This is how much Google has entrenched itself in our lives. Some time this afternoon (1:30am PST, around 5:00pm here), netizens around the world experienced what can only be described as a Gmail blackout. For several hours, Gmail users were unable to access their accounts online. Users who had access to third-party mail applications and mobile devices were spared from this email outtage. I was literally near tears when I refreshed my Gmail page over and over again to no success. Not that I had something very important to get from my account. In reality, I just wanted to see if I had any new messages since I last visited it… oh about 25 minutes earlier. Yes, it was LAME. But the feeling of helplesness and futility were oh so intense… well, ok I wasn’t really welling up in tears but hey, it was frustrating not having access to something that you normally would have no problems getting into. Google is supposed to be the epitome of Internet stability and reliability. That image has now fizzled at some places and leaves one thinking, “who the heck am I going to put my trust in now?”
Gmail is up and running now and hopefully, we won’t get any “aftershocks” soon. This incident only proves that not even Google is bulletproof. It also proves that we are somewhat becoming slaves to the big Google machine in one way or another. I would have to admit though that Google still supplies us with quality services and products hence our inability to part ways with it. For that reason alone I am willing to be enslaved. At least for now, we could all go to sleep knowing that Gmail is up and that the internet has returned to its equlibrium.
Reference: http://tinyurl.com/dxze2d
UPDATE:
Apparently, the outtage lasted for two and a half hours. So that’s two hours and a half hours of ranting by netizens in the Twitter community. You should have seen it, it was wild! Panic all around the world! Still no word though as to what caused the service failure.
Reference: http://gmailblog.blogspot.com/2009/02/update-on-todays-gmail-outage.html
