Google's Gmail went down for four hours on Tuesday, leaving business and casual users across the globe without access to their interface lifeline.
http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/24/four-hours-without-gmail/?hp
As the world becomes increasingly dependent on e-mail and social networking sites to communicate with others (both inside and outside of the office), it remains to be seen how impactful events like this will be when companies' bottom lines depend on deadlines . . . and deadlines depend on functional browsers and e-mail service providers. Google Apps was also frozen during this time. It's great to have access to these applications for free, but what is the actual cost when there is no one to blame, nowhere to direct one's fury, and no way to punish someone--except in stock prices--since the service is provided for free? Google has yet to offer an explanation as to why this happened. And why should they, since it appears they really aren't accountable to anyone.
1 comment:
i was in the process of posting a blog on this topic as well. While Google may not be accountable to anyone, people are often dependent on the email provider for work and other obligations that are quite problematic when these services fail....
For a few hours, Gmail goes GFail
The Internet is ever-growing, and so is Google and all its subsets. But has it become too big? The problems it encountered earlier today that stopped some people from using their Gmail accounts may have a detrimental effect on its reputation and reliability. I saw a friend’s status on Facebook that said she ‘is part of the "small subset of users" experiencing Gmail problems, and [she] can't work without email. argh.’ On the other hand, Blackberry has occasionally server problems and I don’t think that has stopped people from purchasing one. Technology and all its entities are subject to glitches and occasional failures of which we must be tolerant. The problem however arises when we cannot do work or other obligations as a result of the failure.
A WSJ article holds the opinion that, ‘the blackout will do little to assuage companies’ concerns about the reliability of Web-based software. Google, Microsoft, Amazon and others all tout the benefits of running software remotely but incidents like today could cause businesses to sit on the sidelines longer.’’
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/02/24/gmail-outage-disrupts-working-day/?mod=rss_WSJBlog?mod=
A side note about the size of Gmail:
‘It is the fourth most popular Web email service in the U.S., according to comScore, with 31 million unique U.S. users in January. That’s roughly a third the size of Yahoo’s service and behind Microsoft’s Windows Live Hotmail and AOL. But Gmail is by far the fastest-growing of the bunch – growing 54% from January 2008 to January 2009, five times’ Yahoo’s growth rate.’
http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2009/02/24/gmail-outage-disrupts-working-day/?mod=rss_WSJBlog?mod=
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