Nope, it's been pretty much rock solid since day one for me. None of the "behind a proxy" problems you describe, maybe *3 or 4 times* (in 2 years of everyday use) it's given the "Oops.." message. Compared to any other mail system I've used that offers the sort of functionality they're providing it's been a dream ride.

Well i use other webmail so i don't have any to comment except i'd suggest to gmail to change the basic red m-enveloped icon in his toolbar, it's pretty simple and don't transmit strong technology.
Just my 2 cents.

this is the first time I am hearing that Gmail has such a problem... I am using from quite a long.... no problem except 2-3 times with oops.. or under maintenance message....!!

gmail works fine for me. On all platforms (win, mac, lin), using different devices (desk,- laptop and mobile) and wherever I am (home, office, train, outdoors).

I think you should igrate to Live. Good luck!

I've had very few problems with my Gmail over the years, but I've heard of friends who have had problems. Somehow, the problems doesn't seem to be evenly distributed over the users...
I use POP3 to get a local copy of the emails, which is great, but prefer the web interface to access the email.

I experience the "loading..." message problem also, but I figured out, it's not problem of GMail. This happens when your connection is lagging - GMail AJAX script trys to open the message, but gives up after some time leaving the message displayed. Than you click again, when the connection is better and everything seems to work again. Blame your telco, not google.

Sorry, but this is looser's and trolling post. I have sometimes problems on slow connection, but there is option to switch to plain html. Beta status meaning that they open to suggestions.

Anyway, I'm completely disagree with you!

P.S. MSN mail is boring because it's more complicated and full of banners

Blame your telco, not google.
Its not my internet problem, I use cable internet and I cehcked the download speed when I had this problem last night. Its 4.6 Mbps. I think this speed is enough -:).

xen,

Beta status meaning that they open to suggestions.
Check M. David Peterson's thoughts on this.
Anyway, I'm completely disagree with you!
Fine, may be you never had any problems with GMail.
P.S. MSN mail is boring because it's more complicated and full of banners
I agree with you on this. I mentioned about the annoying ads (both in Hotmail and Yahoo mail) in my previous blog. I mentioned Hotmail just to point out the beta time.

As far as I know, you can now create an account without an invitation (they require for you to have a cell phone though) as for the problems, yes, I have had them in the past, but only over slow connections, after I switched to cable everything works like a charm.

@Harry,

I had to run out soon after writing my follow-up, and didn't have a chance to add a comment.

Adding a bit to your overall message, the last month+ has seen an array of issues that have forced me to adjust how I use my GMail account. While it would be impossible to know the exact number of delayed emails**, as of the last 2 weeks I have found at least two, possibly three, time sensitive emails that arrived in my inbox anywhere from 14 hours to three days after they were sent.

In one of the cases it was one of my sisters who's had too many things going on at the same time last Friday night and needed me to pick up one of her sons and bring him home. She sent the email at 6:30 on Friday evening, but just stated "could you pick up [sons name] tonight from [location] and bring home for me?". It arrived in my inbox at 8:30 the next morning, of which I responded at 8:31 with "sure. what time?" only to notice the time stamp after I had sent the reply.

It turned out okay, as she was able to adapt her schedule, and in this particular case, even if she wasn't able to adapt, it wouldn't have been the end of the world. Regardless, if Google is having issues with processing and delivering email in a timely manner, even if its an isolated incident (though, as mentioned, this is only one of several I have noticed over the last couple of weeks), I can't take any chances with anything that holds even the slightest potential of being time sensitive material.

So with this in mind, I am slowly having to move away from GMail for anything other than lists that I subscribe to, and moving towards one of my private email addresses of which I have full control over the SMTP server in which sends and receives for that particular account. If my own system is down, thats one thing... At least I know its down, and can adapt things accordingly.

But how can I possibly know if/when Google is having problems with delivering email in a timely manner? I can't, nor should I even be expected to, and therefore I have to move towards a solution in which I maintain (at least some!) control over. It's just not worth the risk to use my GMail account for anything other than casual communications any more.

Oh, and regarding all of your sending problems, etc... I am COMPLETELY with you on this. I have this problem on every machine I use over EXTREMELY fast internet lines and on EXTREMELY fast/powerful machines.

The problem isn't a machine or internet connection problem. In fact, in my own opinion, its not even a Google problem. It's an AJAX problem.

** Checking the time stamp of each email as it arrives in my inbox, and even more so those that get immediattely labeled and archived via a filter, is not something I would consider worth the effort.

@*Hari*

GMail was really cool 2 years ago but for a company that was on the cutting edge of AJAX applications when they released GMail and Google Maps they are being left in the dust by Yahoo and the rest. I still use GMail every day but there are a couple of things that I think it needs desperately and one part that is broken completely. I think it needs a folder structure for mail storage (sorry but labels don't cut it because you can't nest them) and it needs a better UI. Why do I have to reload 90% of the page every time I read a message? Isn't that why you are using AJAX? Why can't I have a reading pane (see Yahoo Mail Beta)?

The part that is broken is Google's POP3 access. I have tried accessing GMail using a POP3 client on my Treo and had nothing but trouble. At first I thought it was the VersaMail client but switched to another client and had the same problem. The author of that software (which is an excellent email client) said that GMail's implementation of POP3 is very flaky to say the least.

@Frank,
I agree with you completely. I dont like labels either. With folders you can move the mails from inbox and you can maintain cleaner inbox. With labels, you cannot move the mails from inbox and it contains all your emails(May be Google wants all your email in one place, so that users can use their search feature!!!). And as you said, no nesting labels. Some times I feel that Google just want to be different from others, hence the labels. Compared to folders, its definetely not a good feature at all.

@David,
Thank God, atleast you received your email even though it is one day late. Even I decided that I can't rely on GMail anymore except for secondary emails like news letters etc.

@Hari
My biggest complaint about the labels is the lack of nesting because (you may find this useful) you can remove items from your inbox. If you want to use your labels as a sort of storage you can label items and then select all the items you have labeled and Archive them. They will be gone from your inbox but you will still see them if you select the label or the All Mail button. Not as good as folders but better than leaving them all in your inbox.

Later, Frank

Same for Picasa Beta. They need some Mac Album/organization features and a levels adjustment. Before I spend 200 hours locking/editing 5000 photos up in their system, they could finalize some improvements

My god!!! are you getting money from other webmail companies to blame gmail??

No problems so far for me, though I too wonder why it is in beta forever, ps: which is why I ran a search and landed here;-)

I dont doubt that you might have had problems using Gmail, but my experience has been the exact opposite. I only use the Gmail web interface, and use it very heavily. If Gmail is not working out for you, I wonder what brings you back to using it or checking on it occasionally? Is it that subconciously you like their GUI or is it that you just have had some kind of bad experience with Google in general? The reason I ask this is because when people do not like an application online, they usually move on to the next one without giving too much thought to some application that "does not work like I want". Its like a milkshake, if you do not like a vanilla milkshake you move on, drink a pineapple smoothie instead. I guess, I do not see what the point of this blog really is?

@Frank,
"if you do not like a vanilla milkshake you move on, drink a pineapple smoothie instead"

I like milkshake, but I don't like the milkshake from the "XYZ Juice" because they are not making it good. Yes I may move to different juice shop to drink better milk shake. But don't you think I have a right to speak about XYZ Juice and how it is messing milk shake?

It didn't send out my mail. I think 3 times. Very bad!!

Yeah, what the hell are you talking about? I'm pretty sure you've got something pretty crappy on your end. I used gmail (before coming to college) at home for over a year and a half, over the worst dialup connection imaginable, and never had a single problem. It was the fastest loading webpage still!

If you don't like it, don't use it! Don't bash the great, FREE product!!

I DISAGREE WITH YOUR COMMENT. GMAIL IS STILL BETTER THAN ANY OTHERS, ESPECIALLY THE ABILITY TO FILTER JUNK EMAILS.

I DISAGREE WITH YOUR COMMENT. GMAIL IS STILL BETTER THAN ANY OTHERS. ESPECIALLY IN FILTERING SPAM EMAILS.

I had an opportunity to speak with a high ranking gmail employee. When asked if there was a reason why gmail was still in beta. He said that there was a very good reason but he was not allowed to disclose the issue.

absolutely bril it is, but being in BETA for so long is retarded

i have been using gmail for around two years...i also donno why they are in beta version still now...But gmail works fine for me...if you are from india i know wats ur problem..its the speed of ur internet connection tat matters..google is not so good over slow dial up connection..even the new version of yahoo is the same..now web developers are concentrating more on providing contents for fast internet connections..gmail is far better than hotmail in case of attachments..only drawback of gmail over yahoo and hotmail is that their chat is not so popular..the rest are quite ok..

haha seems like most of the users support gmail..including me

your english sucks ass

I have troubles all the time with Gmail. It particularly messes up when messaging, loses messages when I switch briefly to other tabs in Firefox when it's loading a message, and in loading and sending messages in general ... and now in the last few months has begun not to accept typed lines in correct window-sizing (extends the text far beyond the current mail window when typing a message). I have always found it buggy -- in fact, it has sometimes caused real distress. As to the IM Chat feature, the longer a chat was, the more likely for Gmail to have trouble receiving the chat and often crashed my program or machine. I think the problem is the constant refreshing of their site, and somehow their servers are not powerful enough? This was not what I expected, to be sure. By the way, I do agree that the English in your article should have been edited; it was not up to scratch for something published. However, I do agree with you that there are problems with Gmail.

True, I got sick of the Beta state of mind and couldn't trust it any longer as my archives grew. I deleted my account and migrated back to my trusty Windows Live Hotmail.

It makes no sense that gmail is not working for you, but is providing fine service for many others.
Check the basics;
Check that you are using the right web browser,
Check with your Internet Service Provider (ISP) that they are not some speed limiting site (this is common with some ISP's who want to gear users towards particular sites/services),
It seems that you are having speed issues, gmail is generally lightning fast. (I don't think you are getting all those Mbps)
Check you have the latest Java updates
Also may be a good idea to look at what windows ver if any google recommends.

Best of luck.

The POP3 access is exactly that, POP3 access. What you're asking of Google is to implement a type of "Exchange" model that replicates the online view with the client view. You're asking too much. GMail, as a free product, has proven to be my business and personal sidekick. I absolutely love it and forward all four of my e-mail addresses to GMail, and I can choose which "account" I want to use when I create mail or reply. It's a (insert cliche:) "best of breed" product that rarely lets me down. Yes, it has quirks. It has technical issues which need to be addressed. With all that in mind, and considering the ads are not obtrusive, I have spent a total of $0.00 on GMail implementation and $0.00 on its continued use. I love GMail.

No doubt about it, Google is triying to be different and failing at it miserably. Particularly the label thing and POP access.

"I deleted my account and migrated back to my trusty Windows Live Hotmail."

now that is pure comedy. thanks for the laugh :)

I noticed that the problem of sending or receiving mails in gmail are somehow related to the Google Web Accelerator. Whenever I have the accelerator on, sending mails can be a pain, but if the accelerator is switched off, gmail is a dear.

Hari,
I strongly disagree with you.
Google is one of the best consumer application now, and it became the faviourite mail service of the crores of people all around the world(Gmail's SPAM filter is one simple example for its greatness).
I am using it for the last 2 years, i have no complaint against it.
Now, me and most of my friends are using gmail as primary account.

You are really confused...otherwise, you are giving false information..

I have been a gmail user now for over 2 years and NEVER had any problems with it.

well, problems or not... 2007 and still “beta”. its just comical at this point, ha

i love gmail i've been useing it for 3 years without any problems or errors at all the only thing i don't like about it is in my gmail id my name and anitiols are taken so i don't use it as primarey email cos i will take long time spell it to ppl :( i wish i can register with 4 letters id so i can use it as primarey and delete my other email which i use only coz its 3 letters coz i exchange my email with friends and in work alot and thats eseier to share but it is in hotmail server wich is full with errors i think i read that gmail dont allow less than 6 letters id so they can protact it from spam and junks but i don't care about them i always recognize them .. do u ppl care about how short is ur mail id so ppl don't mistake it as me ?

I dont know how you get problems with Gmail. I am using it for 2 years and never had a single problem. I love the mail sent through gmail as MY MAIL, without free mail providers attaching their stupid "ad footers". keep going Gmail. I am waiting for full verson of gmail to be launched.

I've been using GMail for over 2 years now, and I must admit, I stopped using Yahoo and switched over to GMail... And, truth be told, I had problems... Once... I had to click two times on a mail, in order for GMail to open it... I primarily use POP3 access, since I use GMail for very important stuff... Happened several times that emails didn't arrive in time, but that's because of the internet clog, not GMail... I know this, because those mails were CC'ed to my ISP email, and another email, and they didn't arrive there either...

All in all, GMail works like a charm for me, and I use many Google services, like Reader, Maps, iGoogle... No problems with any of them...

I guess some people know just to complain...

The funniest thing in the world is when people whine about something that's free. I'd understand if it's something you paid for but this is just a big joke. Go use Yahoo or Hotmail.

Gmail is one of the mail server in the World....

NO PROBLEMS HERE.. check your routing .

GMAIL WORKS FINE WITH ME ... STOP COMPLAINING ... GOOGLE RULES...

i did not like new GUI
older was better

i use dialup so beta is more slow on dialup

and one more bug
it show 4494mb in inbox
and 2900 on gmail.com page
hahahaha

and one more thing about GTalk

its lowest quality messenger with many problems
not user friendly
so try to improve it

neways google rocks

I love GMAIL i don't have problems at all...My boyfriend sent me mp3 and stuff while chatting and I got them almost instantly...yes probably he doesn't know how to use the gmail...

For those complaining about the lack of a folder option, I think that's the basic point of GMail. Folders are an integral part of most other email services, and Google wanted to try something different by implementing their Search "technology." I suspect that in an effort to get people to try using this approach to mailing, they decided to leave out folders and limit it to archiving and labeling. As a person who is very unorganized - but who views organization as positive - this type of setup was necessary for me to break away from the idea that organizing emails is ideal; it allowed me to embrace my lack of organization with a search tool that makes laziness viable. I suspect that some type of folder system will eventually be implemented, but thanks to the GMail experiment I doubt I will use it for most messages I receive.

Ive used gmail as my only email account almost since it first came out. I’ve only ever experienced that oops message once or twice. Not bad when I use gmail almost every 30mins that I am awake,

I hate the use of folders looking at my outlook at work its horrible, takes almost 10-15 minutes to search far less emails than in my gmail stores (rarely finding the correct one). Gmail finds the correct ones almost instantly.

I often forward non-sensitive emails to my gmail account just so I can find them 6months later if I need them.

Just try and remember before gmail when you needed at least 3 emails accounts one for signups, forums and one for friends it was a nightmare.

Gmail has been my saviour, I don’t know of any other email service free or not that is useable when you reach 1-2gb of plain text emails.

The only late emails i have ever received are from hotmail accounts and that hasn't happened in over a year and i doubt i was gmails fault but i could be wrong.

Also Ive used gmail on dial-up, dsl, cable, behind a proxy and on my mobile never had problems.

i have been using gmail for 3 years now and i have very rarely had a problem, the only time i really had a problem i was trying to send an attachment which was over the 20mb size limit which gmail has.

I have never had a problem with gmail! The only time that I get problems or that message that says oops is when I am using wifi and I am in a horrible hot spot!! but that is the only time and not to mention how awesome the chat service is!!

First of all, from what I understand, and infer...I completely disagree with you. If you have problems with gmail, you must have problems with your computer, especially your internet...
Also, your english is such a hassle to read... I don't get your point. For e.g. "For God sake, its still in beta. (if the product name is “GMail” not “GMail beta”-:))." What does that mean???

Anyways, gmail is better than any other mail i used so far.

@Mythily,
This blog I started with criticism by saying the product name as "GMail beta". If that is the product name, then its not in beta. If the product name is "GMail" then the version name is "beta". But in reality, the product name is "GMail" and its in beta. Hence "For God sake, its still in beta".
By the way, these are the problems that I wrote in last September. Since then GMail is matured lot and I dont see any problems now. I guess you are reading the blog after a year and now saying that I am wrong and GMail is fine. If you read all the comments, particularly by M. David Peterson(he failed to pick his sister from airport because of GMail), you understand the problems we faced during that time.

there's always someone there to complain about something. there's nothing wrong with gmail... it's your connection.

Gmail doesn't use AJAX (at least not entirely). It uses scripted iframe in order to communicate with google's servers directly without reloading the page. It's an older technique than AJAX but still very powerful. Some of the UI symptoms of this include lag when clicking a link (the page looks like its loading but just sits there), flat URL scheme (cannot bookmark pages), and problems with the back button and navigation in general.

Gmail is still in beta because they continue to update the architecture to optimize usability. Just recently Gmail implemented a URL scheme which uses hash marks to force browsers to register client-side clicks in the history object, thus making the back button work properly. They also implemented "loading..." messages that provide feedback to the user when the client is communicating with the server. This solves the occasional lag issue with links.

I used to work for an oppressive internet agency that decided to outlaw instant messenger communication by blocking all IM ports. Luckily Gmail had just release aolim which is run through Google's servers and therefore saved the day. Who cares if your IM chat is interrupted occasionally. That's better than no chat at all.

Google is a lot smarter than most people realize. Read about PageRank and eigenspaces. Google's not afraid of Microsoft or Yahoo...they have the upper hand.

hay,
chk ur computer, gmail only work fine in any situation. no problem, nice mail, moooore facilities,

I have never had these problems you describe with GMail, and I've used every feature they've come out with. I have seen the "oops" message maybe 2-3 times in all the years I've used GMail, and the problem is always fixed by a simple refresh.

It is funny how GMail is still in beta, though. It makes me wonder, is all my e-mail going to disappear tomorrow, with Google saying nothing more than "it was a beta"? I severely doubt that, but it is a bit unsettling for a product you have used as your main point of online communication to still be in beta form.

I don't mean this in a bad way but Hari, you really need to work on your English. This article was painful to read, and seemed more like a teenage blog than a post from a well seasoned member of the technology community. I know you're smart enough to get by with people understanding you, but please take some English classes...it will earn your writing more respect in the future.

WOW, who do you work for? Microsoft or yahoo? Gmail is the most used email system and 99.9% of people dont have a problem with it. You should upgrade your crappy computer and use a browser like firefox. 0 Problems so far after using it EVERY day in the last TWO years.

I have been using GMail for 4 years, and it's the best e-mail service I ever used, never experience the problem like you before...

gmail works fine for me also if you dont like it just dont use it..

I am using gmail from past 4 years. It has very good spam filter compare to yahoo and hotmail. I used to get hundreds of spam mails for my yahoo mail. In Gmail i got 3-5 spam mails to inbox for last four years .labels feature is very good for me to organize my mails. Good thing I found in Gmail campared to others is it has only text based advertisements.
Google talk in gmail is not very usefull in windows but linux OS it is use full.

Why is it that the people who know the least always complain the most?? Please learn about what your discussing for blaming it on gmail. Gmail has been solid for a long time and I have never had any issues even with POP3 access. If it doesn't work for you then please feel free to find one that works better instead of wasting your time complaining. I mean seriously, you are probably the kind of guy that buy a new Honda fill the gas tank with sugar and then complain to your friends that Honda can't fix problems with the engine running correctly.

wow...
as soon as i started reading the article...
i could understand that the fault is clearly in either your web browser or you ISP (which if you are in india.. i bet.. is no higher than 256kbps)

for those of you who want "Folder", in my opinion.. labels are much better...
u can add multiple labels to a conversation...and just archive the conversation if you dont want to see it in your inbox..
all the people complaining about the folders must be old people.. not willing to spend time to adapt to a new and better technology..

i've been using gmail for 3 yrs now... i've had a lot of problems w/ their spam filtering in it's earlier stages.. but now they nailed the problem on the head.. filters all spam directly to spam folder...
i've had problems about 5-6 times in the 3 yrs.. and it was always due to my web browser(not having the right plugins) or my internet connection...

for all that do think that gmail doesn't work right.. get Firefox..
try it and see if you have the same problem..

also.. gmail delivers emails the fastest.. for example.. i sign up w/ my gmail on some website.. nd by the time i switch tabs it's there.. i've never seen yahoo or anyone else deliver that fast..

the new yahoo mail is the shit...
takes for ever to load... both the inbox and messages..

my ISP is comcast.. mostly around 1mpbs.. going up to 3..
i use Firefox 2.0.0.13 as my main browser...
nd i recommend all of you to use it too..

one last thing..

to those who complain about POP access and SMTP...

it's a FREE email service... just be happy atleast u have it..
wat other email provider does this?
yahoo.. msn.. and aol.. u have to pay and upgrade to premuim versions to get anything...

final words...
GMAIL is the best FREE webmail out there...

hi i hsve faced these problems 2
but overall gmail is since
i still cant get why is it called beta
and when its stuck while pressing the send button,it do happens with me sometimes i just copy it and paste in a word file and load the gmail again and paste it back

comment3,

4 years and still in beta?? Now it's rediculous. They are just trying to impress to show how perfectly finished their v1.0 applications are (will be, when released..)

very slow working,
generally do not work properly for slow internet connection.
time killer.

very slow working,
generally do not work properly for slow internet connection.
time killer.

i'm using gmail more than 3 years and i have got no simply no problem with this and now i'm loving it because its idea just awesome...

Deeply sorry to say so, but I have not had a single problem with GMail on my 2mbps connection, the loading screens come and go in a flash, all my mail has been sent (never received notifications from customers of friends not receiving it), I work with 5 pop accounts receiving my mail in my gmail inbox.

I have had a few slight problems as you mention when working on a 512kbps connection, sometimes mostly long lasting loading screens, and a few of those 'oops...' messageboxes, though after a few attempts it gets sent. And this only has happened when I have a rough internet connection or I am on a slow one.

Greetz,