Skype Protocol Hacked

July 14th, 2006 at 12:38 am

Nice. I would like to see Skype to PBX integration…running Skype on an Asterisk server could be a big deal.

July 14th, 2006 at 3:53 am

I think that Skype would be foolish not to open up their protocol (assuming it’s secure and can’t be used for buffer-overflow attacks)

The Skype network makes its money from calls to and from real-live telephones, and since that information is stored by skype itself (i.e. how much credit a user has) there’s no reason Skype shouldn’t open up their protocol, as it won’t cut their profits.

In fact, their bandwidth bills would be reduced!

July 14th, 2006 at 5:20 am

Skype make a great deal of money from advertising. This may be diminishing returns, but it is a significant input to average revenue per user.

By exposing an API, they allow the Skype user base to be exploited by applications that do not let the adverts come through.

OTOH, if other voip/im players start federating chat and voip between clouds it will mean migration away from Skype regardless, and other players who don’t buy in.

So Skype, and the rest, will have to start thinking about value add features they can add to the experience that are compelling, and provide revenue other than PSTN breakout, which again, produces diminishing returns with larger penetration, and as PSTN networks are replaced by VOIP.

July 14th, 2006 at 7:26 am

Perhaps I’m missing something, but Skype does have an API that allows third-party developers to access its network (https://developer.skype.com/). Granted, end users have to have Skype installed to use apps developed on top of this API, but this seems fair enough to me. It’s certainly makes Skype the most open of the major proprietary VOIP/IM vendors.

It’s also news to me that Skype makes any significant revenue from advertising (as stated in a previous comment). As far as I know they make all their revenues from connectivity to POTS networks (SkypeOut/SkypeIn). Once again, I’m not an authoritative source, but I’ve used Skype intensively for a couple of years and I’ve yet to see an ad.

July 14th, 2006 at 8:34 am

The only reason this is a story is that Skype runs a closed system. The telephone network, that dinosaur everyone loves to hate, is based on worldwide interoperability, which is why you can make a call from your SF landline to your buddy’s cellphone in England.

I built a teleconferencing system that is accessible via a local phone call in 40 countries, and worldwide via VoIP (SIP). The only major telephone network that we’re not peered with is Skype, and that is because they do not support SIP, which has been a global standard for VoIP for years (ratified by the IETF).

Gizmo (www.gizmoproject.com), which is nearly identical to Skype in terms of functionality, is built upon SIP and Jabber. It took us an afternoon to figure out how to peer with them, and it didn’t cost us a dime to do so.

Likewise Skype could open up their network to the world just by supporting SIP for voice and XMPP for IM. There is no technical reason they can’t do this, and in fact they have, but only for certain companies.

People should really look into Gizmo, it’s very competitive with Skype in terms of features, and it works with Asterisk or any other SIP service (the Gizmo client can be registered with the Gizmo network and a third-party SIP service simultaneously).

July 14th, 2006 at 9:38 am

IF true then I agree this is a good chance for Skype to allow third party clients. Personally I would like Skype to adopt open standard like XMPP, SIP etc. I would also like MSN, Yahoo etc to do the same.

Interoperability should be the key for IM/VoIP clients. Imagine only being able to send emails to certain people or mobile phones to sent networks? That scenario did exist at one point in time but now we all take it for granted that we can interoperate. The same needs to happen for IM/VoIP!

If anyone would like to reverse engineer the MSNNP12 protocol used in Messenger 8 that might make it interesting.

July 14th, 2006 at 12:39 pm

I’ll second the Gizmo recommendation, and note that Telesthetic runs free POTS to SIP dialin gateways with local numbers all through the state of Michigan (though you can dial from anywhere). Gizmo is SIP based.

The Gizmo client talks to Google Talk IM sessions out of the box, which is so amazingly nice to not have to get yet another incompatible IM network.

July 14th, 2006 at 5:11 pm

Probably no legal action because the developers are in China. So it will be a technical thing. Skype will turn this into a protocol arms race.

It’s their network and their protocol — they can change it every 30 seconds, in stupid ways if that’s what it takes, to win. Recall that the big IM networks went on fighting Trillian/Gaim for quite some time, before quietly relenting.

It’s quite likely the Skype guys will be a lot more challenging as a reverse engineering opponents. We can only hope a team from eBay works on it

July 17th, 2006 at 8:43 pm

ask yourselves, who did it, why did they do it, and what will be the consequenses.