4 ms·

No way to join accounts, again. I can not understand why this kind of basic functionality is missing. EDIT: Just to clarify, I mean there is now way to connect

No way to join accounts, again. I can not understand why this kind of basic functionality is missing. EDIT: Just to clarify, I mean there is now way to connect a Google Apps account to another Google account so that they can share certain services. I sort of understand why they think they don't need it for email, but having two separate G+ account is completely superfluous, thanks to the Circles system.

thurn 15y ago
It's not like you can join two Facebook accounts you made with different emails either. That alone makes it clear that this is isn't "basic functionality".
- psychotik 15y ago
  Creating two Facebook accounts is an anomaly, not the norm. To use a personal G account & Google Apps, you MUST create two different accounts. Your example here comparing this to Facebook isn't valid, IMO.
- ceejayoz 15y ago
  You can create a Facebook account with two e-mails attached to it, though.
- rogerbraun 15y ago
  I don't think that this is the same. I can not think of a reason why one should have two Facebook accounts, except for maintaining two complete separate sets of relations, for example for anonymity. But having several Google accounts can happen much easier, for a variety of reasons. For example, I have used a GMail address for since my teen years. Turns out I don't actually like the format stupidnickname@gmail.com anymore and would rather have something like myname@mydomain.com, but I'd still like to keep the GMail interface. Google Apps is wonderful for this, so I made an account there. But I can not just ignore my old account, as I still get email sent to the address (I forward it) and I used the Google Talk functionality for my Jabber needs. Also, I bought my first Android apps with my old account, so they are linked to it. That means that I have to use my old account as the first one on any Android device, or I can't download my apps again. What I would wish for is this: Have services that can be linked to any identifier/email, and shared between any number of them, so I could, for example, have two sets of email (one private, one business), but just one of GTalk, G+, Feedburner and Analytics. I know that implementing this on top of the current system might be hard. I still think that this is the kind of functionality one can expect from a company like Google, and I would gladly pay for it.
- snprbob86 15y ago
  You used to be able to. There was an explicit account merge feature back when they unified college networks into a larger master network.
mithaler 15y ago
Wait, what do you mean? Right now I have two Gmail tabs open at the same time, one personal, one work. I'm using the multiple accounts feature: https://accounts.google.com/b/0/MultipleSessions https://accounts.google.com/b/0/MultipleSessions You need to keep the accounts separate because enterprise apps have different privacy issues; your employer in enterprise settings is specifically given the ability to see all of your data. Would you really want them seeing your personal account the same way?
- rogerbraun 15y ago
  A very good point. I also use the same method as you do, but you probably know how flaky this can be sometimes, too (At least if you use all this: Gmail, G+, Analytics, Google Music). You are right that there are cases where you would absolutely would want to have completely separate accounts. That's why I would like to have this as an option: Linking two "services" from different users, or attaching two users/emails to the same service. As it is right now, Google+ for Apps is mostly useless for anyone who already has a G+ account. And I don't think that Google really wants to release mostly useless products.
  - bad_user 15y ago
    I've been holding off from joining Google+ precisely because I didn't want to revert to my GMail account. This was the sane approach to take and especially people in the HN community really can't say they haven't seen this coming.
- eitally 15y ago
  But Plus is a consumer service (just like Picasa, Youtube, and everything else outside of the core suite) and even though it can theoretically be covered under an enterprise agreement, there is no audit or control capability for domain administrators on the consumer services. This is a deal-breaker for most enterprises, as is the current requirement of public profiles.
  - mattmanser 15y ago
nickknw 15y ago
From the article: For those of you who’ve already started using Google+ with a personal Google Account and would prefer to use your Google Apps account, we’re building a migration tool to help you move over. With this tool, you won’t have to rebuild your circles, and people who’ve already added you to their circles will automatically be connected to your new profile. We expect this migration option to be ready in a few weeks, so if you’d like, you can go ahead and get started with your Apps account today and merge your connections once the tool is available.

thurn 15y ago

It's not like you can join two Facebook accounts you made with different emails either. That alone makes it clear that this is isn't "basic functionality".

psychotik 15y ago
Creating two Facebook accounts is an anomaly, not the norm. To use a personal G account & Google Apps, you MUST create two different accounts. Your example here comparing this to Facebook isn't valid, IMO.
ceejayoz 15y ago
You can create a Facebook account with two e-mails attached to it, though.
rogerbraun 15y ago
I don't think that this is the same. I can not think of a reason why one should have two Facebook accounts, except for maintaining two complete separate sets of relations, for example for anonymity. But having several Google accounts can happen much easier, for a variety of reasons. For example, I have used a GMail address for since my teen years. Turns out I don't actually like the format stupidnickname@gmail.com anymore and would rather have something like myname@mydomain.com, but I'd still like to keep the GMail interface. Google Apps is wonderful for this, so I made an account there. But I can not just ignore my old account, as I still get email sent to the address (I forward it) and I used the Google Talk functionality for my Jabber needs. Also, I bought my first Android apps with my old account, so they are linked to it. That means that I have to use my old account as the first one on any Android device, or I can't download my apps again. What I would wish for is this: Have services that can be linked to any identifier/email, and shared between any number of them, so I could, for example, have two sets of email (one private, one business), but just one of GTalk, G+, Feedburner and Analytics. I know that implementing this on top of the current system might be hard. I still think that this is the kind of functionality one can expect from a company like Google, and I would gladly pay for it.
snprbob86 15y ago
You used to be able to. There was an explicit account merge feature back when they unified college networks into a larger master network.

mithaler 15y ago

Wait, what do you mean? Right now I have two Gmail tabs open at the same time, one personal, one work. I'm using the multiple accounts feature: https://accounts.google.com/b/0/MultipleSessions https://accounts.google.com/b/0/MultipleSessions You need to keep the accounts separate because enterprise apps have different privacy issues; your employer in enterprise settings is specifically given the ability to see all of your data. Would you really want them seeing your personal account the same way?

rogerbraun 15y ago
A very good point. I also use the same method as you do, but you probably know how flaky this can be sometimes, too (At least if you use all this: Gmail, G+, Analytics, Google Music). You are right that there are cases where you would absolutely would want to have completely separate accounts. That's why I would like to have this as an option: Linking two "services" from different users, or attaching two users/emails to the same service. As it is right now, Google+ for Apps is mostly useless for anyone who already has a G+ account. And I don't think that Google really wants to release mostly useless products.
- bad_user 15y ago
  I've been holding off from joining Google+ precisely because I didn't want to revert to my GMail account. This was the sane approach to take and especially people in the HN community really can't say they haven't seen this coming.
eitally 15y ago
But Plus is a consumer service (just like Picasa, Youtube, and everything else outside of the core suite) and even though it can theoretically be covered under an enterprise agreement, there is no audit or control capability for domain administrators on the consumer services. This is a deal-breaker for most enterprises, as is the current requirement of public profiles.
- mattmanser 15y ago

nickknw 15y ago

From the article: For those of you who’ve already started using Google+ with a personal Google Account and would prefer to use your Google Apps account, we’re building a migration tool to help you move over. With this tool, you won’t have to rebuild your circles, and people who’ve already added you to their circles will automatically be connected to your new profile. We expect this migration option to be ready in a few weeks, so if you’d like, you can go ahead and get started with your Apps account today and merge your connections once the tool is available.