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Gmail: when standing on a cloud, don't expect firm ground

Thu 27 Aug 2009, 11:41 AM



by Ben Langhinrichs
One of the drawbacks of "cloud computing" is that you, the customer, often do not really control what happens up there in the cloud.  I had an eloquent, and unanticipated, reminder of this today when testing Lotus Notes 8.5.1 with Gmail.  Take a look at the following two images, and decide which look you like better:


Do you like this better?

Gmail rendered in January


Or do you prefer this?

Gmail rendered today


What if I pointed out that this was the same email (or at least sent at the same time with the same basic content except the name of the city), but the first was rendered by Gmail back in January 2009, and the latter was rendered by Gmail today?  I just went back and opened an old copy because I was confused by the boxy look.  Makes you think twice about switching to cloud computing, where the software in the cloud is controlled by somebody else?

Copyright © 2009 Genii Software Ltd.

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