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I have absolutely no idea what this announcement is actually announcing. It takes seven paragraphs to actually get there, and then announces something that I'm

I have absolutely no idea what this announcement is actually announcing. It takes seven paragraphs to actually get there, and then announces something that I'm 99% sure was already available. My wife doesn't have a work Google Workspace account, but she can still use docs etc. What's actually changed?

nodesocket 5y ago
I also don’t get it. I am a single user with Google G Suite (I guess called workspace) and pay $6 a month. What does this announcement mean?
- starkd 5y ago
  I was recently looking at it, but the only thing I can see it gets me is the ability to add a custom domain name to my emails.
  - nodesocket 5y ago
    I already have a custom domain, that's why I pay the $6 a month for G Suite (previously).
- rishav_sharan 5y ago
  I may be completely wrong here but I think some of the stuff that you are paying for will now be moved to a free tier called Workspaces Individual.
hairofadog 5y ago
I've got you covered. I watched the video, and here's what you can now do with Google Workspace: * Be notified when packages are coming via "e mail" * Send your own "e mail" to other people * Organize events by date in a "calendar" * Write an episode of Stranger Things in a "document", or if you don't happen to own the Stranger Things franchise, write about your viewing experience * Write down a list of band names * Sum the number of times a given child poops in a day in a "spreadsheet" * Take part in a "meet", which is a sort of phone call but with video I hope that clears it up.
- starkd 5y ago
  All for $72/year. I'm pretty sure I could already do all those things.
- AnonHP 5y ago
  And chat. You forgot “chat”! I’m still puzzled at what’s new and what’s different from what people with (free and paid) Google accounts have.
- salex89 5y ago
  Revolutionary.
  - Florin_Andrei 5y ago
    The old Google (of Larry and Sergey) is gone.
    - hiptobecubic 5y ago
      It was gone before they left. They used to poke fun at it. In many ways, the market has matured enough that Old Google isn't viable. Shareholders care about P&L and Google's one major innovation, "ads that work," is industry standard now. Old Google worked because ads made so much money that it drowned out everything else and gave people a lot of freedom to do crazy things. Wall Street wants the numbers.
- NotSammyHagar 5y ago
  What about 'encryption'? It apparently part of it, but the examples were using a plugin written by a third party.
- growt 5y ago
  Great, now I have to watch it to see if you're joking about the baby pooping part.
  - zyemuzu 5y ago
cptskippy 5y ago
I think Workspace is Google's attempt at a Teams/Slack/Wave product. I have to use Teams at work and can't fucking stand opening Word/Excel docs in Teams. That interface forces you to focus on one thing at a time and provides no easy way to navigate between work streams while maintaining state. Why would I want that? Basically, Workspaces is failing so they're trying to open it to a wider audience in the hopes that it won't fail. It'll probably be abandoned by October and shutdown in a year or two.
- jfrunyon 5y ago
  It is by no means failing; at least from what I see, their adoption is higher than it's ever been. They are making a lot of pointless changes while ignoring all the real problems they have, though. Like the fact that group Chats are still unusable for organizations with... you know... users.
  - bogwog 5y ago
    The real question isn't is it failing?, it's does any employee at Google still happen to give a shit about it? Because if the answer is no, it's going to the graveyard no matter how many users it has. (https://killedbygoogle.com/ https://killedbygoogle.com/)
    - deelowe 5y ago
      It’s all that’s used at Google. The office suite isn’t going anywhere.
      - anoncake 5y ago
        What does Google use for internal chat?
        romwell 5y ago
        Hangouts/Chat. Which means, practically, that everything is done through internal mail lists, because chat is not usable. Pre-covid, that also strongly incentivized everyone to actually work on campus.
josefx 5y ago
She can now pay for it? The fun part is the claim that Google Workspace was designed around security and privacy, followed by a screenshot of Gmail, which until 2017 actively scanned mails for ad personalization. I can't wait for McDonalds to announce that it was founded on the principle of a healthy vegan diet.
- skybrian 5y ago
  I don’t think Gmail advertisers could track you unless you actually clicked on an ad? By today’s standards that’s actually pretty good.
  - xwolfi 5y ago
    But is google an advertiser too at this point ?
    - sellyme 5y ago
      They absolutely are, but "if you use Gmail then Google has access to all your emails" is not exactly a shocking security violation.
- xxpor 5y ago
  Gmail doesn't scan emails any more?
  - ruined 5y ago
    Gmail certainly does scan and process language in email, because they generate reply suggestions, and who knows what else behind the scenes.
  - Laremere 5y ago
    They no longer do any ad personalization based on the contents of your email, and AFAIK, they never did for paying customers. Obviously, other systems process the contents of your email, eg spam filter, the frontend displaying the email to you, and I assume the government can get access through legal warrants (the ethics of the secrecy of such actions is a different debate - Google is required to follow the law).
deleted 5y ago
[deleted]
x0x0 5y ago
Apparently, an utterly incoherent announcement of: 1. a switchover to Chat (apparently some hybrid slack/discord/I can't figure out) 2. serious plans to compete with microsoft office via more enterprise capabilities 3. availability of (previously) paid gsuite-only features to individuals for $10/mo all bundled together in a mash
jollybean 5y ago
This is a huge point. Google is funny in how inconsistent their messaging is. I feel that they have neat product ideas, but organizationally maybe the are oriented around engineering lines, so product might lack focus, and product marketing is an afterthought. Remember Google+ ? Nobody knew what it was. Remember Wave? Nobody really knew what it did. How does the biggest company on earth fail to understand how to communicate basic things? This product page has way too much text, and not nearly enough 'what it is' 'what it can do' and especially 'why'. As such, it's hard to get the word out organically. Information spreads like a virus, you want a high R0 which comes with clarity, consistency and authenticity.
- tdeck 5y ago
  Everyone knew what Google+ was. It was Google's attempt at cloning Facebook. In contrast to Wave, I don't recall any confusion on that point at or after launch.
  - jollybean 5y ago
    Nobody knew what Google+ was. 'Company A strategy vs. Company B' is not something 'people' think or know about. That's something for people in the industry to think about. Ask your mother or father who work in Real Estate and Healthcare what 'Google+' is (back in the day) and they wouldn't really know. And nobody knew what Wave was. I used it and couldn't understand it, other than it was a means to communicate with other people. Colossal product marketing, usability and communications failure.
    - tdeck 5y ago
      I completely agree about wave (that's what I meant by "in contrast to Wave") and remember it being confusing. I disagree completely about Google+. It was marketed as a social network, which was a well-known concept at the time. Perhaps it's my own bubble but what I recall is people wondering if anyone else would be using it, not wondering what it was.
      - 5y ago
pkulak 5y ago
Save time and just read the deprecation announcement in 6 months.
swsieber 5y ago
I think the original google workspace launch announcement was better: https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/workspace/introducing-google-workspace https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/workspace/introducing... Not a lot better, but still better. There's a gif of basically integrated workflow between email, chat and document editing... I think.

nodesocket 5y ago

I also don’t get it. I am a single user with Google G Suite (I guess called workspace) and pay $6 a month. What does this announcement mean?

starkd 5y ago
I was recently looking at it, but the only thing I can see it gets me is the ability to add a custom domain name to my emails.
- nodesocket 5y ago
  I already have a custom domain, that's why I pay the $6 a month for G Suite (previously).
rishav_sharan 5y ago
I may be completely wrong here but I think some of the stuff that you are paying for will now be moved to a free tier called Workspaces Individual.

hairofadog 5y ago

I've got you covered. I watched the video, and here's what you can now do with Google Workspace: * Be notified when packages are coming via "e mail" * Send your own "e mail" to other people * Organize events by date in a "calendar" * Write an episode of Stranger Things in a "document", or if you don't happen to own the Stranger Things franchise, write about your viewing experience * Write down a list of band names * Sum the number of times a given child poops in a day in a "spreadsheet" * Take part in a "meet", which is a sort of phone call but with video I hope that clears it up.

starkd 5y ago
All for $72/year. I'm pretty sure I could already do all those things.
AnonHP 5y ago
And chat. You forgot “chat”! I’m still puzzled at what’s new and what’s different from what people with (free and paid) Google accounts have.
salex89 5y ago
Revolutionary.
- Florin_Andrei 5y ago
  The old Google (of Larry and Sergey) is gone.
  - hiptobecubic 5y ago
    It was gone before they left. They used to poke fun at it. In many ways, the market has matured enough that Old Google isn't viable. Shareholders care about P&L and Google's one major innovation, "ads that work," is industry standard now. Old Google worked because ads made so much money that it drowned out everything else and gave people a lot of freedom to do crazy things. Wall Street wants the numbers.
NotSammyHagar 5y ago
What about 'encryption'? It apparently part of it, but the examples were using a plugin written by a third party.
growt 5y ago
Great, now I have to watch it to see if you're joking about the baby pooping part.
- zyemuzu 5y ago

cptskippy 5y ago

I think Workspace is Google's attempt at a Teams/Slack/Wave product. I have to use Teams at work and can't fucking stand opening Word/Excel docs in Teams. That interface forces you to focus on one thing at a time and provides no easy way to navigate between work streams while maintaining state. Why would I want that? Basically, Workspaces is failing so they're trying to open it to a wider audience in the hopes that it won't fail. It'll probably be abandoned by October and shutdown in a year or two.

jfrunyon 5y ago
It is by no means failing; at least from what I see, their adoption is higher than it's ever been. They are making a lot of pointless changes while ignoring all the real problems they have, though. Like the fact that group Chats are still unusable for organizations with... you know... users.
- bogwog 5y ago
  The real question isn't is it failing?, it's does any employee at Google still happen to give a shit about it? Because if the answer is no, it's going to the graveyard no matter how many users it has. (https://killedbygoogle.com/ https://killedbygoogle.com/)
  - deelowe 5y ago
    It’s all that’s used at Google. The office suite isn’t going anywhere.
    - anoncake 5y ago
      What does Google use for internal chat?
      - romwell 5y ago
        Hangouts/Chat. Which means, practically, that everything is done through internal mail lists, because chat is not usable. Pre-covid, that also strongly incentivized everyone to actually work on campus.

josefx 5y ago

She can now pay for it? The fun part is the claim that Google Workspace was designed around security and privacy, followed by a screenshot of Gmail, which until 2017 actively scanned mails for ad personalization. I can't wait for McDonalds to announce that it was founded on the principle of a healthy vegan diet.

skybrian 5y ago
I don’t think Gmail advertisers could track you unless you actually clicked on an ad? By today’s standards that’s actually pretty good.
- xwolfi 5y ago
  But is google an advertiser too at this point ?
  - sellyme 5y ago
    They absolutely are, but "if you use Gmail then Google has access to all your emails" is not exactly a shocking security violation.
xxpor 5y ago
Gmail doesn't scan emails any more?
- ruined 5y ago
  Gmail certainly does scan and process language in email, because they generate reply suggestions, and who knows what else behind the scenes.
- Laremere 5y ago
  They no longer do any ad personalization based on the contents of your email, and AFAIK, they never did for paying customers. Obviously, other systems process the contents of your email, eg spam filter, the frontend displaying the email to you, and I assume the government can get access through legal warrants (the ethics of the secrecy of such actions is a different debate - Google is required to follow the law).

deleted 5y ago

[deleted]

x0x0 5y ago

Apparently, an utterly incoherent announcement of: 1. a switchover to Chat (apparently some hybrid slack/discord/I can't figure out) 2. serious plans to compete with microsoft office via more enterprise capabilities 3. availability of (previously) paid gsuite-only features to individuals for $10/mo all bundled together in a mash

jollybean 5y ago

This is a huge point. Google is funny in how inconsistent their messaging is. I feel that they have neat product ideas, but organizationally maybe the are oriented around engineering lines, so product might lack focus, and product marketing is an afterthought. Remember Google+ ? Nobody knew what it was. Remember Wave? Nobody really knew what it did. How does the biggest company on earth fail to understand how to communicate basic things? This product page has way too much text, and not nearly enough 'what it is' 'what it can do' and especially 'why'. As such, it's hard to get the word out organically. Information spreads like a virus, you want a high R0 which comes with clarity, consistency and authenticity.

tdeck 5y ago
Everyone knew what Google+ was. It was Google's attempt at cloning Facebook. In contrast to Wave, I don't recall any confusion on that point at or after launch.
- jollybean 5y ago
  Nobody knew what Google+ was. 'Company A strategy vs. Company B' is not something 'people' think or know about. That's something for people in the industry to think about. Ask your mother or father who work in Real Estate and Healthcare what 'Google+' is (back in the day) and they wouldn't really know. And nobody knew what Wave was. I used it and couldn't understand it, other than it was a means to communicate with other people. Colossal product marketing, usability and communications failure.
  - tdeck 5y ago
    I completely agree about wave (that's what I meant by "in contrast to Wave") and remember it being confusing. I disagree completely about Google+. It was marketed as a social network, which was a well-known concept at the time. Perhaps it's my own bubble but what I recall is people wondering if anyone else would be using it, not wondering what it was.
    - 5y ago

pkulak 5y ago

Save time and just read the deprecation announcement in 6 months.

swsieber 5y ago

I think the original google workspace launch announcement was better: https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/workspace/introducing-google-workspace https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/workspace/introducing... Not a lot better, but still better. There's a gif of basically integrated workflow between email, chat and document editing... I think.