Skype Not Working down

Skype Not Working down: It does appear the chat, calling and conferencing service Skype is currently down. The Readwriteweb tech blog is reporting that 8 million people currently can’t connect to the service. I am one of those people – once in a while it connects and I see my buddy list but then they disappear. The most important thing to remember is that every service goes down sometime. To me the important part is seeing how the company handles their communications during and after the downtime occurs.

First thing I plan to do is DEMAND A REFUND…oh wait :-P

My “Skype Down Preparedness Kit” has only one item in it — that’s a phone. If you really need to get a hold of someone while Skype is down, pick up the phone and call them.

Om Malik, one of my favorite journalists, appears to be really (and I mean really) mad at Skype being down. I mean the last time I saw Om this mad, the Rangers just beat the Yankees in game 6 of the American League Championship Series. A small part of me thinks Om might be joking around in his post but I am not sure.

Om notes regarding the Skype down outage, “Skype is one of the key applications of the modern web. It is already a hit with consumers, and over past few years it has become part of the economic fabric for startups and small businesses around the world. I am not sure we can comprehend the productivity cost of this outage.”

If I was in San Fran right now, I’d head over to the GigaOm office with a nice corned beef sandwich, square knish and a can of Dr. Browns Black Cherry soda and Om and I would watch an old Yankees game with Reggie Jackson or Dave Winfield. After a couple of innings of NY wooping all others and some good deli, Om wouldn’t care if Skype was down.

I do agree with Om that Skype is a very important tool. To me, if I could only choose Facebook or Skype, I would choose Skype every single time. Skype is how I communicate with my close friends and colleagues more than I ever will using Facebook.

Feel free to report in if Skype is down for you – make sure to include your location and how you plan to occupy the time during this outage.