Google Docs failing to save a document

There I was, working away on a Google Docs file, enjoying the whole “cloud computing” idea. I type data into my browser, magic happens and it gets stored somewhere. Using any other PC I can edit the data.

And it’s great until it breaks, then you can lose data and there’s nothing that can be done. For reasons unknown to me the login cookie expired while editing a document on Google Docs. I didn’t notice this until pressing ‘Save’ gave me the error you see in the image.

If you see this error, you’re pretty much screwed since there is no way to save your data locally if the network goes down, your browser has a fit, or something else breaks the delicate link between your PC and the almighty Google. You just sort of have to keep the browser open and hope things fix themselves.

Which is kind of crap if you want to switch your PC off for the night.

Fortunately I tried to load Docs up in a second tab and it asked me to log in again, solving the problem.

They do need some sort of “emergency” backup option though for when the network really does go down. I’ve not lost data due to my PC locking up for years because pressing Ctrl-S is usually guaranteed to work. Google won’t be scaring Microsoft if basic things like printing and saving don’t work properly…

I’ve installed Google Desktop for some useful and fun gadgets to fill my second monitor with. Currently the GMail gadget is indexing five years worth of email which is going to take ages. I had a look through my mail and found my first GMail ever, it was the welcome message, look

First off, welcome. And thanks for agreeing to help us test Gmail. By now you probably know the key ways in which Gmail differs from traditional webmail services. Searching instead of filing. A free gigabyte of storage. Messages displayed in context as conversations.

A whole gigabyte of space for email! crazy! You know what? Five years and eighteen thousand emails later, I’ve only used 700MB. I now have seven gig of space, it’s going to take a long long time to fill that.

I’ve got one of those Google Wave accounts too, but it’s not that useful. I seem to recall mention of it having the ability to work in businesses, on their own servers. I like cloud computing, but I don’t trust other people with my data. I’d much prefer if I could run my own cloud on my machine here. Some sort of Google Docs server would be great, I’d use that all the time. Something where my server is the main store, but then Google’s system is a mirror, with edits and changes magically propagating throughout the whole system. Local data with remote access and off-site backup, all in one system without any extra steps required. That’d be a killer system.