Filed under: Internet, Web services, Google
Google experiences downtime, so does faith in cloud computing
I have no doubt that service will be restored momentarily. But I suddenly find myself temporarily helpless. I rely heavily on Google Reader and Gmail for my workflow as a home office worker. And I'm not alone. A quick scan of Twitter Search shows that a lot of other people are experiencing the same problems.
While there are many advantages to cloud computing (like being able to access your data from any computer, anywhere in the world), this outage shows one of the most significant downsides. If Google experiences technical difficulties, millions of people around the world who rely on Google services experience those difficulties as well. It's almost enough to make me go back to Thunderbid and FeedDemon.
Oh wait, after about 18 minutes of downtime, Google's back online. Nevermind.
Update: Word on the street is that the problem was with Verizon, not Google. Verizon high speed internet customers were also unable to access Facebook, CNN, and a number of other sites during the same period.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Christian said 5:10PM on 11-12-2008
lol, you sounded like you feared the end of world when google suddenly dissapeared in your life. Like in South Park when the internet suddenly stopped working.
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Peter said 5:53PM on 11-12-2008
Shows you the risk of relying on a single source for too much of anything.
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Brett said 6:13PM on 11-12-2008
I haven't been able to get to my Gmail for over 4 hours now. I can get to Reader and the main site without issue. I'm on Roadrunner, so I doubt Verizon is to blame.
Fix it! :o(
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Martin-T said 6:53PM on 11-12-2008
I have never been able to understand why the tech savvy would trust in cloud computing.
Just refer to "Murphy's Law"
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PixelSlave said 8:08PM on 11-12-2008
Totally agree with Martin-T, but I can answer it with three words "snake oil salesman". The tech industry runs on cycle of invention. There are times when the inventions are great and badly needed -- yea, we even have a term for it: "The next big thing" -- but there are also times when we come up with something that is a fundamentally mess. I don't know about you, but imagine there's no more MS Word, not even its alternatives, no Open Office, no desktop equivalent, and everyone uses Google Docs. Now, picture this -- Google's service is down for 1 business day (only 8 hours!) Man, I can't even count how many people will be affected. What makes me laugh so much is that, to "work around" such problem, people are coming up with solutions to work offline using backups or cache (ie, working on your docs even when the service is not accessible.) I have no problem with that, but as more and more of the apps' features are accessible offline, what makes it different than a desktop app that saves the documents to a central server? Yea, they are cross-platform (if your browser is supported) and requires no installation. But nowadays, there are ways to create desktop app that requires no installation and can be run across many platforms.
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deep said 8:27AM on 11-13-2008
I guess it was down cause they were about to roll out video and voice chat in gmail
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ageor said 8:27AM on 11-13-2008
Totally misleading title.
Good of you to update, but it should have gone on top, not the bottom.
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kraig said 8:27AM on 11-13-2008
Should have deleted the post - had nothing to do with Google.
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Brad Linder said 8:30AM on 11-13-2008
The post was more about cloud computing than Google. For millions of Verizon customers, Google and other services were down for close to 20 minutes, which exposed a potential problem with the idea of storing your important work data with free services you have little to no control over.
kraig said 10:43AM on 11-13-2008
If you have your own exchange server you will have more downtime then with Gmail.
Peter said 1:52PM on 11-13-2008
"If you have your own exchange server you will have more downtime then with Gmail." - I was going to low rank you for unrelated MS bashing, but then I thought about it for a minute, and I realized you're right.
I've had much more downtime from my Exchange server at work than I have from Gmail. The main difference is our Exchange server downtime is in shorts bursts spread throughout the year. Google seems to keep everything running until something fails and then there is a single long outage.
Bob said 7:30AM on 11-13-2008
Google has trouble with everything!
Greetz Bob - http://www.james-bond-quantum-of-solace.com/
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Counsel said 9:46AM on 11-13-2008
I have blogged about this, and I call these services "thin-client" services. If your host/source goes down, you are simply out of luck. Remember the cable cut in Taiwan? Imagine if you had all of your business data on one of these sites and you were unable to "work" with that data for a day...or more.
I like having my own server in my own office--either I can fix an issue or I can have IT do it. I just don't get network computing--web browsing is one thing, but, like the web-app only iPhone, those devices that require an internet connection to be functional don't make much sense to me.
Likely it will have no effect, but what hapens when MS only offers Word on-line or when some other firm makes you store your property/information on their servers... Thin is out--this is why...
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sushrut said 8:01AM on 11-14-2008
Sounds like naive email. I mean clouds have better chances of surviving technical problems. Uptime in going to be much better than any in-house hosting solution u have. Its like saying I will lay down all fiber optic cables as I cant rely on verizon!
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travman733 said 12:21PM on 11-14-2008
Our ISP in Grand Rapids, MI was reporting a total Verizon outage of their OC48 line yesterday. They were forced to use their backup AT&T line through Kalamazoo.
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