The Skype API really is pathetic, and the fix has taken far too long. If it doesn't come soon, there'll be trouble. Source:http://skypejournal.com/
[quote]Skype isn't alone, so this is an incomplete view. Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Google have all committed to not only making their chat/talk/video clients better than Skype (better strongly influence by their respective values and design aesthetics), but also to platforming. Microsoft Live Messenger's first API should come out in Q2. GoogleTalk's API is already out and the Google Desktop API . Yahoo! published APIs for just about everything but Messenger. Can't wait to see how much of Apple's iChat AV is scriptable.[/quote]
Just for the record, iChat AV scripting support appears to be minimal, but iChat is a dangerous competitor anyway, if only because Apple is capable of producing very nice cross-platform software. I say that only because it usually gets overlooked when compared to Googletalk, Live Messenger, and Yahoo.

[quote=garnet_stone]The Skype API really is pathetic, and the fix has taken far too long. If it doesn't come soon, there'll be trouble. Source:http://skypejournal.com/
[quote]Skype isn't alone, so this is an incomplete view. Microsoft, Yahoo!, and Google have all committed to not only making their chat/talk/video clients better than Skype (better strongly influence by their respective values and design aesthetics), but also to platforming. Microsoft Live Messenger's first API should come out in Q2. GoogleTalk's API is already out and the Google Desktop API . Yahoo! published APIs for just about everything but Messenger. Can't wait to see how much of Apple's iChat AV is scriptable.[/quote][/quote]

I'll second that. I've spent quite a bit of time with the Skype "API" and have been VERY disappointed. Under my definition of an API, I wouldn't call it an API at all. I guess that definition is up for debate though.

It's just a communication mechanism, a protocol if you will. A true API would be far superior and useful to the community as a whole. Folks have done some nifty stuff with the API, but because of the design I find them to all be a bit flaky and non-optimal.

Skype should really revisit this and revamp the entire API into an actual API.

can you be more specific, guys? i just briefly glanced the skype api forum (admittedly just the first page) yet i did not see a single "skype api is crap" thread there.

as far as the skypejournal article is concerned, phil misses an important point there. backwards compatibility. basically, we have 2 options: 1) keep the skype and api releases in sync, yet don't support BC, or 2) delay the feature roll-out to api by the time it takes to write BC code for previous versions of the api. we've chosen option (2).

- jaan