This shows the reliance on a massive scale that P2P Distributed Computing has become.
People like General Clark want to make it a Felony crime still in the U.S.
8-20-2007 Skype Outage Caused by Microsoft Update
Skype: Outage Caused by Massive Restart After Users Had Downloaded Windows Patches
FRANKFURT, Germany - A two-day outage that left millions of Skype users unable to use the popular Internet phone service was caused by an abnormally high number of restarts after people had downloaded a Windows security update, the company said Monday.
The worldwide outage, which began on Thursday and ended on Saturday, left millions of Skype users unable to log on to make phone calls or send instant messages.
In an update to users on Skype's Heartbeat blog, employee Villu Arak said the disruption was not because of hackers or any other malicious activity.
Instead, he said that the disruption "was triggered by a massive restart of our users' computers across the globe within a very short timeframe as they re-booted after receiving a routine set of patches through Windows Update," Arak wrote.
Microsoft Corp. released its monthly patches last Tuesday, and many computers are set to automatically download and install them. Installation requires a computer restart.
"The high number of restarts affected Skype's network resources. This caused a flood of log-in requests, which, combined with the lack of peer-to-peer network resources, prompted a chain reaction that had a critical impact," Arak wrote.
Arak did not blame Microsoft for the troubles and said the outage ultimately rested with Skype. Arak said Skype's network normally has an ability to heal itself in such cases, but a previously unknown glitch in Skype's software prevented that from occurring quickly enough.
In a statement, Microsoft described its patch as routine and reiterated that the disruption resulted from a bug in Skype software.
Users from Vietnam to Brazil to Germany to the United States had complained they could not log on and make phone calls or send instant messages.
People like General Clark want to make it a Felony crime still in the U.S.
8-20-2007 Skype Outage Caused by Microsoft Update
Skype: Outage Caused by Massive Restart After Users Had Downloaded Windows Patches
FRANKFURT, Germany - A two-day outage that left millions of Skype users unable to use the popular Internet phone service was caused by an abnormally high number of restarts after people had downloaded a Windows security update, the company said Monday.
The worldwide outage, which began on Thursday and ended on Saturday, left millions of Skype users unable to log on to make phone calls or send instant messages.
In an update to users on Skype's Heartbeat blog, employee Villu Arak said the disruption was not because of hackers or any other malicious activity.
Instead, he said that the disruption "was triggered by a massive restart of our users' computers across the globe within a very short timeframe as they re-booted after receiving a routine set of patches through Windows Update," Arak wrote.
Microsoft Corp. released its monthly patches last Tuesday, and many computers are set to automatically download and install them. Installation requires a computer restart.
"The high number of restarts affected Skype's network resources. This caused a flood of log-in requests, which, combined with the lack of peer-to-peer network resources, prompted a chain reaction that had a critical impact," Arak wrote.
Arak did not blame Microsoft for the troubles and said the outage ultimately rested with Skype. Arak said Skype's network normally has an ability to heal itself in such cases, but a previously unknown glitch in Skype's software prevented that from occurring quickly enough.
In a statement, Microsoft described its patch as routine and reiterated that the disruption resulted from a bug in Skype software.
Users from Vietnam to Brazil to Germany to the United States had complained they could not log on and make phone calls or send instant messages.
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