please check back soon

http://orkut.com

Google Style lay-out? the big update people have been waiting for? or maybe just general maintenance... anybody know?

I hope it becomes more like facebook :) I like the feeds but I don't like how they were implemented. I have high hopes-- but it's most likely just another minor upgrade

maybe we'll get a first peek through one of these
https://www.google.com/accounts/NewAccount?service=orkut
https://www.google.com/accounts/Login?service=orkut
https://www.google.com/accounts/ServiceLogin?service=orkut
https://www.google.com/accounts/EditUserServiceData?service=orkut

but that might be a bit too hopeful :P

http://help.orkut.com/
is still online

also, the About orkut | Privacy | Terms pages all look different than the homepage because the "orkut is under construction.
please check back soon (=" is in blue on the homepage and on the other pages it is in black

does anybody know the address of the orkut news feed?

*GASP*

has anybody heard of orkut possibly merging with jopspot???
http://insideorkut.blogspot.com/2006/12/will-google-merge-orkut-with-jotspot.html
I'm getting way too into this-- it's probably nothing, i know

http://media.orkut.com/
is still online as well

and i still can't locate that orkut news feed. I'm not sure if it was even a feed but it was always displayed on http://www.orkut.com/News.aspx and I just assumed it was but they barely ever updated it

Maybe out of beta?

hmm...google taking something so hideous out of beta in one swift move? I don't think so-- but possibly

from orkut inside blog

"unify all of the Googlie services (Calendar, Picasa Web Albums, Docs & Spreadsheets, etc.) within Orkut."

who knows the above statement may be true this new year.........and google want to make orkut a new

From Wikepedia

"Orkut sometimes displays an "under construction" screen while the server is under maintenance. These occurrences last from a few minutes to a few hours."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Orkut_UnderConstruction.jpg

yes well, if they are doing an upgrade the server would be under maintenance. the question is, is this a routine minor fix or a major upgrade. it has already been five hours and they usually plan these downtimes to end at 12:00am est or pst which is either 10 minutes or three hours and 10 minutes from now

lol...
so its a false alarm?

(i dont think so though..
i really think Google is trying to upgrade Orkut)

me too- wishful thinking :)

well it's 12am where i am not (EST) so looks like it's 3 hours until 12am PST (where the googleplex is) and I don't feel like staying up til 3 in the morning especially without the guarantee that it will be done by then or that anything will be different

i think the fact that help.orkut.com and media.orkut.com are still up an look the same are a good sign that there will not be a total redesign- i have a tendency to ruin my own hopes :P but i remain hopeful!

im guessing it will stay that way 'till Jan 1st..

how come?

be optimistic :-)

it's been seven hours now and theres still another hour until midnight PST and it's 2am where I am so I think I'm gonna go to bed. I hope to see orkut shiny and new in the morning :)

www.joga.com it's also under maintenance.

I don't think it's a major update probably just some internal changes to improve the service.

i hope the same........

I think orkut is preparing for som new year surprise and probably it's face will change

and so it will remain down upto dec 31st tht's 4 sure!!!
i hav a gut feel about tht....

yeah, otherwise it'd be up by now. It's been 15 hours and it's 9:30am EST and 6:30am PST

Maybe Google decided to shut it down.

No way. They've been improving it with little things here and there and a while ago they added google accounts (which only happens to something they plan on keeping) and ads by google. they're not dumb enough to jump out of social networking especially since orkut is starting to grow and gain more attention. Orkut has a lot of potential.

<< ... a while ago they added google accounts (which only happens to something they plan on keeping) ... >>

You mean like they did with Google Answers? ;-)

Maybe they're closing Orkut and buying MySpace.

... to shut it down and replace it with Niniane's work.

http://googlesystem.blogspot.com/2006/05/brilliant-niniane-wang.html

But MySpace is a mess. I don't think they'd be willing to take on that clean-up job. And why would they go through the hassle of abandoning orkut to buy myspace. Don't they usually only buy small start ups? Besides, they've already talked about their plans for the suture with orkut and it definitely seems like they have a lot in mind.

If they replace it with Niniane's work they won't be shutting it down. Niniane's work would simply be the new face of Orkut

http://orkut.l.google.com/ used to reditect to orkut.com and the under construction page-- now it gives a 502 server error :D

the 502 server error that is returned says "Please try again in 30 seconds." but I don't think that means much, although I have observe in the past that this means they are close to finishing up work on something.

Actually closing it down isn't that bad of an idea. With litigations in Brazil, India etc.

But Google probably won't do that.

i dont think they'll shut it down either..

who knows, someday it can integrate with MySpace or something.. :P

It doesn't take 20 hours to shut down a service. Besides, they would have posted up a warning announcement first. Has anybody seen orkut down for this long before??

let me change youre question DPic.. ;
Has anybody seen Orkut?

:P

>>Maybe they're closing Orkut and buying MySpace.

No Way Tony.... After google has acquired orkut its potential is increasing and google would only try to make Orkut equal to myspace....

Its not that simple and no possibilities at all.... just forgot that idea...

Google didn't acquire orkut.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orkut#History

right..
its affiliated with Google

damn it's back up-- nothing looks different ;(

this is an explaination extracted from an anonymous comment on a post to the plog post on inside orkut "Because of earthquake in Taiwan and Philipines, the servers hosting orkut are cut off from the rest of the world. This is the insider info. Orkut is not hosted with the rest of Google."

too bad :(

i really thought theres gonna be an epic change..

guess not..
well, back to normal life :P

<<Orkut is not hosted with the rest of Google.>>

Maybe that's why is so unreliable.

This new report says that the downtime was overall 22 hours:
http://www.techcrunch.com/2006/12/29/googles-orkut-down-for-13-hours/

[Moved from new thread. -Philipp]

I just realized-- why would orkut be hosted away from the rest of google like the anonymous comment said?

Orkut is only "in affiliation with Google", Orkut says...

I got this just now surfing around in Orkut by the way:

   orkut is under construction.
   please check back soon (=

"why would orkut be hosted away from the rest of google like the anonymous comment said"

because that's only an affiliation. in the event there is a big huge law suit by a government or class action suit. Only Orkut will suffer – not google. Remember there was no contingency funds like goog's has for Yourtube!!

wasn't it invented by a googler as a google project? how could it only be an affiliation?

when do you think google will be willing to take responsibility of orkut? or will they?