Remember when Gmail debuted? It was slick, it was powerful, and Googles surreptitious “invite-only” soft-launch smacked of breezy insouciance. What a cool company, what a great app. Only one problem: Gmail didnt work.
Half the time I tried to log in, the service was unavailable.
E-mails from my clients disappeared or never arrived in the first place. It took them six months to stabilize what should have been the most reliable of Web applications, and even today I get errors.
How about the Google Reader that debuted last month? Same story.
It didnt work. I started using it the week it debuted. Pretty interface, great keyboard shortcuts. But the RSS feeds didnt refresh correctly.
Sometimes, the app didnt work at all, and Id be suspended in that interminable online hell we all euphemistically refer to as “loading.”
I switched back to Bloglines and havent looked back.
And yesterday, I tried to take a look at Google Analytics. Guess what? That didnt work, either.
I did get a custom “service unavailable” page, which seems to me, at this point, like smiling at your customers while youre flicking them off.
Whats up Google? Why do you keep slashdotting yourself?
I wasnt the only one who was a bit miffed. Ive seen quite a few grousers on blogs.
Ethan Stock, CEO of Zvents (who also throws a great pizza party), had a rough time with the service as well and summed up the problem nicely.