[asterisk-users] [asterisk-biz] Skype Outage Leaves Millions Speechless

[Matthew Rubenstein]

On Fri, 2007-08-17 at 18:22 +0200, Trixter aka Bret McDanel wrote:
> On 8/17/07, Aleks Clark <aleks.clark at gmail.com> wrote:
> > Actually, the crazy p2p connections actually reinforce their algorithm
> > story. If their p2p algorithms have flaked out, it could cause all sorts of
> > trouble. OTOH, I don't think they'd run logins over p2p....
> >
> 
> given the press from days past about how someone cracked the algorithm
> and could write their own client that ebay cant control, almost makes
> you wonder if it was an auto-update gone awry to try to change the
> algorithm.
> 
> I dont know what the default setting is, but do know that skype can be
> set to auto-update itself, which means that some may have been
> affected while others werent for that reason alone.
> 
> I am certain though that skype wouldnt admit if it was this, and its
> likely that any front line people at skype wouldnt know one way or the
> other for sure what is broke.

	Imagine if the world's largest online marketplace operated the world's
largest alternative (and one of the largest in general) telco and an
unregulated global online banking monopoly. And the telco suddenly went
down, unexplained, for hours or days.

	That sounds like a serious threat to global economy and security,
right?

	eBay is that marketplace, owns Skype, that telco, owns PayPal, that
bank. This outage should be screaming from the headlines. As those three
essential services become essential to more people around the world,
they need to become reliable. This outage is a serious warning for
future dependence on those connected services. If the media can't even
report it, how can we expect anyone to do anything to fix or mitigate
it?
-- 

(C) Matthew Rubenstein