Glitch Has Users Fuming, Google 'Frantic'

netbuzz writes "A problem with Google's Personalized Home Page feature has apparently cost a lot of users their carefully crafted doors to the Internet. And Google, which says it is frantically searching for a fix, also acknowledges that it is not sure if it will be able to recover the lost settings. 'The problem is the latest in what seems a regular stream of technical glitches and availability problems affecting Google's online services. In the past six months, Google services like Blogger, Gmail and Google Apps have all experienced significant technical issues that have left users fuming. The problems highlight one of the risks of relying on hosted applications providers, which offer to house software and its data for individuals and organizations. Google is one of the biggest cheerleaders for this software provisioning model, which many see as a viable option to the traditional approach of having users install applications on their own PCs and servers.'"

Comments

So explain again...

[Anonymous Coward]

why storing all your data on some company's servers is a good idea?

Re:So explain again...

[KillerCow]

So explain again... why storing all your data on some company's servers is a good idea?

Because managing an email server is not my core concern.

Say that you business is selling fruitcakes. You make awesome fruitcakes. That's your core. Everything else that you do is not fruitcakes.

Do you grow the fruit yourself? Nope. You order them from some fruit company.

Do you make the box that the cake goes in? Nope. You order boxes from a box making company.

Do you make the machines that run in your plant? Nope. They come from an automation company.

Do you generate the electricity to run your plant? Nope. The electric company does that.

Do you sell the cakes directly to consumers? Nope. Retail grocery chains deal with the consumers.

Do you sell them directly to retailers? Nope. You have a distributor who deals with them.

Do you transport the cakes yourself? Nope. You contract to a logistics (trucking) company.

Do you even clean your own toilets? Nope. There's a cleaning service.

Why should you manage your own email servers? Contract that to a company who's core business is IT infrastructure. They are going to be better at it than you.

The problem is, Google isn't that good at it. Their core business is search. Everything else is just someone's cool project idea, and not a real product with real resources and real support. It's all just "hey, look at this cool thing with a cool UI" and that's then end of it.

Hmm

[geek]

So 3 different apps have 1 hiccup each over the course of 6 months. If only my desktop applications were so reliable. I can't even count how many paragraphs in Word I've lost due to crashes, or how many settings I've lost in Gnome from random bugs. I don't see what the fuss is, it's still a matter of "shit happens" only Google seems to be rather responsive about it all.

Re:Hmm

[vux984]

At least my desktop applications have backups.
I don't have to rely on 'frantic google engineers scrambling to find a fix'. I know absolutely that my data can be recovered.

I backup my data based on how valuable it is to me.

How valuable is your data to google? I know they try, and they even do a pretty dammed good job, but at the end of the day, you aren't even really their customer -- you are their product.

Like a farmer raising chickens; they want them strong, well fed, happy, healthy, content, disease free, and they take steps to ensure they stay that way. But at the end of the day, they aren't really in it for the chicken's welfare.

Re:Hmm

[geek]

Every google app has the option of downloading a local backup, whether its pop mail via gmail or downloading your docs and spread sheets from google docs. You are responsible for your own data, period. If it's that critical for you, don't put it online. It's a free service, period. If you paid for it I'd see that argument as relevent, however, you don't.

Step away from the web

[Timesprout]

Many who use Google's Personalized Home Page feature - yours truly included - are trembling in fear today over the prospect of losing all of their carefully crafted settings to a bug that has Google engineers "frantic" to find a fix.

You might want to think about getting out a bit more if loosing a few settings has you 'trembling in fear'.

Re:And In Other News...

[elmarkitse]

I think you're missing his point. Remotely hosting content opens people up to risks. He's going for the difference between outlook / thunderbird and gmail, and he makes a reasonable point. If my computer breaks down, I'm the fool who didn't back up. When a hosted solution goes down, everyone loses. It's not rocket science deduction he's doing, but it's still relevant to the overall point that Google goes down, service providers are inherently unreliable to some extent, and, as you said, life goes on. Unless it's me, and THEN I'm pissed.

Re:And In Other News...

[N0Nick]

It's not like Google just lost everyone's email messages from the last 6 months. While I agree with your overall perspective and find the Google Personalized Home's data to be of little critical value (btw - it's not the modules and gadgets developers have been building, it's just.. personalized homepages. the selection and order of widgets across a page...) - you contradict yourself in the above example.

"Shit happens", that's true. You should always be prepared. You should always backup.
But... if Google lost everyone's email messages from the last 6 months would it be fair of Google to say "well you should've backed it all up"? After all, what is Gmail if not a purely-online, searchable e-mail archive?
You can't expect users to be prepared for their archive to be destroyed, right? If Google wants me to manage my e-mail online, they can't expect me to download it all too, just in case.

The "stream of technical glitches" described in the article, albeit overstressed, is pointing at something that should worry us: If the software market is going towards online services, where data is centralized and 1 server down means 1,000 users down - what strategic steps do we take in order to protect our users and our data?

Re:beta.Google?

[MBraynard]

Yes, exactly. That is NOT funny but insightful. Almost all of these services are in beta. What the hell are you doing using Gmail for your corporate services?