Skype is finally back online and stable. Last week the Skype network was hit by a big problem. Because of this a lot of people had problems logging in to the Skype services.
After years of happy usage people noticed how vunerable the network was. It is still a big secret what really caused this problem, there are two stories:
1 - Skype said it was caused because a lot of computers where installing updates after which restarts where necessary. Spype is a peer-2-peer services which is reliable on a big network of computers. In the software was an error because of which the network was not able to recover from these problems on it's own. Skype has solved this problem now, and the service is back to normal.
2 - Skype was hit by a DoS-attack. Skype denies this but a Russian company (Security Lab) says it has proof that some people have done a DoS attack. The way the attack works is simple. The code makes sure a standard Skype client tries to connect to another client (phone call) . The server hangs and the client goes and look for another server. This goes on until the whole network collapses.
Whatever the reason was for the downtime, Skype got a reality check. Ebay (the mother company of Skype) also got a sensitive hit on the stock market because of this. Also it gave a chance to Skype's competitors to attracts Skype clients to try out their services.
One thing is sure in my case there was only one winner, Telkom. Because Skype was down I picked up the old fashioned telephone to call to Europe. Looking forward to the telephone bill..... o well Skype is back online, I am curious how long it will take Skype to win back the trust of the customers.