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12-07-2012, 12:40 PM
Google Apps, ** Longer Free For Small Organizations
Google Apps (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Apps) started back in 2006 as an experimental feature that allowed you to create Gmail accounts for custom domains. Google added support for other services like Calendar and Google Talk, created a special version for educational institutions, then it launched a "Premier Edition" for enterprises, which included support and a service level agreement for 99.9% Gmail availability. As Google constantly added features to Google Apps and the numbers of paid customers grew to more than 5 million businesses (http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2012/07/new-future-hitting-refresh-on-business.html), the free version became more limited, the number of users dropping from 100 to 50 and then to 10.
**w Google an**unced that the free version of Google Apps is ** longer available (http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2012/12/changes-to-google-apps-for-businesses.html) for new users. Existing users are **t affected by this change and Google Apps for Education continues to be available. Google's explanation for dropping the free Google Apps for small organizations is rather vague: "Businesses quickly outgrow the basic version and want things like 24/7 customer support and larger inboxes. Similarly, consumers often have to wait to get new features while we make them business-ready."
Well, **t everyone needed customer support, SLAs, migration tools or other business features and Google Apps was a simple way to create email addresses for your domain and use Gmail to manage them. Why pay $50/user/year for features you don't need (http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/pricing.html)?
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yEibl0Ebjeg/UMGnBkKU7BI/AAAAAAABG78/0dVOyWLHuZo/s640/free-google-apps.png
It's obvious that Google wants to focus on paid customers and the free Google Apps was just a**ther thing to support. **w that Google Apps has more than 5 million business customers, Google ** longer needs the free Google Apps to attract new users. The free Google Apps was just a burden that made things more complicated.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hjbzH7TcRaw/UMGwjjjDpHI/AAAAAAABG9I/IS2jJG9SNjk/s640/google-apps-home-2012.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18157064-6608459087792460349?l=googlesystem.blogspot.com
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/GoogleOperatingSystem?i=gieisOZMH9U:lasECE9rYD4:4c Ex4HpKnUU (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/GoogleOperatingSystem?a=gieisOZMH9U:lasECE9rYD4:4c Ex4HpKnUU) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/GoogleOperatingSystem?d=yIl2AUoC8zA (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/GoogleOperatingSystem?a=gieisOZMH9U:lasECE9rYD4:yI l2AUoC8zA) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/GoogleOperatingSystem?d=qj6IDK7rITs (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/GoogleOperatingSystem?a=gieisOZMH9U:lasECE9rYD4:qj 6IDK7rITs)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoogleOperatingSystem/~4/gieisOZMH9U
Google Apps (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Google_Apps) started back in 2006 as an experimental feature that allowed you to create Gmail accounts for custom domains. Google added support for other services like Calendar and Google Talk, created a special version for educational institutions, then it launched a "Premier Edition" for enterprises, which included support and a service level agreement for 99.9% Gmail availability. As Google constantly added features to Google Apps and the numbers of paid customers grew to more than 5 million businesses (http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2012/07/new-future-hitting-refresh-on-business.html), the free version became more limited, the number of users dropping from 100 to 50 and then to 10.
**w Google an**unced that the free version of Google Apps is ** longer available (http://googleenterprise.blogspot.com/2012/12/changes-to-google-apps-for-businesses.html) for new users. Existing users are **t affected by this change and Google Apps for Education continues to be available. Google's explanation for dropping the free Google Apps for small organizations is rather vague: "Businesses quickly outgrow the basic version and want things like 24/7 customer support and larger inboxes. Similarly, consumers often have to wait to get new features while we make them business-ready."
Well, **t everyone needed customer support, SLAs, migration tools or other business features and Google Apps was a simple way to create email addresses for your domain and use Gmail to manage them. Why pay $50/user/year for features you don't need (http://www.google.com/enterprise/apps/business/pricing.html)?
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-yEibl0Ebjeg/UMGnBkKU7BI/AAAAAAABG78/0dVOyWLHuZo/s640/free-google-apps.png
It's obvious that Google wants to focus on paid customers and the free Google Apps was just a**ther thing to support. **w that Google Apps has more than 5 million business customers, Google ** longer needs the free Google Apps to attract new users. The free Google Apps was just a burden that made things more complicated.
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hjbzH7TcRaw/UMGwjjjDpHI/AAAAAAABG9I/IS2jJG9SNjk/s640/google-apps-home-2012.jpg
https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/18157064-6608459087792460349?l=googlesystem.blogspot.com
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/GoogleOperatingSystem?i=gieisOZMH9U:lasECE9rYD4:4c Ex4HpKnUU (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/GoogleOperatingSystem?a=gieisOZMH9U:lasECE9rYD4:4c Ex4HpKnUU) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/GoogleOperatingSystem?d=yIl2AUoC8zA (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/GoogleOperatingSystem?a=gieisOZMH9U:lasECE9rYD4:yI l2AUoC8zA) http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/GoogleOperatingSystem?d=qj6IDK7rITs (http://feeds.feedburner.com/~ff/GoogleOperatingSystem?a=gieisOZMH9U:lasECE9rYD4:qj 6IDK7rITs)
http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/GoogleOperatingSystem/~4/gieisOZMH9U