Skype: Latest news on the massive downtime

Skype is finally coming slowly online. An official statement was also announced...

Status update on downtime

Skype structureAn update on the downtime which has been affecting many of you around the world: the ability of one Skype user to find another relies on what we call ‘supernodes’, and yesterday, a number of these failed due to a software issue, which we’ve now identified. Our engineers are working to resolve the problem.

Millions of you are already reporting that you can now sign in to Skype normally, and we estimate that there are already almost 5 million people online. As a guide, this is around 30% of what we’d expect at this time of day – and that number is increasing all the time. Unfortunately, it’s not possible for us to predict on an individual level when you’ll be able to sign in again, and we thank you for your patience in the meantime.

It’s worth noting that our enterprise product, Skype Connect, is working normally, though Skype Manager and our other web-based functions will continue to stay offline for a little longer. Additionally, features like group video calling will take longer to return to normal.

We’re sincerely sorry for this disruption - like you, all of us at Skype rely on Skype every day. We understand just how important Skype is to your friendships, family, and work, and so are particularly aware of the impact of rare problems like this. We’re working hard to restore full functionality to the Skype software, and hope to have more information to share soon. You can also follow @skype on Twitter for further updates.

Official Announcement

Skype is still down.

The problem appears to be serious for Skype. Up to this moment no one knows how many dollars are lost by businesses and by Skype itself due to this "downtime". Some people contacted me from Europe reporting connectivity issues.. Others sign in and then drop. Personally I couldn't even sign in yesterday and today the same goes on. Have your tried login in the main page of Skype? I can't even connect there, the site pushes me to yesterdays announcement about the downtime.

#Skype is down! Affecting Worldwide users! http://bit.ly/fPXUvC

Skype appears to be experiencing technical difficulties affecting millions worldwide. Nothing official has been announced from Skype.

*UPDATE:
Skype's main website appears to be working. Even advertising their products but nothing on the outage. The support website on the other hand is down.

*UPDATE 2:
BBC News reported on the issue:
"We take outages like this really seriously and apologise for the inconvenience users are having," Tony Bates, Skype chief executive officer told BBC News.
The rest of the article: Skype apologises for losing half of daily call traffic

*UPDATE 3:
I finally got through the support page... Hot topic: Why can't I sign in to Skype?

Official statement:
Please note: We are aware that some people are currently encountering difficulties signing in to Skype. Rest assured, we are working hard to fix this. In the meantime, we apologise for any inconvenience this may be causing you.

An apology isn't much for millions lost by businesses today.

*UPDATE 4:
Finally an official announcement by Skype. I'm posting the full text. Who knows if they go down again...

Skype downtime today

Earlier today, we noticed that the number of people online on Skype was falling, which wasn’t typical or expected, so we began to investigate.

Skype isn’t a network like a conventional phone or IM network – instead, it relies on millions of individual connections between computers and phones to keep things up and running. Some of these computers are what we call ‘supernodes’ – they act a bit like phone directories for Skype. If you want to talk to someone, and your Skype app can’t find them immediately (for example, because they’re connecting from a different location or from a different device) your computer or phone will first try to find a supernode to figure out how to reach them.

Under normal circumstances, there are a large number of supernodes available. Unfortunately, today, many of them were taken offline by a problem affecting some versions of Skype. As Skype relies on being able to maintain contact with supernodes, it may appear offline for some of you.

What are we doing to help? Our engineers are creating new ‘mega-supernodes’ as fast as they can, which should gradually return things to normal. This may take a few hours, and we sincerely apologise for the disruption to your conversations. Some features, like group video calling, may take longer to return to normal.

Stay tuned to @skype on Twitter for the latest updates on the situation – and many thanks for your continued patience in the meantime.

===> Read it here <===

A mere "downtime"...