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Google Apps stops accepting free sign-ups

googleenterprise.blogspot.com

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Re: Google Apps stops accepting free sign-ups

#171

Post by joonix »

magicalist wrote: post #123
zmmmmm wrote: post #24

I really hate it when companies try to sugar coat a decision that is all downside for their customers. It may be really hard to do, but Google should just come out and say it: there is no upside for this to anyone except Google . It is not about giving you a better experience or making things more straightforward . It is all about Google deciding to maximize their profits at the expense of their users. That's fine, i…

> It is all about Google deciding to maximize their profits at the expense of their users. That's fine, it's what businesses (ultimately) do (even the ones that pretend they put their users first). Somewhat offtopic, but I always find statements like this rather silly on HN, a site ostensibly focused on and for the startup community. You mention in a comment below that you've worked for several startups. While there,…

It's really see to the "profit is evil" mentality flow from places like reddit into HN, a site that's supposed to be about building companies to make profits.

Re: Google Apps stops accepting free sign-ups

#172

Post by indiecore »

alanctgardner2 wrote: post #124
indiecore wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and if I was setting up a company of 100 people I'd be fine with that because I probably have the cash flow to support that. I was in the middle of setting up a service for a company of one at the moment and having one or two redirected emails isn't worth fifty dollars a year each right now.

So, a real life story: I set up a free GMail account for my site, and directed all the contacts from the site there. I added it to my phone so I'd know when I got messages. I didn't really do much promotion, so I wasn't surprised I didn't see anything for a week. When I logged in from the web, I had gotten three emails from potential customers. Unfortunately, they'd been sitting for a week, and so it didn't make a ve…

>A delightful, relevant saying I encountered the other day is 'penny wise, pound foolish'.

hhh, you might be right. I'm really just a bit steamed about researching all this then getting home and realizing they had just killed it.

Re: Google Apps stops accepting free sign-ups

#174

Post by edj »

tiziano88 wrote: post #99
edj wrote: post #71

I'm not sure if I'm parsing this correctly, but it sounds like people who use Google Apps as an email backend for personal email on custom domains will now have to pay $50/year. If so, that's a huge bummer. I only recently switched to running my email this way and I don't relish the thought of migrating elsewhere so soon. I would happily pay $50/year (or perhaps more... I don't know how high I'd go) for email that's…

From the post: "Please note this change has no impact on our existing customers, including those using the free version."

I did miss that. Thanks.

Re: Google Apps stops accepting free sign-ups

#175

Post by grandpoobah »

thewordis wrote: post #84
indiecore wrote: post #15

GOD DAMNIT I was literally 10 minutes away from signing up.

According to another blog post, you can still "switch to it" for the next 30 days. So maybe sign up for paid and then immediately switch to free? http://googleappsupdates.blogspot.com/2012/12/changes-to-goo...

http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=2... I started the trial on or after December 6, 2012. You cannot downgrade to the free edition, but you have the option to purchase the product or to cancel your account.

Re: Google Apps stops accepting free sign-ups

#177

Post by zmmmmm »

magicalist wrote: post #123
zmmmmm wrote: post #24

I really hate it when companies try to sugar coat a decision that is all downside for their customers. It may be really hard to do, but Google should just come out and say it: there is no upside for this to anyone except Google . It is not about giving you a better experience or making things more straightforward . It is all about Google deciding to maximize their profits at the expense of their users. That's fine, i…

> It is all about Google deciding to maximize their profits at the expense of their users. That's fine, it's what businesses (ultimately) do (even the ones that pretend they put their users first). Somewhat offtopic, but I always find statements like this rather silly on HN, a site ostensibly focused on and for the startup community. You mention in a comment below that you've worked for several startups. While there,…

> While there, did you only make decisions at the expense of your users to maximize profits?

I think you read a little more pejorative into that sentence than I intended (I understand why, it's a common phrasing in that sense). I mean it quite literally: they maximize profits by charging their users money (at their user's "expense") - not "for the overall detriment of their users" as you might (quite reasonably) interpret it.

But in this literal sense, yes, in every startup I've been involved in, we made decisions to make money and we planned for our users to pay that money. I'm not blaming Google for this - it's what businesses do (almost by definition!).

Re: Google Apps stops accepting free sign-ups

#178

Post by zmmmmm »

joonix wrote: post #171
magicalist wrote: post #123

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It is all about Google deciding to maximize their profits at the expense of their users. That's fine, it's what businesses (ultimately) do (even the ones that pretend they put their users first). Somewhat offtopic, but I always find statements like this rather silly on HN, a site ostensibly focused on and for the startup community. You mention in a comment below that you've worked for several startups. While there,…

It's really see to the "profit is evil" mentality flow from places like reddit into HN, a site that's supposed to be about building companies to make profits.

Just to be clear, I don't have that mentality at all, see my reply to the GP.

Re: Google Apps stops accepting free sign-ups

#180

Post by shuzchen »

Steveism wrote: post #6

This is unfortunate indeed. The free Google Apps offering was a substantial value. What viable alternatives are there?

Seems most of the people recommending alternatives are only thinking of email. I use gapps for my family, and we take a huge advantage of having a domain-specific calender and docs.
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