For the end of the year a new version of certification test specifications, 8.01, will be published at https://developer.skype.com/Certification/Software/TestSpecs. As of January 2, 2008, all new software certification requests must be made against version 8.01.

The main changes in the version 8.01 are the following:

* Remote Access (RAS) category is dropped, this category's products will be no longer certified;
* Product must support English;
* Category must be selected adequately, i.e. desktop sharing application in Sharing, call recorder in Productivity etc;
* Advertisements are allowed for free products;
* Clarified that product must be installable under limited account if operating system allows it;
* On uninstallation paid products can leave entries to save commission information;
* Quantitatively measurable requirements for voice quality;
* Product must support Unicode (previously it applied to Contacts list only in some categories);
* Product should support MSAA and keyboard navigating;
* Clarified error- and resource-usage requirements;
* In Generic category added requirements for managing video calls;
* In Generic category added requirement that it must be possible to set call forwarding to multiple numbers;
* In Sharing category added requirement that only authorized contacts can be invited;
* Productivity applications should have Getting Started Wizard and "Tip to know" on launch;
* Games should have "High scores" table.

As you can see, this time there are not many changes because the specs are quite mature already. Mostly there are clarifications for requirements that have been often misunderstood and some P3 suggestions. Remote Access category was dropped because we don’t have always a satisfactory level of visibility and control to ensure that all partners stick to our certification guidelines. Current release candidates with rationale of all changes are available at https://developer.skype.com/Certification/Software/TestSpecs/TestSpecs801