Just to add a bit to Azen's update: Like the other Octane Render plugins, we are dependent on the Octane SDK, which is currently going through a series of major changes that have led to an unusually long gap between stable releases. As a result, many of the plugins built around the SDK have necessarily gone through a similar pause while we adapt the plugins to the SDK changes and await a stable build. We're taking advantage of this time to continue work on the plugins. (On top of this, we also need to adapt the SketchUp plugin to some significant changes in the Microsoft and Apple development tools.)
One of the most important changes I've been making recently is the introduction of two-way feedback between the SketchUp and Octane views of a scene. The first example of this is the lighting environment: when you change the lighting settings on one side, this will now be reflected on the other; for example, you can change the map location in Octane's environment settings, and both the Octane and SU views will change their sunlight direction and colour to match. Synchronisation of other details will follow; the same underlying mechanism will allow automatic conversion of materials with some more work (although this will necessarily be limited by some fundamental incompatibilities between the SU and Octane material models).
Other improvements waiting in the wings, in addition to general bug fixing, include better compatibility between save files from different versions of the plugin (at the moment there are issues with transferring files between Windows and Mac), and more reliable picking of material and other objects. I'm also investigating the issues you have reported with Skatter and proxy objects.