February 10th, 2010
Yesterday Google began to release Google Buzz to its Gmail users. Buzz appears to be a compelling service – especially since it plugs right into something many of us use already. For more information about what Buzz is and does visit the Google Buzz site for a nice demo.
I can’t have much more of an opinion on Google Buzz because I can’t use it. You see, I use something called Google Apps for Domains. Google Apps allows me to have Gmail, Calendar, Docs, and other services by Google for the CDEVROE.com domain name. My colin [at] cdevroe.com email, in other words, is simply a glorified Gmail account. But, for some reason, Google handles these accounts completely separate from all other accounts.
Google Reader Header
Take Google Reader as an example. I use Google Reader everyday. On the top right hand side of Google Reader (see the image above and click on it to zoom in), where it tells me whom I’m logged in as, it says colin [at] cdevroe.com. One would think that would mean that my Google Apps account was being used to authenticate me for Google Reader. This isn’t so. On the left hand side of the page there is a link for Mail (presumably my Inbox). If I click on that it asks me to sign up for Gmail. Wait, what?
To make matters worse Google does this for all of its services. Google.com, Maps, Adsense, Analytics, and more. I have accounts for all of these (using my same email address) but I don’t have a Gmail account. I have a Google Apps Gmail account.
Chris Messina, someone whom I admire very much, recently went to work full time at the GOOG as an Open Web Advocate. I know he’ll be busy striving to get Google to become the foremost example in the open Web but I also know that he understands this whole Google Accounts fiasco as well if not better than I do. I hope that, while he’s changing the world from the inside out, he’s also able to convince those at Google to consolidate all Google Accounts into a single-account-sign-on-something-or-other.
I look forward to one day playing around with Buzz but I’ll wait until it is available in my Google Apps for Domains flavor of Gmail.
Addendum: So I thought I’d try my hand at following through the Gmail setup process to see if, like with Google Reader, it just used my colin [at] cdevroe.com account as its primary account. Now I have no idea what it did and I have a new email address and Google Profile that are unrelated to my normal Apps account but it is linked to it somehow. I’m a professional Internet user and developer and I have absolutely no idea what Google is trying to accomplish. Wow.
NOOO! Now all of my accounts are associated to a new account.
Ruh roh.
I don’t really get what buzzed is supposed to be. Isn’t it just FriendFeed?
It certainly looks a lot like Friendfeed.
Hey Colin,
I use Google Apps for my domain as well, and I have the same problem that you’re describing above. However, on Google Reader, only on my iPod Touch, Buzz does show up and authenticates with my Google Account email address, which of course is still the one that is hosted by Google Apps.
Perhaps this is just a roll-out issue.
Adam
Perhaps though I’ve tried on my iPhone and I don’t see it. I’m less worried about having it on Google Apps than just being able to get my accounts straightened out.
Hey Colin, sorry to hear about this problem. You’re definitely not alone — and this problem is something that we’re both aware of and working on.
I can’t give you an ETA, but it is a high priority to fix this and gets to the heart of why Internet identity is broken today, and also so hard to fix.
There are also plans to roll out Buzz to Apps for your Domain, but again — no ETA. We’re definitely on it though (it’s still weird to include myself in “we” when talking about Google!).
Thanks for stopping by Chris. Obviously you have nothing to answer for (being a GOOG NEWB) but I am sure if there is anyone there than has the same identity tastes as me – it is you.
It is a bit strange, but in a sense, aren’t Google Apps for Your Domain supposed to be “walled gardens” in a sense? For instance, on Viddler, we only share documents with other @viddler.com email addresses, not with @gmail.com addresses, and I would expect Buzz to work the same way (once it’s available for domains).
I’m guessing Google sees @gmail.com addresses as Google identities, whereas domain accounts all exist only within their own community.
Yeah. Again, I’m not worried about actually using Buzz. I’m just frustrated by the way the accounts are handled across applications at Google in and out of Google Apps.
If you want a longer write up about how annoying this problem is, read this post:
http://www.equalsdrummond.name/?p=267
As for cross-domain Buzz instances — it’s really up to the domain owner whether to be open and interoperable or not. But that’s in contrast to today’s silos where that kind of cross-posting isn’t even possible. That’s why Buzz is really exciting to me!
Instapaper’d for later, thanks.
Colin,
Great post! This issue is a real annoyer for me too. I created a Gmail account after my Apps account and made the fatal error of connecting them. I don’t use my Gmail, yet now it’s my main Google identity. I’ve contacted Google several times about this issue and they have been at least kind enough to email me back with a, “We know about the problem, sorry.”
Kyle Slattery ~ I can understand your thinking about only sharing with the @Gmail addresses, but the whole point of Buzz is to allow sharing across many platforms and services. If they limit it to just Gmail addresses, it would be yet another fatal mistake.
I’d like to start a Twitter/Facebook campaign to “rush” Google into fixing this!
Thanks again for the post,
Caleb ~ Wisconsin
This Google Apps/Google account Chinese Wall has been driving me nuts for a while now. Until now it’s been relatively manageable because, like Colin, I had a separate Google account from my Google Apps account that I used for all the services (Reader, Analytics etc.) that, for some reason, are not available in Apps. To keep up appearances, like Colin, I used my Apps email address as a primary login.
The arrival of Buzz, however, has suddenly turned this issue from an annoying quirk into a disaster: because Buzz is tied to Gmail (which, by the way, I personally find absurd), you have to sign up to Gmail, which generates a standard you[at]gmail address which, in turn, is promptly turned into your primary login. Your Apps email address is treated as if it weren’t a Google address at all and is demoted to “secondary” status. The worst thing about this fiasco is that there’s no undo.
I hear Chris Messina’s point about this being difficult to fix. But Apps should never have been set up like this in the first place. Google has just annoyed a lot of what by any accounts must be its most loyal users. And the Buzz fiasco has made it urgent to find a solution to something that should never have happened.
The problem you describe is the experience of everyone that works at Google right now — and it definitely needs to be fixed.
As it is, I have to run two separate browsers to handle this situation — and let me tell you — A LOT of folks want this fixed internally.
It’s worth nothing that the fact that you can use Google services on your own domain is something that actually keeps the web more open and free — but as such — it introduces a level of complexity that most service providers don’t have to deal with today. My hope is that the work that Google’s doing on this will make a big difference long term, but in the meantime, it definitely creates an unfortunately uncomfortable reality.