Google's Identity Infrastructure is messed up and no one is talking
OK, I've talked to several people about this now and everyone is feeling the pain. 2007 means no more free ride for Google. No, they're not evil....they've just seriously messed up their infrastructure to the point that it is utterly broken.
Darren describes the situation quite well. I know that Jeff has the same issues, with an extra fun one trying to connect to people with Google Talk. Both Jeff and I have talked to people we know inside Google, but they haven't been able to find anyone on the "inside" who knows more.
Here's my screenshot (extended description on Flickr) of being logged in twice with the same address:
Public acknowledgement of the broken-ness? Not that I can find. Response to "regular" channels? i.e. this is critical and I can't use Docs/Spreadsheet? None.
Google, what's the plan? I'm not asking to switch to OpenID or allow OpenID logins or any sort of *crazy* talk like that...I just want your existing identity structure to work, to allow me to combine or retire accounts as needed, and not have everything be broken.
Be nice to have a name or pointer to the person/team that is working on this...there are many people willing to troubleshoot and work on this.
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I've seen that happen before as well, and you're right, it's messed. I think Google is pretty awesome in terms of what they've done for the Internet, and how they've shaken everything up, but let's be honest -- not everything they do is that great. I use search, maps (not that often), and gmail, and have played with the online collaboration stuff (which is cool), but every other product I've tried I've walked away thinking "hey this is neat but it's far from being cooked." GoogleTalk is good idea but hey, none of my friends use it so I'm left talking to myself (which I guess is the classic IM problem).
I'd really like the whole industry to move away from the whole perpetual beta thing and start getting behind the products they make. The last Yahoo messenger was in beta for nearly a year I think, and gmail was in for a long time as well. Beta is supposed to mean "nearly cooked", so I think it's just a crutch for companies that write buggy software or are trying to generate hype faster than they can live up to it.