Google Apps for Your Domain Name has been talked about a lot this past year, I’ve been using it for 11 months now, and the features just keep piling up (prior to today’s announcment, they added the ability to purchase domains). Today they formally released it as Google Apps. There are two versions, the free one, and the Premier one. The premier one has these features
- 10GB of storage
- API’s to for the system to have a unified login, directory syncronization, mail gateway, etc.
- 24/7 support
- New control panel, Gmail, gtalk, Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Google Calendar, Page Creator, and customizable Start Page.
- All for only $50/user
The free version doesn’t include the API’s, 24/7 support, and only has 2GB of storage. All beta users now have the free versions of Google Apps. (I wish they would have just let us have the Premier version for the accounts that are already set up 
)
There’s always the issue of privacy when you used a hosted solution for your email. Since most of us already have a Gmail account, (or some form of other free hosted email), using it for private uses probably wont be a problem, it’s the corporate customers that will need to decide whether or not to trust Google with their data.
Google is targeting the Premier version to Small Businesses and the Enterprise, and the free version to Educational institutions, families, and organizations.
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