Should Gmail be held to a higher reliability standard?

How much downtime is ok for cloud-based e-mail?

When Google contacts crashed yesterday, it created Google's second high-profile outage this month. It took out Gmail and Gtalk, Google's chat service, that relies on contacts. The Gmail problem comes on the heels of an hour-and-a-half Google News glitch Tuesday.

Most of us use the free version of Gmail and most of us rely on it. Does Gmail, and its attendant services, crash more than do similar services offered by corporate networks? If so, should Google be held to a higher standard, even for freeware?

I've of a mind to say, no. That if you don't pay for it and you have to do without it for a few hours during a workday every few weeks, that this is a fair trade. Many other freebie e-mail systems are available to you, should you want to walk with your feet, or have a backup for those days when Google splutters.

Do you agree or disagree?

Like this post? Visit the Google Subnet home page for more news, blogs and podcasts. Sign up for the weekly Google newsletter. (Click on News/Google News Alert.)
More blog posts from Google Subnet:

• Google Chrome Frame solves Internet Explorer's rendering problems
• Google Voice wins under Net Neutrality but could face its own scrutiny
• Will Google Wave make the network just dumb plumbing?
• Fragmentation Fears
• Searching For Cream: The Endless Battle To Find The Best
• Facebook Aids in Open Cloud
• Can Google meet government cloud demands?

Subscribe to all Google Subnet bloggers or Follow Google Subnet on Twitter
Follow Julie Bort on Twitter.

• Google
• e-mail
• Gmail