Google requiring all ‘G Suite legacy free edition’ users to start paying • Hacker News Board

Re: Google requiring all ‘G Suite legacy free edition’ users to start paying

#841

Post by eco » Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 8:54 PM UTC

I would have no problems with this if Google just provided a way to convert GSuite accounts into personal Google accounts. In fact, I'd prefer to pay if it means no ads/data gathering in GMail.

I've lived in this obnoxious state for a long time where my Google account (with an email address that is nearly as old as Google itself so I'm not switching) sometimes works, sometimes doesn't (and even sometimes works then suddenly stops working one day) for any random Google service.

I just want to keep my email address and have a plain old Google account. Is that too much to ask? That's all I ever wanted and that's all I thought I was getting when I signed up so long ago. I wish I had a time machine so I could go back and warn myself before I signed up for "Google Apps For Your Domain".

Re: Google requiring all ‘G Suite legacy free edition’ users to start paying

#842

Post by hirako2000 » Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 8:55 PM UTC

stephc_int13 wrote: post #764

I am not sure to understand this completely. What about Gmail use? Is that going to stay free?

it's staying free until Google announces that personal email accounts are made obsolete by offering some super email account with some killer feature, of course free with a small print: for 12 months, then some fee.

Re: Google requiring all ‘G Suite legacy free edition’ users to start paying

#843

Post by WillPostForFood » Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 8:55 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #836

So, we enter the brave new world of extortion for data held hostage. Cool. I wonder if Google has factored in what this will do to their brand image, the cost in the longer term will likely far outstrip the savings and the resulting income from sign ups.

How to download your Google data https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/3024190

Re: Google requiring all ‘G Suite legacy free edition’ users to start paying

#844

Post by rietta » Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 8:55 PM UTC

This impacts me and my family for sure. I'm not so worried about the business implications of going to paid, but I have been providing my family with firstname@ourfamilyname.tld for decades and they now have deep ties with that as their primary email addresses for all manner of things and for Google ecosystem stuff. Am I so generous to pay $72/year per family member and/or I am going to have to figure out out to rebill/resell services to them. This is a major change and is one of the use cases Google marketed this to and has subsequently forgotten about.

Re: Google requiring all ‘G Suite legacy free edition’ users to start paying

#845

Post by jrochkind1 » Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 8:56 PM UTC

neogodless wrote: post #776

Aaronstotle wrote: post #767

So if I use gmail for personal email, I now have to switch to a paid plan?

If you use GSuite Legacy for personal email, you would have the choice of switching to a paid plan, or migrating your email to a personal account (or any other email hosting provider.) If you use a personal GMail account, there is no change here that applies to you.

> or migrating your email to a personal account

There is no such migration plan offered, it's unclear how to do it, or if it's possible.

Of course you can move to a non-google host, just by changing your MX records or whatever.

Re: Google requiring all ‘G Suite legacy free edition’ users to start paying

#846

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 8:57 PM UTC

[deleted]

Re: Google requiring all ‘G Suite legacy free edition’ users to start paying

#847

Post by mxuribe » Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 8:57 PM UTC

mxuribe wrote: post #747

themadturk wrote: post #739

Well, this is an unpleasant surprise. Most of my family has been on G Suite for nearly 20 years, under a grandfathered-in free account with a custom domain. Six dollars a month is at least $24 a month. Time for everyone to switch to a free account, or look for an alternative that's just as easy. The hard part will be getting email addresses changed, which is why I chose a custom domain to start with...and weaning peo…

I've also been used to the free tier of GSuite...but honestly, i can not complain. I got to use my own custom domain for my family for several years...so i can't be upset really. That being said, a few months ago i started testing zoho mail...because i had planneed to move away from google anyway (for reasons that are not about cost, but more about principles)...and so far my tests are pretty good with them! Zoho's p…

@pygy_ Not sure what happened to your comment...but as far as supporting a catchall...while i do not use that feature, the follwoing help pages seem to indicate that it is supported: https://www.zoho.com/mail/help/adminconsole/catch-all-setup....

https://help.zoho.com/portal/en/kb/mail/adminconsole/article...

https://www.zoho.com/mail/help/adminconsole/org-settings.htm...

Good luck!

Re: Google requiring all ‘G Suite legacy free edition’ users to start paying

#848

Post by below43 » Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 8:57 PM UTC

celso wrote: post #791

If you interested in Cloudflare's Email Routing https://developers.cloudflare.com/email-routing/ we're mass enabling the zones that have asked for Beta access and will be going GA soon. Email me at celso@cf if you can't wait; we'll try to prioritize.

Wonderful timing! I already have one domain approved and can confirm it's an awesome tool thanks :)

ps. I suspect that this will provide people a very simple way to migrate to using free Gmail as their email solution. (though in my case, I've taken the free Gsuite product closure as an incentive to fully de-Google).

Re: Google requiring all ‘G Suite legacy free edition’ users to start paying

#849

Post by GeekyBear » Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 8:58 PM UTC

pxx wrote: post #828

GeekyBear wrote: post #783

Google, this is a bait and switch mess of your own making. The solution is to allow users an option to convert back to a free account without losing access to their data, files, apps, and any purchased digital goods.

The accounts don't disappear when you cancel. Only the Workspace features. https://support.google.com/a/answer/1257646?hl=en

Did you notice that step one of that link is "Save your data"?

Re: Google requiring all ‘G Suite legacy free edition’ users to start paying

#850

Post by amanzi » Thu, Jan 20, 2022, 8:59 PM UTC

MarkusWandel wrote: post #785

I have four active email users in my free "legacy edition" vanity domain workspace. I am not willing to pay USD4x6x12 per year to have this continue to work. Looking around for the most affordable alternative for four active email accounts brings me to... Microsoft! Microsoft 365 Family Edition. Like a lot of salary drones I use Microsoft products at work, so I get a discount. It is sad to be paying for full Microsof…

M365 family doesn't let you manage users as part of one "organisation" in the same way that Google Apps does. It's effectively 6 copies of M365 Personal. And you can only add a vanity domain if you happen to manage it with GoDaddy. The closest to G-suite is M365 Business Basic which is cheaper than G-suite and only includes web and mobile versions of the Office suite, but it does come with 1TB of storage per user which is nice.

As someone else mentioned - the cheapest per user hosted service that is close in functionality to G-suite is Zoho.

I know all this because I've also been bitten by the impending decommissioning of free G-suite so did a bit of research yesterday. I've signed up with M365 Business Basic and am in the process of moving my domains over to it now. I only need one mailbox but I have a bunch of domains and email aliases that I manage.

(edit - changed "Starter" to "Basic")