Uh-oh. Domino.

OK, so I couldn’t pass this one up: Skype failed because Microsoft users did the equivalent of heading for the bathroom at SuperBowl halftime.

According to the Skype blog:

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.

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.

So Skype’s saying that Microsoft sent out a patch through its update service, millions of users applied it and, when it said, “You must restart your computer now…” they did.

And a gazillion restarts pretty much ate the Skype network.

Hmmmm. Given the number of patches that typically come out for any major OS these days…plain old telephone service is looking better and better.

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