As the quantity and quality of Skype Certified software increase, we are making the requirements tougher so that "Skype Certified" would always remain a true label of quality. At the same time, we want to make sure that you will always know which requirements you've got to build your programs against.

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.

Below, I'll give a brief overview of what and how we plan to change.

What are the main changes?

The biggest effort will focus on redefining the priorities of individual requirements. The idea is to sort the requirements into three groups as follows:

P1 ("must") -- these requirements must be met by all applications regardless of their category. Application vendors cannot mark them as not applicable. An example would be the requirement to follow the Skype API Terms of Use.

P2 ("must if") -- these requirements must be met if the application implements certain functionality. Vendors can mark them as not applicable if the relevant functionality is not present in their application -- e.g. if your extra doesn't handle video calls then you can mark all video-related P2 requirements as N/A.

P3 ("should") -- these requirements are "nice to have". They can be marked as N/A if the relevant functionality is not present in the application. If certain functionality is present, then relevant P3 tests will be conducted but failing a P3 doesn't stop the application from becoming Skype Certified. However, if you specifically state in your user documentation or user interface that your application meets a P3 requirement, then it will be considered a P2. An example: there might be a P3 requirement that chat applications should be able to display all standard Skype emoticons. If your application doesn't display standard Skype emoticons, it would fail this test, but could still become Skype Certified if it meets all P1 requirements and all applicable P2 requirements. However, if your application's online help says "all standard Skype emoticons are supported" then failing this requirement alone would be enough to fail the entire test.

How will the update process work?

Right now, we're gathering wishes and needs from various stakeholders inside Skype and out. To get your voice heard, please log into DevZone and add your thoughts to the Test Specs 7.07 discussion page. You have three weeks to submit your thoughts.

The first round of input gathering ends on May 30, and the first draft of the next version of test specifications will be published on June 11. Then you'll have another week to discuss the draft. On June 25, we'll publish the release candidate of the new specs.

All software certification requests submitted after end of June will be tested against the new specs.