No Skype Extras System anymore
Skype has just announced today that the Skype Extras System will not continue. This means no more third-party applications for Skype will be certified and no new extras will be added to the “Tools” -> “Extras” menu in the Skype client. All existing entries will not be removed until the certification period expires. This does not include the Skype Public API which allows third party software to connect to Skype and control some functions and do things like call recording etc. Skype says this API will be maintained in future.
But this shut-down also includes the Skype Credit payment, which will be switched off shortly. No third-party software will then be able to accept Skype Credit payments.
So how does this affect Scendix/PamConsult products? The simple answer is: not very much.
Let’s take a look at all our products we have for Skype:
Pamela: Pamela only uses the Skype Public API and not the Skype Extras system. So this will not affect Pamela at all.
PamFax: With our upgrade to Pamfax 2.0 including a complete new architecture back in april this year, we are now completely independent from Skype’s Extras system. Current version of PamFax runs on any Windows or Mac machine even if Skype is not installed at all. What we loose in PamFax will be the possibility to buy PamFax Credits with Skype Credits and the entry in Skype’s “Extras” menu (once it will be removed by Skype; “later”). We are already investigating in other payment methods to use PamFax pay-as-you-go for some time now, as we heard from our users that only Skype Credit payment (which was not available on Mac or Linux at all) is not enough. So this is a very good time to add some more payment flexibility to PamFax.
As the fax-sending process is done by our own datacenters all around the world and not by the Skype network, PamFax will even work if they shut off Skype completely. Sometimes, independence is something very nice 
Pamela Call Recorder: The Pamela Call Recorder can be seen as a small version of Pamela. So it will work even after this change in Skype. More then a year ago we built a “stand alone” version of the Pamela Call Recorder which can be downloaded from www.pamcorder.com. This version will work even if the user has a Skype version without the Extras Manager system. Just like PamFax you can just keep using the product.
mcePhone, Skype for Salesforce and others: Do not use the Skype Extras system at all. As the public Skype API will live on, there will be no change in these products.
We are still thinking about why Skype goes into this direction: the latest history has shown that opening up a product as a platform and to allow third-party software to connect and to enhance the core products can turn into a real self-runner making the platform and therefore the core product itself much, much more valuable. Think about what these products would be without any third-party software, plugins, addons or whatever they are called for each product: WinAmp, eBay, Apple iPhone, FireFox and thousands of other software products more that are good because there are good plugins for this product.
Could you imagine using an iPhone without any third party software installed on it? What if there would not be a possibility to buy iPhone apps as easy as it is right now? Would you enter your credit card data into a shop system you never saw before from a company that you have never heard before to buy a fun app for USD 1.99 just to try it out? Apple has shown that a very well done “Extras system” with a safe, easy and WORKING payment possibility can boost sales of the apps and the core product.
If Skype did not believe in their Extras System 1.0, perhaps it was because it had so many problems and was not extended for at least 2 years now. It was developed once and then there was no progress at all. Some major things that made the Skype Extras system a flop in our eyes: a) only on windows, not available on Mac or Linux, b) horrible client-only Skype payments implementation, c) very unflexible (games as developer-examples shows the focus when it was developed…), and loads more.
But why it’s so hard for a multi-billion-dollar company to hire some people with the according knowledge and make it better? Skype Extras System 2.0? Just shutting down the whole thing is just a decision at the round table, but standing up for a product platform and fight to make it better than it was before to make it a success is a hard and long road to go.
We believe that some changes are always a good chance to make something much better than it was before. For us, this means finding more ways to market our software and the opportunity to change the pay-as-you-go payment process in PamFax will be a great step forward in making our products even better.
So: R.I.P. Skype Extras System. Let’s find something better out there!
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Comments (3)
Dick says: Thanks for the payment suggestions, we’ll take a look at them.
Except the Skype Credit payment option, all other Skype related functions will remain to be working (like the Skype Chat notifications).
Please put me on your mailing list. Today I discovered the Extras section only to find that it was cancelled last week. Your comment on the Skype page about that cancellation was interesting and I would like to be notified by you when you have news about new products and in case you find out that Skype has reinstated the Extras or found another way to work with others outside of Skype.
I am very interested in things that help humans communicate. Family Constellations Work is something that I find very powerful in helping people to realize the ways that they are connected to their own birth family throughout the many generations; now, I am thinking that I want to help people who do the Family Constellations work to realize that there are many opportunities to share in the flow of information and caring between people all over the planet no matter what family lineage they were born into.
The descriptions of your products make me feel good about your company and I wish you all the best in your endeavors to assist people in connecting with other people, in ways that enrich everyone’s lives.
Dr. Ralph Wilson, Seattle, WA and also Washington DC, USA
Heiko says: No big deal, since the only usefull app in Skype-Extras was the PamFax-App (at least for me). OK, it was nice and easy to convince my clients and install PamFax on the computers of them, mostly convinced because of the easy payment-method (“not just another service to register and pay by CC or Bankorder”).
I’m curios how easy it will be in the future to pay. And what about the Progress-Messages over Skype? Will they stay alive?
Maybe PamFax will come up with at least one of these payment-methods: T-Pay (http://www.t-pay.de/t-pay-info/bezahlvarianten-im-ueberblick.html), PayByte (https://ssl.paybyte.de/PayByte/beschreibung.html) and my favorite PaySafeCard (http://www.paysafecard.com/uk/), because it is almost worldwide and in many languages available.
Finally, it would be a great deal, if PamFax come up in a future version as a “portable”, so I can take my faxmachine to everywhere in the whole world! I know that it is possible, because I made PamFax for me allready portable …
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