Legacy (free) into Paid Workspace

[Rpiedade]

Hi,

I am a long time free Legacy user. It's been used primarily as a family account so that members can have a custom email address.

Recently I was notified that this product is going away and I will have to migrate to one of the Workspaces.

So I have 2 comments.

1 - The price is fair for a bussiness account, but for a family account it isn't affordable.  I will be keeping my user, but the majority (10) accounts will need to be deleted.  This causes an issue with them no longer having access to their photos for example.  If instead I had decided to not upgrade, then these same users would still have access to photos.  But having to upgrade and delete them, actually puts them at a disadvantage.  I would like to suggest another option instead of delete.  Maybe a flag to disable, but still allow them access to photos (and their android phones, etc.).

2 - Office360 offers a similar product, but with a discounted price tier for families.  It's $99.99/yr for 6 users.  So I want to suggest that Google look into a similar offering for non bussiness accounts.

[mariom]

Exact same trick with the specific catch-all approach. People are still impressed with it, and I wish Google had made it a feature.

[JeremyLLawson]

I'm in the same situation as well.  Have owned my primary domain since the early 2000s and migrated the email to G Suite ages ago.  I currently have seven users.  Two are close friends and the others are mine that I use for sign-ins for various things.  $6 per user per month just isn't doable long term.  Google already gets $ from me for domain registrations and then I've got monthly hosting costs, which is cheaper per month than what Workspace is going to cost. 🙄

[lirvine]

This has been an EXTREMLY frustrating process. Although I'm not happy that they promised we will "not ever have to pay" what is even more frustrating is how difficult it is to move off of Google Workspace.  

Here is just a snapshot of SOME of the issues I've seen already as I attempt to move just one user over to gmail:

Gmail - full import via POP creates massive SPAM issues and now 90%+ of my emails go to spam

Gmail - SMTP relay service required to send from existing domain name

Google photos - can't retain albums/person identification information by export/import in addition now all photos use storage space where prior to June 2021 photos were free

Google maps - can't import saved places/lists

google drive - can't bring across sharing information, no easy way to transfer data to new account

Youtube - no way to transfer to new account

I'm sure there is so much more.... This is SO extremely frustrating.  

I am building a complete user guide on how to move over to gmail, please let me know if you'd like a copy or would like to contribute.

[keithjnewman]

I'd be very interested in a migration guide. I'm currently waiting for the outcome of the "survey" but if that is  not favourable I'm going to be migrating to regular gmail accounts as  an interim. Happy to contribute to the guide, but have nothing to contribute yet as I'm playing the waiting game.

Edited for typos

[kim_nilsson]

I'm pretty sure that the waiting game is the smart play here, as things are
evolving.

[JavierMasini]

I'm waiting for it too, but time is getting short and short, and I do not see any clear timeframe when this survey will be closed, or if it will have any impact or not. 

[Richard456]

yes please, a walk through on this process would be welcome. Like most, I am sophisticated, but I don't deal with MX records and domains in my business life.

thanks!

[kim_nilsson]

Don't worry.

It's really easy, and there's no rush.

We should all wait for the upcoming feedback from Google. It's still several months away. 

[JavierMasini]

But if we do not make the change by May 1st, Google will migrate automatically or suspend the accounts

[kim_nilsson]

No, that date was pushed to 1 June. 

[mariom]

I'm interested. I have two legacy free accounts, one for my old business which is now closed and one for the family. I'll be dry-running with the business one 

[JavierMasini]

Sounds like a great user-created idea. I'm interested in this user guide. Great initiative! 

[Stubloke]

I've heard Google decisions are always based on data and made by a team !!?!

I am wondering what is a good way to present Google with data of what Gsuite Legacy users want.  I haven't seen any evidence of Google actually responding to the Feature Ideas on this topic. 

Is there a channel by which Google employees respond?

[keithjnewman]

I also use my legacy Google Apps (as it was known when I signed up) for my family. I signed up for it when they gave you 50 users free forever. I have thought that Google would back out of the free forever promise for some time, they reduced it to 10 users, then withdrew for new users but always kept promising to keep existing users free. Until now that is.

I'd gladly sign up for a family plan along the lines of the Microsoft competition up to 6 users and 1TB data per user. But £5 per user per month with only 30GB data per user, for domestic use really doesn't stack up. 

I've hitherto been a Google advocate, to the extent that I was disappointed that I didn't have sufficient influence to persuade my employer to go Google when we migrated to cloud email and collaboration. Our senior management swallowed the Microsoft hype and went Office 365 despite the costs. I really don't want to go the Microsoft route but I may be forced to. 

Of course what would work best for Google and everyone in this predicament would be if Google were to offer a solution to compete with Microsoft. This has to be the first time that they've not been the more competitive of the two IMHO. I'd say it's a fair bet that anyone in this position, having used it for so long will be a Google advocate, to treat them well is not a big ask and would maintain their advocacy status.

[KAM]

@keithjnewman I took a look for the original announcement just to see what they did promise.  Here's the oldest official notice I can find: http://googlepress.blogspot.com/2006/08/google-launches-hosted-communications_28.html?m=1

However, I wanted to bring attention to this FAQ: What if I use G Suite legacy free edition for personal use and don't want to upgrade to a Google Workspace subscription? 

What if I use G Suite legacy free edition for personal use and don't want to upgrade to a Google Workspace subscription?

Upgrading to a Google Workspace subscription is a seamless transition for all customers currently on the G Suite legacy free edition. However, we understand some customers may not use their G Suite legacy free edition for business and may be interested in other options. If you have 10 or fewer users in your group and do not use your G Suite legacy free edition for business, please complete the form below by April 1, 2022 if you're interested in learning about different options for your account in the coming months.

G Suite legacy free edition feedback form

Note that even if you decide you don't want to upgrade to Google Workspace, you'll still retain access to additional Google services and paid content purchased though non-Google Workspace services made with your legacy edition account (such as movies purchased on Google Play). Learn more above.

Hope this helps.

-KAM

[teshera]

I've completed the form multiple times but have not heard anything back.

[JavierMasini]

It does not help, since we lose the @myFamily.com email. And this is the biggest problem for me: updating 15+ years of databases that have that email on record. Some of them you need to visit in person to prove your identity in order to update to a different email. I've spent hours already trying to solve that and the more I get into it, the deeper the rabbit hole is. 

[rouleur]

Same here, I've used the G Suite Legacy free edition since it came out for domain email only. I have 6 users over my extended family. I don't need any of the workspace feature besides the domain email.  Yes, I did fill out the survey.

So far, there is no solution from Google that will work.  I don't understand why there is no basic option similar to gmail but with a custom domain. 

[JavierMasini]

I share the same disappointing feeling

[abitrandom]

Another earlier adopter here, using it purely for family members. I have 8 real-user accounts and 2 more misc / legacy / migration syncs ones. I'm ok with a paid option, but $6/user/mo even for the 8 real accounts is pricey for family use. Microsoft's offer is priced well but unfortunately capped at 6 users and there does not seem to be any "add-a-user" fees for that plan.

[jfisbein]

Same situation. Family domain with 3 mail accounts.

I think the price is to high for families.

Waiting for an alternative from Google.

[wrldtvlr]

I agree - seems a really simple solution would be for Google to include family units under the existing non-profit umbrella - i.e. free. https://support.google.com/nonprofits/answer/3367223

[keithjnewman]

In theory it's a good idea, but I can see how it would be difficult to police. The nonprofit option requires the organisation to go through a verification process. I did it for a local charity and we had to prove our charitable status, it was easy because charities have to be registered with the Charity Commission. I don't see how you could prove whether someone was genuinely signing up for a family and not a small business piggy backing off the family offer. Personally I'd still prefer an option similar to the Microsoft competition.

[JavierMasini]

Agree. Even though I would love this to work, seems to be a long shot to what family users need. 

[Confuzed]

Just use their scary machine learning to determine if the account is being used predominately for business use.  I suspect they already know.  If an account is flagged for inappropriate business use, then block send and receive for increasing amounts of time until its blocked completely.  For example it scans your family's email activity for a week, and if a threshold is exceeded, no one in your family can send for the first 5 minutes of every hour.  If this continues into the second week, then you lose 10 minutes of every hour and so on.  If the usage patterns don't change after 12 weeks, your account is disabled until you pay.

[JavierMasini]

I didn't know about this AI algorithm. Interesting. 

[Confuzed]

Not saying they have it... but I suspect they do.

Machine learning is very, very powerful given enough sample data.  And they have millions of business and personal mailboxes to use to seed the machine.  Just build it up until it can identify a business account reliably then set it loose.

[wrldtvlr]

There seem to be two groups here... One is using Google for personal domain hosting as well as gmail/gdrive/gapp use. The other has domain hosting elsewhere.

Those that are using Google for domain hosting might want to look into moving that to another registrar and just point the MX records to Google. That will protect your personal domain name and still retain your Google GMail/app accounts until Google decides what to do.

In my case, I already had NameCheap host my personal domain. If necessary, they have a relatively inexpensive mail service that I can move to. I don't use GDrive or any of the Gsuite apps, so it will just be a one time hit to get family email clients reconfigured.

[kim_nilsson]

Definitely.

Google domain hosting was only an easy entry into Google Apps, but never really a good idea after that. Never all eggs in the same basket.

[Ironghat]

My domain name is hosted on GoDaddy but moving to GoDaddy‘s email service is a nonstarter for us. Our email IDs are also our Google IDs which we use to log into YouTube, YouTube TV, Google Voice and so on. Switching to GoDaddy will mean we will either have to recreate new Google IDs to keep the Google data or risk losing all data completely. 

[mariom]

For some of us, it's been over 14 years since we did the whole MX, CNAME, ANAME thing 😄 but it's a good time for a refresher. 

I'll have to Google it... Again...

[JavierMasini]

It is not the "website Domain", but the MX records for Email (Gmail). I, my folks, and my kids have the same @myfamily.com email URL. If we lose the ability to "administer" the accounts under this, we will all have independent Gmail addresses that will not match all the records in multiple databases we registered these emails for communication. 

[wrldtvlr]

You need to separate your domain registration from identity service and email. They are three different things that were bundled in Legacy Workspace, but don't need to be. You can keep your custom domain registration with Google or move it to another registrar. That registrar could point each custom email account to a Gmail account, or may offer their own email services. Your legacy accounts with Google could become a free "identity only" accounts, used for logging into other Google products and for other non-Google companies to use as a login credential.

[kim_nilsson]

You will not lose that ability.

You will only lose the ability to send and receive emails from those accounts.

The addresses are always in your control. 

[Ironghat]

To me, it was the custom domain that was the primary appeal of the service formerly known as Google Apps. I signed up 15+ years ago, and our life is now tied to our Google IDs which happen to be in “firstname@lastname.org” format. If we switch providers, we will all lose our Google IDs and we will have to create free accounts to replace the accounts we are losing. Which means Google has to now support the new free Gmail accounts that we will be creating - so why not just continue to support the current custom domain accounts we already have?

The custom domain name is key, if it wasn't for the custom domain name, we could just all go create gmail accounts in the first place. Take the g suite apps away from us, but leave us with the custom domain and gmail accounts. 

I’m happy to pay - but $6/user/mo seems like extortion as in my case it will translate to about $1000/year. Today I can get a 6 user Microsoft 365 plan for $100/year - so if Google offered a Family plan at say $1/user/mo with zero support, I would jump on that. To prevent misuse they could limit to one domain and 20 users - I’m sure that will satisfy 99% of users on this thread.

And at $1/user/mo, Google would still be making more money than if I switched to their free Gmail accounts. 

[wrldtvlr]

"The custom domain name is key, if it wasn't for the custom domain name, we could just all go create gmail accounts in the first place. Take the g suite apps away from us, but leave us with the custom domain and gmail accounts."

I'm not sure I understand why you think you are locked into Google for your custom domain, regardless of how you initially acquired it (i.e. by signing up for Google Apps). Can't you log into domains.google.com and initiate the transfer process?

[kim_nilsson]

He doesn't say that. He says he wants a custom domain with Gmail.

[wrldtvlr]

"He says he wants a custom domain with Gmail."

Which is very easy to do. My custom domain uses namecheap as the registrar with the MX records pointing to Gmail.

[kim_nilsson]

Well, he already has that, else he wouldn't be in this thread to begin with.

He, like everyone else where, doesn't want to pay full Workspace prices for just having a custom domain name with Gmail.

Legacy accounts have never had all features of Workspace, and most of us are fine with that. It's just greedy of Google to make all family or small organisations pay for a handful accounts, and on top of that... to make it 10x as expensive as an O365 Family account is a sure way to lose customers willing to pay some, but not all that.

[JavierMasini]

But we will lose this ability if not paying $6 per account