Google Apps Flaws
January 29, 2009
Take a look at The Business of Software’s article “Don’t Ever use Google Apps for Anything Important” here. You will need to judge for yourself if the incidents described are in line with your experience and expectations. The author summarizes how Googlers (more of the world’s smartest people) seem to leave some details at loose ends. The author encountered careless and indifferent behavior. But for me the key point in the write up was:
I tried calling the main office, but their phone tree was clearly set up to avoid letting you talk to anyone.
I hear this “no one will talk to me” often. Google seems to be one of the companies with no interest in talking with the unwashed. I know that Googlers are chatty Kathies on their mobiles. Googlers email incessantly, preferring very short messages. And Googlers will talk to outsiders who have a mystical connection with a college pal or a friend of a friend.
In my research for my Google monographs, Google wizards focus on smart software. The fellow who wrote the Business of Software article could see smart software as no replacement for common courtesy. What’s your experience getting a Googler to talk to you?
Stephen Arnold, January 29, 2009