7 ms·

Not sure how to feel about this. The core feature of the free Google Apps was that you could use GMail with your own domain without having to run a dedicated ma

Not sure how to feel about this. The core feature of the free Google Apps was that you could use GMail with your own domain without having to run a dedicated mail server yourself.

pyre 14y ago
Maybe this will drive alternatives that are cheaper than $50 per user per year.
- ericleeclark 14y ago
  Any cheaper than $50 per user per year and you're in the free range. Just to keep this in perspective, $50 a year is a pretty good value when you think about what you're getting in Google Apps.
justincormack 14y ago
And? You want this to be free? It clearly costs money.
- burke 14y ago
  How so? It's essentially the same service as gmail, only with a different domain. The incremental cost to them is zero, and they make the same revenue as they do from a gmail user.
  - ams6110 14y ago
    Google's cost != Value to You.
    - burke 14y ago
      I was responding specifically to the 'It clearly costs money' statement. It definitely costs them $0 more than gmail.
      - cglace 14y ago
        Opportunity cost.
  - justincormack 14y ago
    A gmail user advertises gmail every time they send a mail. Your own domain does not. Its a mass market product. Having your own domain is not.
- nuclear_eclipse 14y ago
  I see ads on my free google apps account...
  - pyre 14y ago
    Expect them to start including "Upgrade now to a paid Google Apps account!" ;-)
  - deleted 14y ago
    [deleted]
    - nuclear_eclipse 14y ago
      I don't even see ads when reading email for my basic gmail account on my phone, so IME there's zero difference between the two except that one is tightly integrated with my domain name and the other has a terribly ugly username @gmail.com ...
    - thpoul 14y ago
      Wait for it...
natrius 14y ago
Plenty of services will let you forward your mail to a normal GMail account. Without an SMTP server, your GMail account will still be visible to your recipients, but it's not so bad.
- indiecore 14y ago
  Yes I'm sure people will appreciate getting email back from <stupid_username_because_they_were_all_taken_234234>@gmail.com
  - natrius 14y ago
    You can send as any email address you have access to. Some email clients show the GMail address as well when the email is sent through GMail's SMTP servers. It's suboptimal, but there are plenty of SMTP services you could use if you want to get around that.
    - jlmendezbonini 14y ago
      You can also configure it so that Gmail uses the other email address SMTP servers. However, I'm not quite sure whether they still include the originating Gmail address in the email headers.
      - natrius 14y ago
        If it uses the other addresses's SMTP server, it displays like a normal email would.
    - digikata 14y ago
      I setup my email that way years ago and abandoned it. At that time, it caused a lot of my outgoing emails to get flagged as spam because of the mismatch of various mail headers between the Gmail domains with the various to/from/reply-to domains. Don't know if it would trip fewer spam filters now.
  - toomuchtodo 14y ago
pippy 14y ago
This could be a good thing. If you approach your manager wanting to switch from dedicated to cloud email service, and you tell him it's for free, he's going to be suspicious. If there's a cost involved - no matter how small - it gives the product a degree liability for support.
- bruceboughton 14y ago
  You could always pay for Google Apps if you wanted to, as I suspect most >5 person business do.
modeless 14y ago
You can still use GMail with any domain: http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=21289&from=21288&rd=1 http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answe... This method is actually far more convenient than setting up Google Apps. You can both send and receive mail at the other domain, and you get a unified inbox (which Google Apps never provided).
- agwa 14y ago
  No, that method requires that the other domain have its own mail server to accept and store the mail until gmail comes and fetches it with POP. Who will host that other server? Google Apps for domains lets you point your domain's MX record directly at Google, and Google accepts the mail for you.
  - modeless 14y ago
    The important part of Google Apps is the GMail interface, not the SMTP service. SMTP hosting is easy to come by; most hosting services include it with their web hosting packages.
- antihero 14y ago
  Yet this doesn't appear to be any sort of mail-hosting thing, so you'd still have to sort out mail with an entirely different provider to receive e-mails on your domain. This is pretty awful.
  - modeless 14y ago
    You're going to need a hosting provider to host your website anyway; mail service is probably included. How is that awful?
    - pbreit 14y ago
      Wrong, wrong and wrong.
    - bschlinker 14y ago

Not sure how to feel about this. The core feature of the free Google Apps was that you could use GMail with your own domain without having to run a dedicated mail server yourself.

pyre 14y ago

Maybe this will drive alternatives that are cheaper than $50 per user per year.

ericleeclark 14y ago
Any cheaper than $50 per user per year and you're in the free range. Just to keep this in perspective, $50 a year is a pretty good value when you think about what you're getting in Google Apps.

justincormack 14y ago

And? You want this to be free? It clearly costs money.

burke 14y ago
How so? It's essentially the same service as gmail, only with a different domain. The incremental cost to them is zero, and they make the same revenue as they do from a gmail user.
- ams6110 14y ago
  Google's cost != Value to You.
  - burke 14y ago
    I was responding specifically to the 'It clearly costs money' statement. It definitely costs them $0 more than gmail.
    - cglace 14y ago
      Opportunity cost.
- justincormack 14y ago
  A gmail user advertises gmail every time they send a mail. Your own domain does not. Its a mass market product. Having your own domain is not.
nuclear_eclipse 14y ago
I see ads on my free google apps account...
- pyre 14y ago
  Expect them to start including "Upgrade now to a paid Google Apps account!" ;-)
- deleted 14y ago
  [deleted]
  - nuclear_eclipse 14y ago
    I don't even see ads when reading email for my basic gmail account on my phone, so IME there's zero difference between the two except that one is tightly integrated with my domain name and the other has a terribly ugly username @gmail.com ...
  - thpoul 14y ago
    Wait for it...

natrius 14y ago

Plenty of services will let you forward your mail to a normal GMail account. Without an SMTP server, your GMail account will still be visible to your recipients, but it's not so bad.

indiecore 14y ago
Yes I'm sure people will appreciate getting email back from <stupid_username_because_they_were_all_taken_234234>@gmail.com
- natrius 14y ago
  You can send as any email address you have access to. Some email clients show the GMail address as well when the email is sent through GMail's SMTP servers. It's suboptimal, but there are plenty of SMTP services you could use if you want to get around that.
  - jlmendezbonini 14y ago
    You can also configure it so that Gmail uses the other email address SMTP servers. However, I'm not quite sure whether they still include the originating Gmail address in the email headers.
    - natrius 14y ago
      If it uses the other addresses's SMTP server, it displays like a normal email would.
  - digikata 14y ago
    I setup my email that way years ago and abandoned it. At that time, it caused a lot of my outgoing emails to get flagged as spam because of the mismatch of various mail headers between the Gmail domains with the various to/from/reply-to domains. Don't know if it would trip fewer spam filters now.
- toomuchtodo 14y ago

pippy 14y ago

This could be a good thing. If you approach your manager wanting to switch from dedicated to cloud email service, and you tell him it's for free, he's going to be suspicious. If there's a cost involved - no matter how small - it gives the product a degree liability for support.

bruceboughton 14y ago
You could always pay for Google Apps if you wanted to, as I suspect most >5 person business do.

modeless 14y ago

You can still use GMail with any domain: http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=21289&from=21288&rd=1 http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answe... This method is actually far more convenient than setting up Google Apps. You can both send and receive mail at the other domain, and you get a unified inbox (which Google Apps never provided).

agwa 14y ago
No, that method requires that the other domain have its own mail server to accept and store the mail until gmail comes and fetches it with POP. Who will host that other server? Google Apps for domains lets you point your domain's MX record directly at Google, and Google accepts the mail for you.
- modeless 14y ago
  The important part of Google Apps is the GMail interface, not the SMTP service. SMTP hosting is easy to come by; most hosting services include it with their web hosting packages.
antihero 14y ago
Yet this doesn't appear to be any sort of mail-hosting thing, so you'd still have to sort out mail with an entirely different provider to receive e-mails on your domain. This is pretty awful.
- modeless 14y ago
  You're going to need a hosting provider to host your website anyway; mail service is probably included. How is that awful?
  - pbreit 14y ago
    Wrong, wrong and wrong.
  - bschlinker 14y ago