This is interesting. Part of the fact that Google owned Domains was that GCP domain validation was smooth when doing this. Now, we probably have to do the slow motion validation. Bit annoying, honestly.
But, ah well.
Alphabet selling Google Domains assets to Squarespace
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Re: Alphabet selling Google Domains assets to Squarespace
#72How long until the "don't trust Google to not kill a product" feeling becomes so widespread it begins to hurt them? I don't know any historical precedents...
It seems to me it already has. I spent ~ a decade being pretty immersed in the Google ecosystem, and after going through the ringer dozens of times and finally realizing being one of their users will never stop being an unpaid, unrespected beta tester, I gave up on them. Bought an iPhone and moved services from Google where possible. I remember this[1] article from a few years ago on the subject of Google's shutdowns…
> finally realizing being one of their users will never stop being an unpaid, unrespected beta tester …
… and AI trainer
Re: Alphabet selling Google Domains assets to Squarespace
#73Any recommendations on registrars? I may have to move a couple of domains off Google Domains / Squarespace. Edit: I am located in the US.
UPD: Yeah I wasn't avare they been bought out recently. That's really unfortunate to hear. Gandi served me well for last 10 years: * Plenty of zones supported with reasonable prices. * Have team account access for companies. * In case of emergency there is an option to renew domains registered with Gandi even without being owner.
Just yesterday there was a post here not too thrilled about how Gandi is handling their latest price increases and their dropped support for 'free included' email?
Re: Alphabet selling Google Domains assets to Squarespace
#74I'm sad to see this, not b/c I like Google, but because domain names are otherwise a manipulative space, and Google was saving us from that.
Domain service - name registry - is a weird market because it includes cross-subsidizing businesses and the information has value (and people will pay for anonymity to avoid hassle), so buy decisions aren't just price/performance.
Google and Cloudflare can offer it near cost just to build goodwill in their clients (i.e., to save them from predation). Cloudflare promises for renewals to only pass through their costs, which makes sense (they make back their customer acquisition cost on the first purchase).
What's the business model of others like porkbun? By hypothesis, you have to pay more to go without the cross-subsidy. If cost is on par, then you might expect them to be marketing the information or to customers somehow. Perhaps just making it back on anonymity charges?
At a minimum, the company would need to have some real reputational concerns about maintaining good relations with customers. E.g., with porkbun, it's super-cute in an ostensibly-benign jurisdiction, but it's a completely hidden LLC who's privacy concerns seem limited only to WHOIS anonymity. What exactly prevents them (or any successor in interest) from misusing the information they have?
On the internet, associating real people with IP's will always be a key goal of governments and criminals, and yet domain name services are a free-for-all with no underlying privacy guarantees.
Re: Alphabet selling Google Domains assets to Squarespace
#75The thing I take biggest offense to is the fact that I hear about this from Bloomberg before Google making any outreach. Also no mention of if Google Cloud Domains is impacted.
Re: Alphabet selling Google Domains assets to Squarespace
#76Can we hopefully avoid the worn trope of Google killing products in this thread? Because it's not being killed, it's being transferred to another company. (If this reporting is correct.) Which is something to celebrate , not criticize. With Reader/Stadia/etc., wouldn't users prefer that it had been transferred rather than killed?
I mean, they're domains, you can't kill them.
This is like saying Photos isn't killed because they didn't delete old photos when you exceed your new low quota.
Re: Alphabet selling Google Domains assets to Squarespace
#77Re: Alphabet selling Google Domains assets to Squarespace
#78> In an unexpected announcement today, Google Domains is “winding down following a transition period,” (…) Google killing a product should no longer be a surprise to anyone. It’s the opposite of Monty Python’s Spanish Inquisition: everybody expects it. https://killedbygoogle.com https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Spanish_Inquisition_(Monty...
I guess the only surprise here is that they're selling it.
It's probably some contractual obligation as a registrar.
Re: Alphabet selling Google Domains assets to Squarespace
#79I knew better than to trust Google, and yet... I switched everything to Google Domains because the UI was very clean and the attempted upsells were minimal. I had moved from GoDaddy to Name.com years prior for similar reasons but Name burned my good will. Is there a service that replaces Google Domains in simplicity and not pushing add-ons?
Try hover.com. They have never sent me spam and upsell attempts are very minimal during purchase (mostly for their email service, I think).
Re: Alphabet selling Google Domains assets to Squarespace
#80Can we hopefully avoid the worn trope of Google killing products in this thread? Because it's not being killed, it's being transferred to another company. (If this reporting is correct.) Which is something to celebrate , not criticize. With Reader/Stadia/etc., wouldn't users prefer that it had been transferred rather than killed?
For stuff like stadia, which has no real identical products, a transfer would indeed be nicer.
But the whole sell of the google domains product is that you are getting a domain from Google. If it is no longer from google, the product is largely indistinguishable from those from other large cloud providers like Cloudflare or AWS (or more boutique or focused offerings like Porkbun and Namecheap).