Gmail is having a systemwide outage affecting multiple countries, and a whole bunch of its 100 million users are screaming about it on Twitter. Around 20 million people visit Gmail each day, according to Comscore, and they’re all seeing the same message. The first outages were reported at about 2 pm PST, 44 minutes ago. The Gmail blog is silent on the outage, instead giving readers some useful tips on customizing web clips.

We’re waiting on Google for a comment on the reason for the outage, but I can’t help but suspect that my decision yesterday to abandon MobileMe/.Mac in favor of the super-stable Google apps may have been a factor. Sometimes Google does things just to spite me.

Meanwhile, the productivity of 20 million people worldwide just spiked upward. Thanks to Todd Garland for the creative image.

Despite the fierce rivalry that obviously exists between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, it’s obviously not about the money, and it looks like despite everything that when they finally do retire, they may actually become good friends.

What most people don’t remember is that 10 years ago, Microsoft bailed out the ailing Apple when Steve Jobs just came  back to revitalize the ailing company, imagine that, 150 million USD and Steve Jobs joining the board of Apple precisely 10 years ago. The timing of this move demonstrates to me that there is both tactics and a wider mutual relationship and respect between the two parties that perhaps the world will never truly get to see.

Yes, they are competitors, but they are friends too. I am sure of it.