That familiar server error message. It sent most of Google users after their internet service providers. A gmail breakdown that had the world dependent on the service stuck in frustration. Google apologised. And said it was investigating.

It never was this bad for Google that crashed a couple of times last year too, but had features that that include people being able to draft and read messages offline. Google has not revealed what exactly caused the gmail outage. But the crash came as a rude bolt from the blue as the service is normally a very active one.

Apparently, porn-peddlers made merry with the crisis by creating a `Gmail Down’ group that displayed sex pictures and videos to people searching for some solution to the gmail trouble. Does Google’s 15 day extension of subscriptions of Google Apps Premier editions users really make up for what happened? Not sure.

Last month too, Google sparked online panic when a fleeting malfunction stopped users from visiting any websites in the search results. In October 2008, some users could not access their gmail accounts for an entire day. The problem this time however was more extensive, affecting millions of those dependent on gmail. Some users could still send and receive messages using third party mail applications like IMAP and POP3. Nevertheless, the problem sparked a series of thousands of distress messages on Twitter.

Some interesting facts here – Google uses gmail for most of its communication. So, Google users could not as much as complain about the outage to the helplines. Presently, Google is the third most popular online mail service behind Hotmail and Yahoo. Anywhere between 95 and 110 million users use gmail for their email service, say reports. Web monitoring company ComScore says more than 113 million people across the globe use Google’s gmail service every month. Google did admit many users were affected, but did not give out the exact number.

With just a couple of hours down on Google, the lives of millions of gmail users came to a grinding halt.

Google is an example of cloud computing (cloud is a metaphor for the internet). Google and the other firms have been trying to promote `cloud-based’ applications such as gmail for a long time. The outage incident however brings to light the string of criticisms such as, if cloud computing is feasible at all.

Google got back to form in a few hours no doubt and apologised, and users got back to their business of sending mails and getting on to gmail chat. The outage does bring to focus however, the fact that if Google like computing and applications need to grow into the multi-billion dollar industry that they aim to be, security and safeguards should be addressed as priority.

Gmail was launched first in April 2004 as an invitation only service. It became available for the general public in February 2007. An instant hit with web users thanks to its amazing 1 GB storage ability, Google increased its free storage limit to more than 7 GB, a far cry from the 2 MB or 4 MB offered by Yahoo, Hotmail and AOL around the time of its launch.

Google and gmail are today more a way of life, a habit that make life go haywire if inaccessible. User confidence in Google is almost a given.

If more such outages occur with Google and gmail, the day will not be far when people turn to other providers for their online communication. Just imagine! If an entire day passes with an outage such as February 24? A still more remote possibility albeit a hypothetical one. If such a crash continues for days or months at an end, will life for the millions of Google users not come to a standstill?

Via: AFP, Telegraph UK, SitePoint