What Gives, Google??

I don’t understand…

I was one of THE first people to ever have a public GMail account, in 2004 (before the “GMail invitation market” was created in which people would buy and sell invitations to the service).  Since then, whenever there is a new Google service, I typically get invites.  I was among the first in my group of friends to get a Google Wave account, and I got a Google Music Beta invite before many of my friends.  Somewhat related, Google has approached me with employment more than once, over the years.  Somewhat even less related, I own 2 Android phones, and a Barnes & Noble Nook Color that I’ve rooted with Android 2.3.  (Have I made my Google resume’ clear yet?)

What I don’t understand is why I keep hearing about people using Google+, but I have not yet got an invite.  It isn’t like Google doesn’t know about me — granted, they know about everyone, but I would think they know about me more than the average Joe.

I signed up for an invitation on the very first day I heard about Google+ on their website, yet the status on that page remains the same:

Google+ is in limited Field Trial
Right now, we’re testing with a small number of people, but it won’t be long before the Google+ project is ready for everyone. Leave us your email address and we’ll make sure you’re the first to know when we’re ready to invite more people.

I’m not buying it. GMail was in “beta” for years. Five, to be precise.  Google Wave was in beta the entire time it was online (and still is, even though the entire Wave project has been scrapped).  Google Music is still in beta — officially named Music Beta by Google.

Google+, from my understanding, is that it is a social network service similar to Facebook.  Some have even called it “the Facebook Killer”.  As with any social service, success of the service is measured in how many people have subscribed to the service.  If I were Google, I would want as much exposure as possible…  by as many people that enjoy Google services as possible.  Why have a limited rollout of something so central to Google?  Why have a limited rollout of something, and then not invite your most loyal fans?  Is this their way of saying they don’t love me any more?

O, Google, why have you forsaken me?  I feel gypped.  I see you pushing Google+ heavily, redesigning GMail, Google Calendar to have a similar look and feel to Google+, and I can only feel like the 3rd cousin that has been forced to eat dinner in the garage because there are no more seats at the kids’ table.  While reading daily news (on Google Reader), I see tours, tutorials and helpful tips of how to use Google+, and can only think “wow, that seems really nice, and seems to solve what bothers me about Facebook… too bad I can’t try it out.”

What gives, Google?