Handful' of Users Go Without Gmail}

For some people, an hour without e-mail is too long, a day unthinkable, but five days? Unconscionable, a data-withholding transgression of the highest order.

What of the users trying to support their b

itle='Handful' of Users Go Without Gmail}

For some people, an hour without e-mail is too long, a day unthinkable, but five days? Unconscionable, a data-withholding transgression of the highest order.

What of the users trying to support their business by using Gmail? Paid Google Apps customers or not -- and paid customers will receive SLA credits -- the suffering may seem interminable.

"Google did a good job of communicating the problem and resolution plan to users," Nucleaus Research analyst Rebecca Wetteman told eWEEK. "Unfortunately, as critical as e-mail (even if it's free) is, any downtime in the Google world where millisecond search responses are expected seems like a very long time."

Wetteman added that Google's brand is such that any trip-ups on the consumer side reflect poorly on Google's ability to support its applications, which causes concern for enterprises.

Gartner analyst Matt Cain had a more sympathetic take on the matter, pointing out the law of averages at work.

"Google probably delivers 99.9 percent uptime for Gmail, which is impressive even for enterprise standards," Cain told eWEEK.

"However, if you happen to be one of those impacted by a severe outage, a higher level appeal --- "but guys - we hit three-nines of uptime" falls on deaf ears, and is actually a call to incite. So, there is a greater good here, but unfortunately, some folks get hurt along the way. We just gotta hope that this is one lottery we don't win."

Actually, Google enjoyed 99.984 percent of availability for Gmail, its highest mark ever. This was impressive following a tougher 2009 and 2008, which were marked by a few severe outages that affected more users.

Google said it plans to offer a more complete report of the situation in the near future. Until then, the "handful" of users whose fat inboxes are still in enduring the restoration process, will continue to go without.