Skype or Snipe – Hunting For The Impossible Dream
April 25, 2013 1 Comment
Summary:
- Users
arewere experiencing problems (failure) signing on to Skype using a Microsoft Account username/password
Update: As of 13:50 GMT (10:50 a.m. EST, 7:50 a.m PST) Skype is reporting the problem has been resolved for the majority of users.
cf. http://heartbeat.skype.com/2013/04/problems_with_microsoft_accoun.html
“UPDATE Apr 25, 2013 13:50 GMT]: We are still monitoring the situation but the majority of users should now be able to sign into Skype with their Microsoft Account.”
Details:
- As of the evening of April 24, 2013 the ability to sign on to Skype with a Microsoft Account has been failing.
- Microsoft is currently upgrading (mandatory) Live Messenger accounts to Skype
- It is not known (at the time this article was written) whether the upgrade process is the cause of the Skype/Microsoft Account Sign-in failure nor when the problem will be resolved.
- The ability to continue to use Messenger is not a viable alternative since Messenger will prompt with a message stating that ‘A newer version is available’ – The ‘Newer’ version **is** Skype
Comments:
- If you’re familiar with the the term ‘hunting for snipe’ the parallel being drawn in the title of the article is that both are/were (during the outage) apparently impossible tasks
- Until this problem is resolved it might be prudent to delay upgrading Messenger to Skype (i.e. if one can’t sign on with a Messenger (Microsoft Account credentials) username/password to either Messenger or Skype then any attempt to use either would be fruitless. [Ed. – MSFT account signon and upgrade problems appear to be resolved. Verified on April 25, 2013 3 p.m. EST – successful upgrading from Messenger to Skype worked fine]
- Existing Skype accounts that were previously migrated from Messenger
arewere seeing the dialog box (below) when using their Microsoft Account credentials to sign-on to Skype - Skype support
iswas providing this notice: - Clicking on the link for ‘View blog reactions’ doesn’t provide any additional details (another snipe hunt?) only yielding the blog host (Technorati) service’s ‘No Results’ search finding:
- If Messenger is still installed (i.e. has not been upgraded to the somewhat misleading but planned and previously notified **Newer version*** it is highly likely that will also be fruitless during
thisany temporary outage since Messenger is pre-programmed to prevent sign on until the mandatory upgrade to the ‘newer version’ [Skype] is completed. - Status updates on this outage can be monitored on the Skype ‘Heartbeat’ web site http://heartbeat.skype.com/
- During Skype outages, imo, doing nothing (not upgrading, attempting to access Skype with a Microsoft Account, remove and reinstall Skype, wait a few hours/days etc.) might be best since those choices might be more beneficial than tampering with your pc/system and installed software and always better than going snipe (Skype) hunting.
Revisions:
April 24, 2013: Original Draft Date
April 25, 2013: Original Publish Date; Content edited to reflect outage status/resolution including verb changes where applicable (current vs. past tense)