[LINK] Skype and VoIP

[Ivan Trundle]

To be fair, Skype's byline is 'take a deep breath', after all...

Upon reflection, and given that I use Skype every day, and often, I  
realise that I might have simply vented some frustration rather than  
consider what it all means.

You're right, though, Stil - but in this instance, millions of people  
have been affected by the outage, whereas the examples you've quoted  
aren't quite so omnipresent in their impact.

Our expectations are often tempered by track records: my neighbour is  
without heating - again - for another week because of an equipment  
failure, but on past experience, he shrugs and says 'it'll be fixed  
eventually'.

But it does bring to mind the monoculture argument: and that we  
should learn from nature and enjoy diversity in all things, and  
support that diversity.

iT

On 17/08/2007, at 8:43 AM, Stilgherrian wrote:

> On 17/8/07 7:56 AM, "Ivan Trundle" <ivan at itrundle.com> wrote:
>> Obviously not ready for prime-time stuff. My household experienced a
>> brown-out and then a black-out last night, and upon recovery, Skype
>> wouldn't login. I thought that it might have been related, until I
>> read this:
>>
>> "UPDATED 14:02 GMT: Some of you may be having problems logging into
>> Skype. Our engineering team has determined that it’s a software
>> issue. We expect this to be resolved within 12 to 24 hours.[snip]
>
> Hmmm... When there's a storm or a crash or whatever, "some users"  
> don't have
> electricity for hours at a time, but we never say "electricity  
> isn't ready
> for prime time".
>
> Cars and trucks are "prime time", even though they go into the  
> workshop for
> a day or so every now and then -- or crash violently, killing all  
> occupants.
>
> Are we having unrealistic expectations of the new technologies,  
> expecting
> them to somehow be magically perfect? Have we all forgotten that  
> Things Do
> Not Work Perfectly, and that we have to do without them occasionally?
>
> Stil
>
>
> -- 
> Stilgherrian http://stilgherrian.com/
> Internet, IT and Media Consulting, Sydney, Australia
> mobile +61 407 623 600
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--
Ivan Trundle
http://globallearning.com.au ivan at globallearning.com.au
ph: +61 (0)2 6249 1344 mb: +61 (0)418 244 259
skype: callto://ivanovitchk