Gmail for your Domain

Rollo Tamasi

Has anybody here signed up to this beta ?

[SIZE=-1]This special beta test lets you give Gmail, Google's webmail service, to every user at your domain. Gmail for your domain is hosted by Google, so there's no hardware or software for you to install or maintain.[/SIZE]

It basically replaces openwebmail/squiremail/roundcube or whatever email application you're using with your hosting package and allows you to sign into gmail with your @website.com email address.

I signed up for it last week, got accepted for 25 free email accounts the day after, yesterday evening i updated my MX records with my hosting panel, but i'm still waiting on the records to update on googles side. Not complaining about that as i know it will probably take a full 24 hours.

So is anybody else considering playing with Googles lastest toy?

m_stan

Heard about this a while ago - our CEO is thinking of replacing our in-house exchange system with this.

I have not signed up and won't mainly because it will cost something when the beta is over and why go down that route if what I currently pay for with my hosting plan works just fine ? Besides, I can forward all my domain email to my gmail account if I really want to use gmail. I just can't reply from my domain using gmail.

Not sure what type of a site you run there, but I suspect you may have missed the intention of this service slightly. The whole idea behind this is so that companies with exchange/notes/other mail hardware and software systems internally can replace all that overhead with an external web-based service. It's call Software as a Service (SAAS) and it's the future of software delivery. This service is not intended for the likes you you and me - billy bob website funtime guy, just replacing Horde or SquirellMail. All you would be doing there is paying more money for a GUI update for your email. Hardly worth it.

aubhall

I have set up my gmail so I can send email to look as if it comes from my domain. Just add an account under settings and then when you go to compose a mail you get a drop down menu that you can use to pick which account you want to send mail from.

Rollo Tamasi

m_stan wrote:

Not sure what type of a site you run there, but I suspect you may have missed the intention of this service slightly. The whole idea behind this is so that companies with exchange/notes/other mail hardware and software systems internally can replace all that overhead with an external web-based service.

It's also pretty handy for setting up a clients email accounts. Chances are they're familiar with Gmail already.

m_stan

aubhall wrote:

I have set up my gmail so I can send email to look as if it comes from my domain. Just add an account under settings and then when you go to compose a mail you get a drop down menu that you can use to pick which account you want to send mail from.

nice tip !

Rollo Tamasi wrote:

It's also pretty handy for setting up a clients email accounts. Chances are they're familiar with Gmail already.

yeah but would a client bear the cost of this over and above their hosting account when it's out of beta just so they can use a familiar interface ? And then what will that cost be ? An unknown at the moment.

Like I said, this is designed primarily for replacing in-house mail systems.

DJB

It may be a nice feature for collaborating your team, e.g. email, chat and now calendar. I wouldn't mind signing up for it but I agree that it is probably for larger businesses with exchange server or the likes. Using a single POP3 on it wouldn't be beneficial I don't think but I may move my team to it and try out the calendar. Now, all they need to add is a project management tool!

Dave

Rollo Tamasi

I find it hard to beleive that Google will charge their beta users once this service goes on full release, it's not in their nature. They're a very rewarding company. I have nothing to loose by signing up for the beta anyway.

fintan

Surely the idea is to sell more ad space?

Move a company a to gmail and have the office workers sitting there all day looking at ads? or am i missing something?

m_stan

Rollo Tamasi wrote:

I find it hard to beleive that Google will charge their beta users once this service goes on full release, it's not in their nature. They're a very rewarding company. I have nothing to loose by signing up for the beta anyway.

Do you have direct experience of a paid google service being free for beta testers once it's gone out of beta ?

I'm currently on a beta test with Google and the beta itself isn't even free. Can't talk about it though

m_stan

fintan wrote:

Surely the idea is to sell more ad space?

Move a company a to gmail and have the office workers sitting there all day looking at ads? or am i missing something?

I would imagine that's a good benefit for Google but they are doing a big push into the Enterprise and I am assuming that this will be a paid for service that big companies will pay big money for. The advantages of paying a service provider for fully hosted email services on a subscription basis are very attractive over the capital cost of installing big hardware and software for internal mail systems, and that says nothing about ongoing maintenance and support. Google will not do that for just the increased adspace.

I could be wrong, but this is my take on this offering.

cgarvey

Errm why has no one raised the very legitimate concern of privacy? Google will have access to all your corporate email, including the mail you delete, for ever. Do they have a different privacy policy for this service, or something?

kjt

Good point Cg, I was just about to add that point about the privacy.
Especially with all the raised eyebrows over the current public gmail
privacy concerns and conspiracies with it.