[colug-432] the demise of Googoo "Apps for Domains"

[Rick Troth]

This may be old news to some (and others might not care).  Google has
dispensed with their free offering of what is now called "Apps for
Business".  It happened circa January of this year.  The only plan
available is one of several pay-for plans.

Frankly, I think their price is quite reasonable for small biz: $5/user
for GMail, calendar, IM, contacts, and a highly interactive document
sharing service.  Many biz, large and small, pay more for less.  But I
whine because I am not a small biz.  I'm a hobbyist with a home domain. 
So the "no charge for up to 10 users" would seem to fit ... hobbyists
could go gratis while actual small biz (likely to have more than 10
users) would pay actual dollars (and get actual attention when they have
actual problems).

What happened is that my son got a domain a few weeks ago.  We set up
DNS and web, enrolled in "Apps for Business" (not finding the explicitly
free "Apps for Domains"), then pointed MX at Googoo.  Worked.  The
mailbox is the biggest thing he got out of that.  Their spam filtering
and web interface are fabulous.  But now we find it suspended.

So ... mostly just to let the rest of you know.

If you're already "in" then you may be grandfathered.  This note comes
to you by way of the previously instantiated "Apps for Domains" for
casita.net, which Skippy turned me onto a couple years ago.  So far, my
services from Google have not been suspended.

I would gladly pay real dollars for these kinds of things.  But what is
a low price for actual business is a high price for home use.  It seems
we have lost some nice middle ground.

-- R; <><