And right when it's critical! Nice F-ING timing. No amout of swearing will measure my frustration at this moment. <br><br>I could forgive Gmail being down any other time, but when it's this important... that's it. I'm dumping Gmail for good. <br><br>

I can get on- 8:37pm EST<br><br>[color:red]5.19.05 - The 'Jedi Slaughter' tour begins!</font color=red>

I have one message in my Gmail box - The welcome message - Gmail is different<br><br>Haven't used it yet. I just signed up to see if it magically gets spam filled.<br><br>Just checked, no spam and seems to be working (insert em dash here) well the page loaded.<br><br>

Works for me.<br><br>

Get what you pay for. No problem here.<br><br>

I keep getting a message that says, Server Error, with the Google logo on it. <br>Figures it's just me that's getting it. <br>My stress meter is pegging the needle.<br><br>

Not sure what you are wanting to do, but you could always sign up for the free mail with Yahoo.com<br><br>

Did you clear the browser cache? Log out and log back in? Free to do and worth a shot.<br><br>

Which browser are you using? Safari works fine here...<br><br>

Finally started working again. Too little, far too late. <br><br>Now that I'm not pulling my hair out, I can see this experience with different eyes. This whole thing was my worst nightmare come true. I had a critical email I had to send on a deadline that was absolute. The long and short of ths story is that because gmail failed, for what ever reason, my situation has been damaged beyond repair.<br><br>Others were able to access, so I don't know why I ran into this problem. We come to put the trival to staggeringly important things in our lives in the hands of technology and people we will never see or meet. And when it goes bad, it goes very, very bad. <br><br>This is why I refuse to ever back up my files to some place online. After all, if they go poof, it's not like they owe you anything. Sure, they'll be sorry, and mean it, but after all is said and done, they'll sleep fine at night, and your files will be gone, gone, gone.<br><br><br><br>

If it was that critical that someone get the files, why not Fed Ex or hand deliver them? I never leave anything that important in the hands of email.<br><br><br><br>CreativeGuy: For your "fix" of design software tips, tricks & commentary.

much less a beta service<br><br>

I don't understand. If all you needed to do was send an email, why not just quickly make a new account with another one of the million-and-one different free webmailers out there?<br><br>

Ah, and there's the rub. <br><br>This situation completely blind sided me. The situation developed very quickly that I hadn't had time to prepare for. My interactions with this other party was shaky at best. <br><br>It's a bit complex and I can't publish some of the details, but using anything other than the pre-established email address was not an option. I know, but that was a condition of this interaction.<br><br>I found myself painted in a corner between a rock and a hard place, between the Devil and the deep blue sea, etc... and t seconds mattered. <br><br>The upshot is that gmail being down this one time was an utter disaster. <br><br>Not once have I ever had this happen before, and of course, these things happen, but the timing uncanny and very bad.<br><br>

So...couldn't you just tell them that gmail was down for you and that you could send from another account?<br><br>And is your gmail your only pre-established email? <br><br>I have a gmail account and 3 email accounts provided by my ISP. I think I would use that over gmail any time something critical was due....of course I would do like the others and FedEX them a backup letter.<br><br>

I have other accounts, but like I said, the situation did not allow me to use them. <br><br>