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People really get their nose out of joint about stuff like this, usually because the user is treated so damn poorly, but from a reliability engineering perspect

People really get their nose out of joint about stuff like this, usually because the user is treated so damn poorly, but from a reliability engineering perspective there's really no way to get 100% guaranteed service. Smaller non-Google cloud alternatives have you by the balls just as much as Google do, and it's not uncommon for them to go out of business or get bought out. Sometimes they'll grandfather the old accounts (Zoho Mail), but not always (Travis CI). To get away from using a large cloud provider, you could start hosting things yourself. This of course has the risk of a bad config making your email undeliverable, or a hardware failure destroying your data. It also means that you'll need to personally put out the many (metaphorical) fires that occur with running servers. Now, in terms of the actual numbers, I'm not sure how well studied the risks are, but anecdotally: - I personally have never lost access to a Google account, and don't know anyone who has either. - I have been personally screwed over by non-Google cloud providers after they get bought out/go public. - The majority of people I know have lost data before due to an IT failure, such as accidentally overwriting a file or losing a USB stick. So yes, while it is a bit shit, I don't think the reason Google get the bad press is because they are the riskiest option out there. Instead, it's more about the fact that they're a big target and the tiny fraction of customers who experience this had such a terrible support experience that they want to tell the entire world.

lolinder 4y ago
Owning your own domain and using that for your email is a middle ground between using Google for everything and running your own email servers. If you use your own domain and pay someone (even Google!) to host your email, then you can always change your MX records if your email host goes out of business or blocks your account. If you just use an @gmail.com address, then you are giving Google control both of your mailbox and your address, which means that if they act up you lose both at once.
rebelshrug 4y ago
We have bad support and customer service experiences quite a bit, and don’t feel a need to “tell the entire world.” Our experience with Google led to a considerable loss of income. There’s also the problem where they disabled every product my wife used, but continued charging her. They’re a terrible provider, plain and simple, and we feel that we should warn others.

lolinder 4y ago

Owning your own domain and using that for your email is a middle ground between using Google for everything and running your own email servers. If you use your own domain and pay someone (even Google!) to host your email, then you can always change your MX records if your email host goes out of business or blocks your account. If you just use an @gmail.com address, then you are giving Google control both of your mailbox and your address, which means that if they act up you lose both at once.

rebelshrug 4y ago

We have bad support and customer service experiences quite a bit, and don’t feel a need to “tell the entire world.” Our experience with Google led to a considerable loss of income. There’s also the problem where they disabled every product my wife used, but continued charging her. They’re a terrible provider, plain and simple, and we feel that we should warn others.