Recently, some Gmail users have been having trouble with logging on, sending messages, and web browsers crashing when trying to open a message. I suggest using Firefox. Internet Explorer just plain sucks. The failures have supposedly been growing for weeks, but I don’t think so. I haven’t experienced any problems myself. But with millions and millions of users, it might just be that a few Gmail servers have some issues.

So what’s happening? Google says it’s any number of typical, day-to-day issues and growing pains that usually crop up with any of its features. And for every error message someone gets, there are scores more of happy Gmail users. Indeed, a lot of Gmail users say they have never been happier.

Yet, others contend the problems are so widespread it seems something much bigger is going on; what Google isn’t saying.

One theory is that the current number of Gmail users has gone way beyond what Google has the capacity to manage effectively.

Regardless of what’s going on under the hood, the Gmail problems speaks to a broader issue of a kind of malaise settling over the firm. Aside from the Gmail issues, there’s also been a recent crop of new features from Google that are shockingly average for a company known for its innovative edge.

via eweek