Donnie's Blog

Dear Google,

I love you. Let’s get that cleared at the outset. You are one of the few companies that I admire and trust. I have watched your stupendous rise over the past years and marveled at your vision and unwavering faith in your core principles. As your loyal customer, I take pride in your belief that an open, social, magnanimous approach will pay off in the long run. I watch with awe as you commit to long term goals, and put your money where your mouth is – which few others dare do.

You see a world of plenty where others see scarcity. Your creativity results in products and services that millions use and love.

However, in spite of all that, I believe there is room for improvement. While you create 100s of products and services, many of them get left by the wayside when you decide they are not worth pursuing. This leaves any users of these products in a very awkward position.

Examples include your Gtalk messenger, and the Gmail notifier, both of which I use. The Gmail notifier has not seen any improvement in years, and there does not seem to be a proper support cycle for it either. An example of this is the fact that though HTTPS was made compulsory for Gmail, the notifier has not been updated to support this. An ugly registry hack has to be downloaded for the notifier to enable HTTPS support.

Similarly, Gtalk seems to have fallen out of favor, and I can see why. You would prefer to have a web browser based presence, which you are pushing across all products. You have developed an amazing in-email video conferencing client for Gmail. As a result, the Gtalk messenger lacks any of the ‘advanced’ capabilities like video chatting that the in-email client does.

For me, the Gmail notifier and Gtalk messenger are the preferred modes of using your service. I understand that you often try and experiment with services to see which ones would make sense, and which ones wouldn’t.

However, you should never abandon customers with half-hearted attempts like the Gmail notifier and Gtalk messenger. This will end up creating friction and discontent in the long run.

If you provide a service or product, please ensure that you intend to fully support it and its users. Else, do not make it available. A few exceptions are fine, but abandoning a product should never be an easy decision for you. Also, putting the ‘beta’ label on a product in no way excuses you from providing the highest level of service and support.

In conclusion, I would suggest you listen to customers more – in our collective whines you will often find gems that just might take your service and products to the next level, and help you find your next gigantic success where you least expect to find it.

Your loyal fan,
Donniel

P.S. I love the Nexus One! It’s not available in Dubai, though, so I can’t get my hands on it anytime soon Send me one please?