Google Web Accelerator closed … for good?

Thank you for your interest in Google Web Accelerator. We have currently reached our maximum capacity of users and are actively working to increase the number of users we can support.

Source: Google Web Accelerator Web Site

I think there is much more to it then they are letting in. When GWA debuted there was no hint about such limited resource availability for this project. The fact that Google has targeted this product for broadband market indicates that they have allocated a fat pipe (bandwidth) for this project. Never before have any Google project terminated for end-users midway. They have limited users from start in GMail or Orkut; but this is different. They changed mind within few days after debut, closing doors to new users.

Google Web Accelerator is beleaguered with problems from start. For starters it serves one’s cookies to others (allowing access to web sites with undesired privileges at several sites including but not limited to phpBB), it artificially loads web servers by assuming demands and for sure it totally messes up your web analytics. Several web applications reported accesibility and security problems with GWA.
For the end user there are significant privacy concerns. Several web sites are starting to block GWA users.

I do not recommend Google Web Accelerator in its current form.

In the ever increasing pressure to compete with Microsoft (yes, I think they are the biggest challenge to Google these days), Google has faltered in this project. It would be best if they backtrack silently. Everyone makes mistakes, what’s the big deal?

It appears Google has decided to re-think about this project after significant backlash from the user community. I wouldn’t be surprised if they decide to quietly shelve the project for good.

PS. I could be wrong (and Google haven’t realized their mistake) and maybe it is all related to the Saturday Google outage. Google realized that unfortunately GWA is consuming much more bandwidth then they imagined and decided to cap it for now. Wonder if few people worldwide with cable connection decided to download the internet for fun