Time for DuckDuckEmail, I say! :-)
Gmail has become unusably slow
81–90 of 138 posts
Re: Gmail has become unusably slow
#82Earlier quoted context omitted.
Y'know, this article isn't about Gmail performance nearly as much as it is another article about Google's utter disdain for our quaint notions of customer service and transparency. Somebody who goes to a conference might get something like feedback and disseminate it to the masses - but that's it. Google is not interested in hearing about problems, and if they themselves are affected by a problem, well, boy howdy, th…
Google's utter disdain for our quaint notions of customer service and transparency Do you really expect GMail to provide personal customer service to its ~176m [1] non-paying users? Run the numbers: if the average user calls in 5 minutes a year (very low estimate), how many hours a day of customer support would it take? And transparency - are you suggesting they open source their infrastructure so you can hack on Big…
Do you really expect GMail to provide personal customer service to its ~176m [1] non-paying users?
Don't mistake non-paying for no-profit. Those users don't pay cash but they do give google lots of personal data and ad-clicks that makes google money. I would personally rather pay a fee and keep my data private and not see ads.
If google loses "non-paying" customers because of performance issues or outages that they don't know about because there's no effective way to contact them, they also lose money just like a company with paying customers.
Re: Gmail has become unusably slow
#83I definitely think there is room in the market for a new, online, paid email client. One that can connect to multiple outside accounts like Outlook, "infinite" storage, emphasis on privacy, gmail-style user interface, regular backups, and solid customer support. Email is extremely important to people and they don't want to worry about it. I wouldn't mind paying for a reliable and secure email client in the cloud.
FWIW, we used hosted Exchange from MS: http://microsoft.com/online/ Its $5/user/month, 25GB storage, great webmail client, and hands down the best support I've ever gotten.
Whoah, whoah whoah!
We have hosted Exchange at my university. The Outlook web client is perhaps the worst piece of software I am forced to use on a regular basis.
The calendaring is completely useless on the web client. I can't see anyone else's schedules so when I make meetings with them, its like shooting a rifle blind folded. I have to do a "guess and check" method where if Outlook vomits in my face and says someone is busy at that scheduled time, I just guess for the next time slot till eventually one fits.
We don't have nearly as much space as you do, so I am forced to completely delete all my messages 4 times a year to free up space. The UI makes this task such a pain (admittedly it is the uni's fault for not forking up enough $$ for enough space, but it is incredibly time wasting and difficult through the web client).
Do I get some sort of notification when my inbox is full? No. Only, I stop receiving emails and every would be sender gets a message that my inbox is full. This continues until someone I meet in person tells me that they haven't been able to communicate with me online for the larger part of the week. No way to get those emails back.
Oh, and all this is after I forward all my messages to gmail and never use Outlook unless I am forced to.
(Sorry, just venting and getting this off my chest.)
Re: Gmail has become unusably slow
#84As an aside; is there a web based email service/client comparable to gmail? More particularly is there one which handles conversation view as well as gmail does? Until there is then gmail has a bit of a monopoly on users like me who love the client and everything that sets it apart from traditional email.
Re: Gmail has become unusably slow
#85It continues to amaze me that a company as technically brilliant and pervasive as Google is so spectacularly bad at even rudimentary customer service.
There is no way Google can scale customer service to be profitable for free services. Gmail at the end of the day is a free service, and you should either (a) pick a different email provider or (b) setup shop yourself if you need that kind of service.
Most of the complaints I've seen about Google's customer-service, ironically, are from people who are paying customers. So it's not that they provide service to people who pay for it, it's that they don't seem to provide service, period.
Re: Gmail has become unusably slow
#86Earlier quoted context omitted.
FWIW, we used hosted Exchange from MS: http://microsoft.com/online/ Its $5/user/month, 25GB storage, great webmail client, and hands down the best support I've ever gotten.
Whoah, whoah whoah! We have hosted Exchange at my university. The Outlook web client is perhaps the worst piece of software I am forced to use on a regular basis. The calendaring is completely useless on the web client. I can't see anyone else's schedules so when I make meetings with them, its like shooting a rifle blind folded. I have to do a "guess and check" method where if Outlook vomits in my face and says someo…
Hey, I hear ya. That sucks that you're having a bad time with it.
Honestly, I live in Outlook, so I only use the web client in a pinch. I like it better than Gmail, but perhaps with heavy use and a small quota it starts to show its warts.
Re: Gmail has become unusably slow
#87Earlier quoted context omitted.
Y'know, this article isn't about Gmail performance nearly as much as it is another article about Google's utter disdain for our quaint notions of customer service and transparency. Somebody who goes to a conference might get something like feedback and disseminate it to the masses - but that's it. Google is not interested in hearing about problems, and if they themselves are affected by a problem, well, boy howdy, th…
Google's utter disdain for our quaint notions of customer service and transparency Do you really expect GMail to provide personal customer service to its ~176m [1] non-paying users? Run the numbers: if the average user calls in 5 minutes a year (very low estimate), how many hours a day of customer support would it take? And transparency - are you suggesting they open source their infrastructure so you can hack on Big…
>> Do you really expect GMail to provide personal customer service to its ~176m [1] non-paying users?
Answering phone calls from 176 million users? No.
Maintaining a nice little "Google Cares" (And Explicitly Confesses Known Problems We're Working On) blog? Yes.
A little customer service could go a long way.
Re: Gmail has become unusably slow
#88I've got I just hid chat, buzz and 'web clips'. I also set the theme back to classic. Not sure what did it (or if it was even something I did), but it's back to normal now, even if I turn everything back on.
Themes caused the most round-about slowdown for me when they were introduced. I haven't gone back to using any theme sense and I get fast speeds on a 5k msg account.
Also - Hooray for a free, fantastic email service. Thanks google!
Re: Gmail has become unusably slow
#89I've got I just hid chat, buzz and 'web clips'. I also set the theme back to classic. Not sure what did it (or if it was even something I did), but it's back to normal now, even if I turn everything back on.
Themes caused the most round-about slowdown for me when they were introduced. I haven't gone back to using any theme sense and I get fast speeds on a 5k msg account.
Also - Hooray for a free, fantastic email service. Thanks google!
Re: Gmail has become unusably slow
#90Earlier quoted context omitted.
Google's utter disdain for our quaint notions of customer service and transparency Do you really expect GMail to provide personal customer service to its ~176m [1] non-paying users? Run the numbers: if the average user calls in 5 minutes a year (very low estimate), how many hours a day of customer support would it take? And transparency - are you suggesting they open source their infrastructure so you can hack on Big…
Do you really expect GMail to provide personal customer service to its ~176m [1] non-paying users? Don't mistake non-paying for no-profit. Those users don't pay cash but they do give google lots of personal data and ad-clicks that makes google money. I would personally rather pay a fee and keep my data private and not see ads. If google loses "non-paying" customers because of performance issues or outages that they d…
"I would personally rather pay a fee and keep my data private and not see ads."
I thought that one could do that with a Premier Edition Google Apps account.