How and why Gmail and Chrome crashed yesterday

The 'too-long, didn't-read' version is that Google changed something, it didn't work, and it caused the crashes...

Click to expand...

I'm surprised that they did server changes during the day. I thought that usually such changes in production environments are done at night.

Surprising, given Google's usual attention to detail. I wonder if they'll now re-engineer Chrome so that it will not be crash sensitive to the availability (or operative integrity) of Sync. I'm also curious as to what time of the day (PST) this occurred. You'd figure since Google is headquartered in California, that GST ("Google Standard Time") would be the guide for most of their timed activities. I suspect a technician (or service) mistakenly launched a process that would normally run after midnight PST.