANN 50 in London will be streamed live via audio or via Adobe Connect (combined audio, slides and video). This is a fun session where we step back to caveman days to try to explain DNSSEC in the simplest of terms… and also add some skits into the mix as well (yes, DNSSEC engineers doing a skit!). It is happening from 17:00 to 18:30 British Summer Time (local time in London). More info can be found at:
http://london50.icann.org/en/schedule/mon-dnssec-everybody
The links for remote listening can be found there, as can the slides and handout for download. The session will be recorded for later viewing if you can’t see it live.
If you want an even deeper dive into DNSSEC, plan to attend (remotely or here at ICANN 50) the DNSSEC Workshop happening most of the day on this coming Wednesday, June 25, where we’ll be starting at 8:30am and covering a wide range of topics related to DNSSEC.
To learn more about DNSSEC, please visit our “Start Here” page to find resources tailored to your type of organization.
Jun 23
Great To See Full (And Faster) IPv6 At ICANN 50 In London
Here at ICANN 50 in London (where I am focused on DNSSEC sessions) it was great to connect to the WiFi network and find that that I had full IPv6 connectivity. Here’s a shot of the IPvFoo plugin for Chrome when I went to the main ICANN 50 website:
Even more fascinating was how much faster the IPv6 connectivity is here versus IPv4, undoubtedly because most of the 2,200+ 3,300+ attendees are using primarily IPv4. Using Comcast’s Speedtest we wrote about back in February, I was amazed to see the dramatically different speeds:
I was so surprised that I had to run Comcast’s speed test several more times and test against multiple different servers. (Yes, I’m a network geek who is fascinated by this kind of thing!) All of them gave similar results… one even offering an even higher IPv6 upload speed:
Sadly, I don’t have any large videos I need to upload to YouTube or anything like that, because clearly this ICANN 50 network would be the place to do so! (Assuming the sites were all over IPv6, as YouTube is.)
To double-check, I also went to ipv6-test.com’s speed test, where IPv4/IPv6 is also differentiated, and again saw a difference (it seems to only test download speed):
All in all it is great to see that not only is ICANN offering IPv6 connectivity to all attendees… but it is faster than that over IPv4.
Way to go, ICANN!
UPDATE: Article updated with the information that there are now over 3,300 registrants at this ICANN meeting!
Jun 23
FIR #761 – 6/23/14 – For Immediate Release
Book review still coming; Quick News: FDA's proposed healthcare social media rules, annoying LinkedIn notifications, new paid-editing Wikipedia rules, debate on ethics of wearables; Ragan promo; News That Fits: How Edelman enforces Wikipedia best practices, podcasters reading paid sponsor spots, Media Monitoring Minute from CustomScoop, Dan York's Tech Report, listener comments, caveats on paid Facebook promotions, Igloo Software promo, the past week on the FIR Podcast Network, the rise of proximity-aware communication; how to comment; music from Eli Uno; and more.
Jun 18
3 DNSSEC Sessions Happening At ICANN 50 Next Week in London (Featured Blog)
As I mentioned in a post to the Deploy360 blog today, there are three excellent sessions relating to DNSSEC happening at ICANN 50 in London next week: DNSSEC For Everybody: A Beginner's Guide; DNSSEC Implementers Gathering; DNSSEC Workshop. Find out more. More...
Jun 18
3 DNSSEC Sessions At ICANN 50 In London Next Week
Next week (June 23-26, 2014), we’ll be at ICANN 50 in London for the usual excellent DNSSEC sessions, two of which will be streamed live for remote participants.
The three activities are…
DNSSEC For Everybody: A Beginner’s Guide
First up on Monday, June 23, 2014, in the late afternoon from 17:00 – 18:30 BST (London time) will be the DNSSEC For Everybody: A Beginner’s Guide session where we start at the very basic level of why should anyone care about DNSSEC and get into what kind of problem we are trying to solve. This session includes a skit (seriously!) where we act out DNS and DNSSEC transactions and talk about blue smoke (seriously!). It’s a good bit of fun and people tell us that it definitely helps them understand DNS and DNSSEC – or maybe they just like watching a bunch of DNS geeks act out in a skit. 
You can listen remotely via an audio stream or listen and view the slides via a a virtual meeting room. Details are on the program page.
DNSSEC Implementers Gathering
Next, on Monday evening from 19:30-21:30 (or later) some of us will join in an “informal gathering of DNSSEC implementers” at a nearby restaurant/bar. This is a time to share experiences, exchange information and just generally interact with other people involved with deploying DNSSEC. As ICANN’s Julie Hedlund wrote in a note to various email lists:
DNSSEC Implementers are invited to attend an informal gathering to discuss and exchange information on their DNSSEC implementation experiences during the ICANN meeting in London, sponsored by Nominet UK. This is a unique opportunity to meet with and talk to key implementers, such as Nominet UK, CNNIC, JPRS, NZNIC, CIRA, CZNIC, SIDN, and others. We do ask that in order to participate you should come prepared to say a few words about your experiences. This is a peer-to-peer event for implementers.
It’s been a fun time at past events and generated both good conversations and connections for future work activities after the meetings are over.
It should perhaps be obvious but this event will NOT be available for remote participation. If you will be in London, though, and are interested in interacting with others who are deploying DNSSEC, you are welcome to join us. As Julie requests, RSVP by close of business on this Thursday, June 19, 2014.
DNSSEC Workshop
The BIG event of the week is the DNSSEC Workshop on Wednesday, June 25, where we meet from 8:30 – 14:45 London time for this detailed session diving into many different aspects of DNSSEC. I’m on the Program Committee for the workshop and I can tell you that there will be some excellent presentations at this session. The slides and full agenda will be available soon, but the major areas of discussion will include:
- Introduction and DNSSEC Deployment Around the World
- DNSSEC Activities in the European region
- The Operational Realities of Running DNSSEC
- DANE and DNSSEC Applications
- DNSSEC Automation
- Panel Discussion/Demonstrations on Hardware Security Modules (HSMs)
The workshop continues to attract some of the best technical people involved with DNSSEC and the conversations and discussions that happen there provide outstanding value to those interested in these topics. If you’re interested in DNSSEC and how it can make the Internet more secure, I highly recommend you tuning in!
You can listen remotely via an audio stream or listen and view the slides via a a virtual meeting room. Details are on the program page.
Rough Guide To ICANN 50
These DNSSEC events are just a part of all the many activities happening at ICANN 50 that we at the Internet Society are interested in. To understand all of what is happening at ICANN 50 that lines up with our organization’s priorities, please see the Internet Society Rough Guide to ICANN 50.
Say Hello!
I (Dan York) will be there in London. Please do say hello – you can find me at any of these events and also around other areas of ICANN. You can also email me at deploy360@isoc.org if you’d like to meet with me. You can also contact us via Twitter, Facebook or Google+.
Jun 17
TDYR #159 – Can You Come Up With A Better Topic Name Than Anti-Spoofing?
TDYR #159 - Can You Come Up With A Better Topic Name Than Anti-Spoofing? by Dan York
