I have a Gmail account as well as Google voice, adwords, analytics, THIS BLOG, etc. I love Google services because they are free and generally functional. But I do not depend on any of Google's services for mission critical services. And you shouldn't, either.
Google's services are like open source, you get what you pay for. Many times, that works out. But sometimes, it doesn't, and when you are not a paying customer, there is no solution. Now, maybe you can argue that every system goes down. Maybe you think the two public RIM outages were serious and provide a counter argument to my position. If you are a RIM BB customer, you have the satisfaction of being heard, changing to the iPhone, or asking for some refunds. As a paying customer, you have options. Also, you have some sympathy from customers who probably experienced the same outage. With Gmail, none of these options exist. No dialogue, no sympathy, and no respect. If you cannot handle a serice delaying for 1.5 hours then don't use the service. Odd that I would defend Google, but, you get what you pay for...many people in technology and Web 2.0 are going to figure this out now that the Ad revenue model is showing some cracks.
