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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

#411

Post by smsm42 »

indiecore wrote: post #66
alanctgardner2 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is a pretty pessimistic view. Customers are self-interested too: they want free content and services, but they also want absolute privacy, to ad-block everything, and generally cut off any possible revenue stream. This seems like it leads to a sort of local maxima where you produce the minimum quality required to drive users, with as little cost as possible. By cutting off ad-supported free users, Google is atte…

by cutting off free users they just opened themselves to getting undercut by a smaller company that can offer fewer, cheaper, targeted options. I just wanted an email for my domain and that's not worth 50 bucks a year. I'll just set up my own email system at this point, call it a learning experience and never be exposed to the rest of whatever was in Google Apps.

But that's great. Google is going for enterprise market, freeing the small business niche to whatever competitors would spring up. If I wanted to open a start-up, I'd be delighted I just had a 800-pound gorilla move out and open the space for the rest to compete and try to have a part of immense success Google has. How often you see a giant company just come out and say "please, come in, take part of my market, I don't need it anymore"?

Re: Google Apps stops accepting free sign-ups

#412

Post by tharris0101 »

tharris0101 wrote: post #404

I'm confused here. It says nothing changes for existing customers but when I log into my domain's Google App dashboard I see this now: "Free 30 day Google Apps for Business trial" with an upgrade button. Does anyone else see this?

To answer my own question. I see now that it isn't saying that I am currently using a free trial, the button is to upgrade and get the free trial.

This is important though. DO NOT TRY THE FREE TRIAL UNLESS YOU PLAN ON STICKING WITH IT.

After yesterday, even if you have a legacy free account, you give up that privilege if you try the free 30 days. See here:

http://support.google.com/a/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=6...

Re: Google Apps stops accepting free sign-ups

#413

Post by Dylan16807 »

alanctgardner2 wrote: post #359
Dylan16807 wrote: post #252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't understand what point you're trying to get across here. Aren't you just as likely to forget to check a google apps mail as a regular gmail? Or are you describing a bug? Isn't that still equally likely with either option? Aren't both options crushed in effectiveness by redirecting to your main account, whatever that is?

> A company of one definitely needs the most reliable communications it can get Is that clear enough for you? Self-hosting is a poor idea because screwing up once costs you real money, probably more than you'd spend on a year of hosting at a small business.

Sssoooo you used a story about losing business when using gmail for hosting to say that self-hosting was bad? I'm sorry, I still don't understand.

Re: Google Apps stops accepting free sign-ups

#414

Post by cnaut »

jarin wrote: post #52
cnaut wrote: post #36

Office 365 is much cheaper now - http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/office365/compare-plans.aspx?...

The cheapest plan (email/calendar/contacts) is only $4 cheaper per year than Google Apps.

You are right, I misread the pricing the first time. The prices are basically the same now

Re: Google Apps stops accepting free sign-ups

#415

Post by BCM43 »

kalleboo wrote: post #389
fusiongyro wrote: post #292

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I do this. It's not easy, but it's not as bad as most of the comments here would lead you to believe. If you have the wherewithal to run things on a server it's definitely within reach, albeit probably not a cost-effective way to spend your time. Let me make a few recommendations. I'm not a sysadmin by trade but I know a few things you can do that will improve your lot in life running mail. - Postfix and Dovecot. The…

I ran my own email server at home for many years, but in the end I switched to Gmail/Google Apps about two years ago since - I kept a mostly "if it works don't break it" approach, but about once a year there'd be some alert about security issues with some specific software and I'd run a "aptitude update". Invariably it'd update the packages out of order, libc would get screwed up, and I'd have to reinstall the whole…

I kept a mostly "if it works don't break it" approach, but about once a year there'd be some alert about security issues with some specific software and I'd run a "aptitude update". Invariably it'd update the packages out of order, libc would get screwed up, and I'd have to reinstall the whole server.

What distribution are you using? I've never had this happen, though for important servers I tend to use Debian stable. I would be shocked if it happened on stable.

Re: Google Apps stops accepting free sign-ups

#416

Post by darkhorn »

jtbarrett wrote: post #87

I have a free Google Apps account mostly so that I can have a custom domain for my small (free) App Engine site: https://developers.google.com/appengine/docs/domain It's sad that now attaching a custom domain will cost a lot more than the domain itself.

How you create an account using app engine. I cannot see anything in the Administration Panel.

Re: Google Apps stops accepting free sign-ups

#418

Post by benaiah »

davidcollantes wrote: post #349
benaiah wrote: post #277

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IMAP is not, but the superior Exchange ActiveSync protocol is, through m.outlook.com - despite the name, it's just Exchange, so it works anywhere. See http://help.outlook.com/en-gb/140/bb896613.aspx for more details.

"Superior", ha!

Erm, yes, it is superior, as it has all the capability of IMAP and more. See this: http://blogs.technet.com/b/exchange/archive/2007/07/10/34033....

Re: Google Apps stops accepting free sign-ups

#419

Post by admiralpumpkin »

I just did a little research to see what alternatives are out there for custom domain emails. I haven't used these Namecheap for email, though I have used them for domain hosting after the SOPA debacle.

Namecheap offers custom domain email hosting for $2.99/user/year. 3GB storage. Supports IMAP. 50MB attachment limit. No ads. No clue on the web interface quality, nor spam-filtering quality, but it's definitely a good price from a good company.

Re: Google Apps stops accepting free sign-ups

#420

Post by admiralpumpkin »

In reading the comments generally I feel like there's two main groups being affected here: small businesses and small groups (families, geeks, whatever).

The first group—small businesses—can of course afford $50/user/year, even if they would rather not spend it.

The second group—enthusiasts—even if they could afford it, likely cannot justify $50/user/year. I personally have a custom email hosted by Google for a small group of my friends, and I know that there is NO WAY any of us would pay $50 each per year. The price would need to be an order of magnitude lower for us to consider it. (Yes, I know that for the moment we're grandfathered in.)

Seems like there should be a way for Google to distinguish between the two groups based on services needed and then price two tiers accordingly. For example, offer a Small Group Plan at $5/user/year with a limit of 10 users & no phone support; and another Small Business Plan that offers up to 50 users, limited phone support & whatever else help small businesses for a higher price.

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