...Google's just down...
This morning Google had a hiccup and everything Google is down from YouTube to Gmail to Search to Blogger.
The funny thing about Google's little hiccup is the effect it is having on the online habits of people. This is a small sample of what I've witnessed in the last 25 minutes since Google's gone down:
- "Gmail" has become one of Twitter's "Trend Topics" as people freak out because they're GChat and Gmail has stopped working. There are also a lot of post that can be summed up by the following post I found: "Google isn't working, I don't know what to do..."
- A number of my friends' Facebook statuses have changed from the joys of their recent graduations to statements such as "What happened to Google?" or "The world is ending, Google's broken."
- My fellow McKinney-ites have been calling our IT department because "the internet is not working" only to be informed that the internet is working fine, just Google isn't working. (And to some of us, I think that is the same thing...)
- A friend of mine called my cell to alert me of the problem because she was unable to access work documents, emails, or calendar because they are all on Google.
I think it's interesting that people:
- Can get this freaked out because they feel disconnected because a single server went down. the Apocalyspe
- Can get this vocal about a service not working correctly...especially one that they don't have to pay for.
I can't help but wonder: Has Google's dominance of the internet made people forget that you can use Yahoo and MSN to search, AIM to chat and Mapquest for finding your way? Does the Google-ifying of internet make it so the old adage "You get what you pay for?" is less relevant?
Maybe we shouldn't put all out "E-eggs" in one (free) basket.