Life without Skype.

Wow. A Skype meltdown. While I was buried in the Canadian woods with only dial-up to choose from – which I chose against – Skype finally went down. Microsoft mistake, it seems.

While I was sheltered from the meltdown, millions other were not so lucky. Bad timing, really. Skype and its partners are increasingly trying to convince business users that they are more than just a family and friends solution. But in business, we have little – if any – patience for service interruptions. If we can’t put up with dial up anymore, we certainly can’t be without our dial tone.

As an offshoot, it has been fascinating to watch as competitors move without hesitation to take advantage of others’ failures. AT&T win-backs from Vonage. Everybody soaking up SunRocket’s customers. SightSpeed and others reaching out immediately to Skype users. Sometimes we forget that the Internet is in fact a double edge sword; it enables to business to both win and lose at warp speeds.