It appears that at the moment some users of the Internet phone service Skype are experiencing issues with using the software. Skype"s own Twitter page has admiited. "Some of you may have problems signing in to Skype and making calls. We’re investigating and hope to have more details to share soon." The problems started appearing earlier this morning.
Of course Skype has been in the news a lot lately thanks to Microsoft"s decision earlier this month to acquire the company for a whopping $8.5 billion in cash. The actual acquisition will be completed later this year with Skype becoming a new division of the software giant. It was a decision that even Microsoft founder Bill Gates, who has left the day-to-day operatng decisions of Microsoft to others, said he was a strong proponent for approving. Microsoft has announced that it will add Skype support to a number of Microsoft projects including its Xbox business. Since the announcement there"s been a lot of debate about whether or not Microsoft"s move to buy Skype was a good idea.
Microsoft"s current leader, CEO Steve Ballmer, might be on the hook if this acquisition with Skype is not as successful for the company as he hopes. Indeed just this week David Einhorn, the president of hedge fund Greenlight Capital, claims that even with the purchase of Skype earlier this month he wants Ballmer to resign as CEO. Microsoft"s stock hasn"t performed as well as it has in the past and Einhore said that Ballmer"s "continued presence is the biggest overhang on Microsoft"s stock."
Update - Skype"s web site has posted up a workaround for people to sign onto the service.
Update 2 - Skype has now released a new version for Windows that should stop the issues. A version for the Mac should be released tomorrow.