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Maybe Google’s paid services, including Gmail, are more reliable than what it offers free. Even if that is true, it is not likely to win Google many friends. Either Gmail is totally reliable, or it isn’t.
Google’s problems should not be overstated, but the company is beginning to sound like AT&T with its service-related issues. AT&T is a company people love to hate, while Google is a company people love to love. But, a reputation for poor reliability is one of the worst curses a tech company can face.
Google needs to protect its reputation—and the marketability of its cloud services—by improving reliability and being more open with users about the details of even small outages.
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