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I got burned by the apps domain fiasco this year and it was the final nail in the coffin for me. I'm minimizing my reliance on Google now.

robbiep 5y ago
What was the apps domain fiasco? I have a .app domain. How worried should I be
- greycol 5y ago
  Not the .app domain but the google apps service(now called google workspace (I think... they change the name at the drop of a hat)). They basically removed a free tier that they explicitly guaranteed would be free "forever". Because of this people set up friends and family as users using the service. Google then told people no you have to pay ridiculous amounts per month for them to keep any apps they have already bought tied to your account and there's no way to seperate your account once it's tied in. They did this with a 2 month notice period. They have since walked back some of that due to backlash. They're now saying that you have a 6 month notice period (July 1st) and that at some inderterminate time before july 1st they'll let you transfer your account to a normal free google account. You will however lose your email address as part of the process.
  - robbiep 5y ago
    Ahh gotcha. Thanks
vincentmarle 5y ago
> apps domain fiasco What happened?
- davchana 5y ago
  Google Apps for Domains, basically GMail & other services for your own domain. It was free intially, in 2012 I believe they stopped the free version but grandfathered the existing free accounts. Now in 2022 Feb they announced that those free ones are going to cease to exist.
- chimprich 5y ago
  https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29996432 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29996432 A service that was supposedly free forever has been shut off with only a few months notice, an aggressive price structure, and no help to migrate data. Poorly communicated and badly executed - par for the course for Google these days.
larrymyers 5y ago
I believe this is in reference to the legacy Google Apps for your Domain being sunset and the free accounts being moved over to paid accounts on Google Workspaces. I did the same after having one of the free legacy accounts for about a decade. Migrated over to Fastmail and de-googled myself.
- q1w2 5y ago
  Why not something self-hosted?
  - larrymyers 5y ago
    Because it's easier to pay Fastmail $50/year for good, if not better service than Google. I also welcome real customer support.

robbiep 5y ago

What was the apps domain fiasco? I have a .app domain. How worried should I be

greycol 5y ago
Not the .app domain but the google apps service(now called google workspace (I think... they change the name at the drop of a hat)). They basically removed a free tier that they explicitly guaranteed would be free "forever". Because of this people set up friends and family as users using the service. Google then told people no you have to pay ridiculous amounts per month for them to keep any apps they have already bought tied to your account and there's no way to seperate your account once it's tied in. They did this with a 2 month notice period. They have since walked back some of that due to backlash. They're now saying that you have a 6 month notice period (July 1st) and that at some inderterminate time before july 1st they'll let you transfer your account to a normal free google account. You will however lose your email address as part of the process.
- robbiep 5y ago
  Ahh gotcha. Thanks

vincentmarle 5y ago

> apps domain fiasco What happened?

davchana 5y ago
Google Apps for Domains, basically GMail & other services for your own domain. It was free intially, in 2012 I believe they stopped the free version but grandfathered the existing free accounts. Now in 2022 Feb they announced that those free ones are going to cease to exist.
chimprich 5y ago
https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29996432 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=29996432 A service that was supposedly free forever has been shut off with only a few months notice, an aggressive price structure, and no help to migrate data. Poorly communicated and badly executed - par for the course for Google these days.

larrymyers 5y ago

I believe this is in reference to the legacy Google Apps for your Domain being sunset and the free accounts being moved over to paid accounts on Google Workspaces. I did the same after having one of the free legacy accounts for about a decade. Migrated over to Fastmail and de-googled myself.

q1w2 5y ago
Why not something self-hosted?
- larrymyers 5y ago
  Because it's easier to pay Fastmail $50/year for good, if not better service than Google. I also welcome real customer support.