I got home last night and logged onto my computer to check email and open Skype. Except for it didn't seem to be working. The program kept telling me Skype was loading but nothing was happening. And sure enough, there it is, all over the Internet as reported by... Skype users.
I looked briefly at a lead article at Information Week -- Skype Outage leaves Million Speechless -- that reported the bare bone facts, and then googled the topic.
Traditionally, everyone interested in learning what's going on would have turned on the TV (most Americans still rely on TV for their news) or logged onto popular tech publication sites, like I did with IW. The information would have been from one source to many listeners. Today, I found dozens of blog posts on the topic.
I borrowed the great graphic from Tom Keating who blogs at VoIP & Gadgets Blog. Take a look at the comments on his post -- they read like correspondents from all over the world, including Chile and Guatemala. And with the reporting there are unfiltered opinions as well as advice -- some asked for, some given.
This here is the official statement from the Skype site. So far, it got 352 blog reactions. Still on the first page of Google search results, we have a Digg entry with 745 diggs so far, and another commentary from Ken Fisher at Ars Technica, an 8-year old online publication on technology and new media. Ken writes:
"What makes this Skype outage surprising is how often it doesn't happen. This is the most significant outage for the service in years, yet we already foresee scores of headlines trumpeting the flaws of VOIP communications based on this outage alone. That's unfortunate because we think Skype network performance has been spectacular on average, given that it's free and heavily used. In fact, it would appear that the Skype P2P network is indeed in fine shape, it's just that the authentication system (which authenticates but also provides location services for routing purposes) is hosed."
[emphasis mine]
I warn you, there seems to be a lot of technical language here from people who know what they're talking about. Om Malik at GigaOM highlights some business considerations and food for thought in case you rely on Skype for P2P services. The one comment in German confirmed the very global tech environment in which we now live.
Reporting from the Techdirt blog is Mike Masnick. The angle here is the question of real decentralization of the P2P Skype network. Mashable connects the Skype outage with a dip in eBay stock. Sean Aune cautions that the market is taking an overall hit at this time.
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