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I had moved several student org's at my university to private Google Groups because of the pages and files feature. Now that this is feature is being killed the

by timtadh 16y ago

I had moved several student org's at my university to private Google Groups because of the pages and files feature. Now that this is feature is being killed they will be screwed since they were using it as the repository for their meeting minutes and other important documents.

chc 16y ago
They can just download the data and stick it somewhere else. It's inconvenient, but nobody is "screwed."
- alec 16y ago
  The author of the article was disappointed that the service was being discontinued, but his main reason for writing seemed to be calling attention to how quietly Google announced that it was destroying data. People won't download the data if they don't know it's going away.
  - chc 16y ago
    That is clearly not the case for the commenter whom I was addressing. He knows, so if the files he is worried about are deleted, it's due to his inaction. I don't want to see anyone just throw up their hands and accept victim status when there's a better option. As for other people, I thought Google added a notice to the Groups files page along the lines of "Hey, dude, you might want to download this stuff before it goes bye-bye". I don't use the service, but that's what I heard. Was I misinformed? EDIT: Yup, it's there. The notice, in bright red at the very top of the page, reads: "Google Groups will no longer be supporting the Pages and Files features. Starting January 13, you won't be able to upload new content, but you will still be able to view and download existing content. See this announcement for more information and other options for storing your content."
    - timtadh 16y ago
      I mean not so much my inaction as I am no longer running those groups :-p Actually what I was concerned about wasn't the disappearance of the data, but the disappearance of the feature. I chose groups because those features made it really easy to manage the entire group. I worked hard to set up a process around how the google groups worked. So the sense that the organization is "screwed" is that they will have to completely change the way the function internally and find a new centralized portal for managing there stuff. As far as the warning goes they gave plenty of warning. I am just disappointed the feature disappeared.
adambyrtek 16y ago
Google Docs and Sites are much better applications for managing this kind of content. Docs allows you to collaboratively edit documents in real-time with multiple participants and Sites can be a decent CMS or wiki. Just try both and you won't miss the old features that are being removed from Groups.
- sage 16y ago
  The problem is that the users of my Google group aren't necessarily tech savvy. Now they'll have to remember that files are at one url and messages are at another. I'm pretty sure I'll have to repeatedly remind them of this. Besides, who's to say Google won't pull the plug on those other services in a year? It seems unlikely, but I also thought it was unlikely they'd remove those features from Groups.
  - uxp 16y ago
    The description of the group could simply point them to those URLs. The link would nearly be in the same place as it is now, and many un-tech-savvy people wouldn't even notice anything changed. In fact, I'd bet many would think that the feature got "Upgraded"

by timtadh 16y ago

chc 16y ago

They can just download the data and stick it somewhere else. It's inconvenient, but nobody is "screwed."

alec 16y ago
The author of the article was disappointed that the service was being discontinued, but his main reason for writing seemed to be calling attention to how quietly Google announced that it was destroying data. People won't download the data if they don't know it's going away.
- chc 16y ago
  That is clearly not the case for the commenter whom I was addressing. He knows, so if the files he is worried about are deleted, it's due to his inaction. I don't want to see anyone just throw up their hands and accept victim status when there's a better option. As for other people, I thought Google added a notice to the Groups files page along the lines of "Hey, dude, you might want to download this stuff before it goes bye-bye". I don't use the service, but that's what I heard. Was I misinformed? EDIT: Yup, it's there. The notice, in bright red at the very top of the page, reads: "Google Groups will no longer be supporting the Pages and Files features. Starting January 13, you won't be able to upload new content, but you will still be able to view and download existing content. See this announcement for more information and other options for storing your content."
  - timtadh 16y ago
    I mean not so much my inaction as I am no longer running those groups :-p Actually what I was concerned about wasn't the disappearance of the data, but the disappearance of the feature. I chose groups because those features made it really easy to manage the entire group. I worked hard to set up a process around how the google groups worked. So the sense that the organization is "screwed" is that they will have to completely change the way the function internally and find a new centralized portal for managing there stuff. As far as the warning goes they gave plenty of warning. I am just disappointed the feature disappeared.

adambyrtek 16y ago

Google Docs and Sites are much better applications for managing this kind of content. Docs allows you to collaboratively edit documents in real-time with multiple participants and Sites can be a decent CMS or wiki. Just try both and you won't miss the old features that are being removed from Groups.

sage 16y ago
The problem is that the users of my Google group aren't necessarily tech savvy. Now they'll have to remember that files are at one url and messages are at another. I'm pretty sure I'll have to repeatedly remind them of this. Besides, who's to say Google won't pull the plug on those other services in a year? It seems unlikely, but I also thought it was unlikely they'd remove those features from Groups.
- uxp 16y ago
  The description of the group could simply point them to those URLs. The link would nearly be in the same place as it is now, and many un-tech-savvy people wouldn't even notice anything changed. In fact, I'd bet many would think that the feature got "Upgraded"