Google AdWords
Gmail is down and has been for some time. I’m glad our business doesn’t rely on it.
And I’m waiting for the inevitable eruption of fury.
Personally, I’m a firm believer in the idea that you get what you pay for.
So users of Gmail should have no cause for complaint. They’re using a free service with all the caveats that go with it.
But will users of the service see it that way? Probably not.
If a software company offers a free version of their software, they still need to ensure quality control, and they still need to maintain a basic level of support.
Failure to do so may result in angry users, damage to the company’s reputation and even lost sales for the company’s commercial offerings.
And if a service offers free advice, they need to ensure that it is as reliable as their paid-for words of wisdom.
Here’s my free advice for the day. Be careful what you put out there for free; be it software or information.
Good reputations take years of hard work to grow, yet can be undone with nothing more than a throwaway comment or a line of damaging code.
Be careful.
Well said!
I full agree, even when I really think that the technical side of gmail is fantastic.
But I use it only to mailing lists, and no core things.
To business things I use my own mail on my own server.
The same (or more problematic yet) is the use of Google Docs.
Cheers.
Agreed. Just ensure that you take regular offline backups of your data on Gmail, Google Docs etc.