by Today Google announced the Premier Edition of their fine Google Apps bundle of programs aimed directly at the heart of Microsoft’s Office suite of applications.
I love Google Apps so much I’m writing a book about it for Thomson Publishing called Google Apps Administrator Guide. We have discussed Google’s plans for World Domination in helping you collaborate on the Internet and the Premier Edition of Google Apps for Your Domain is the next step in working together in new and spectacular ways. Here’s what the new Dashboard looks like:
For $50 per user a year you get increased email storage space, technical support and a host of other goodies. You can remain on the free Standard Edition for as long as you wish.
This morning I immediately upgraded to the Premier Edition and here’s why:
Google Docs and Spreadsheets are now a part of your hosted domain and you can add that service even if you remain on the free Standard version!
You can also interact in Real Time with your Hosted Gmail via your BlackBerry:
With the Premier Edition you can create resources like rooms or projectors or cameras and share them:
Once you create the resource you may add it to your Calendar and other people can subscribe to that resource via their calendars to reserve the resource without your necessary intervention.
The Real Power in the Premier Edition of Google Apps for You Domain is in the ADVANCED TOOLS area where you can Bulk Upload users, create a single-point sign-on and invoke the Provisioning API:
Here’s how you know you’ve officially moved up from the Standard Edition to the Premier Edition:
You also get a whopping 10 gigs of email space when you upgrade to Premier!
There are also Third Party enhancements in the pipeline you can sign up to use with your Premier account:
One of the best things when you pay your own way on the Premier level is the ability to squash all that Google advertising bugging your Inbox and workspace:
You also get Tech Support from Google when you pay for the Premier Edition!
I had a few upgrade problems this morning. Google Checkout didn’t like my credit card. I resolved that problem by refreshing the page a few times. Let’s hope my credit card didn’t get repeatedly charged.
I also lost the connection to david.bolesuniversity.com but I was able to quickly restore that setting myself by telling the set up for Google Pages to use the CNAME I previously set. The personalized Start Page, Calendar and Mail login all remained untouched and working after the upgrade process. This morning I also added Google Docs to my personalized domain using a new CNAME entry.
I deleted several user accounts because I don’t want to pay $50 a year for accounts that aren’t being used.
For some strange reason the Premier Edition is telling me I have one more account than I really do and is planning to charge me for that account even though it is not active. I’m glad we’re still in a “free trial period” for the Premier Edition so these bugs can get squashed.
I picked up the phone and called Tech Support to see if they could solve the phantom email account problem. I entered my PIN number into the phone support system and I was connected to someone on a very noisy connection with a heavy Indian accent that sounded like a robot. When I asked if I was speaking to a live person or a robot, the person said, “Can a robot do this?” — and hung up on me!
I called back, entered my PIN again and had a much better connection to someone with a thick Irish accent. The person didn’t really seem to understand the problem and didn’t know how to help me. He took my email address and said he’d be back with me “straight away.” That was an hour ago.
So far Google Technical Support is rather awful! Don’t upgrade to the Premier Edition if you really need help because right now, they do not ooze confidence that they know the system or how to resolve your problems.
I still think Google Apps for Your Domain Premier Edition is a steal at $50 a year per user — especially when Microsoft is charging $225 per user per year for a less robust work suite with Office and Exchange — and, when you go with Google, they provide and manage the hardware for you.
Here’s the reply from Google:
UPDATE:
The remedies Paul suggests did not work.
I still have unequal user report counts.
I am also trying to create a nickname based on a previously deleted account and the system is telling me name is already taken.
I have reported these problems to Google as well.
Looks like a great deal for small businesses! $50.00/year per user isn’t bad for individuals either.
I hope “The G” is able to resolve your issues.
Hi Chris!
It is a pretty sweet deal! Hey, I’d pay $50 a year just to get Tech Support from Google! 😀
So the fact that I gets Ads removed and 10 gigs instead of 2 makes the pot even sweeter.
Will you move up your GAYD setup to the Premier Edition or not?
UPDATE:
Here is the latest reply from Google:
FYI:
I did not get a warning about the “Five Day Rule” when I deleted the accounts.
I have asked Paul to immediately delete the account in question.
I still have an unequal amount of Users being reported in different places.
UPDATE:
I did not make that connection with the users issue and I thank Paul for pausing to clarify for me.
I am impressed with Paul’s/Google’s interest in helping me today.
This kind of sorting attention you are following with me in real time to some specific items is a wonderful and refreshing experience when it comes to Google support and well worth more than $50 per user a year alone just for this kind of rapt precision!
Here’s the official announcement from Google:
http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/02/google-apps-grows-up.html
And this from the Google Docs blog:
Hi David,
We might end up doing that because my wife uses her email as part of her work. The fax machine has been replaced by the email in-box.
Having the 10GB of mail space would be nice. It’s only $4.17 per month — a bargain.
Hiya Chris!
I agree! You can’t beat the price for 10 gigs a year!
I just re-upped yesterday with Fastmail.FM and it cost $40.00 USD for 2 gigs of mail space. I like Fastmail a lot as a robust and super-reliable backup but now I’m sort of cringing at the price compared to what came down the GAYD-PE lane!
😀
I just love it that Google takes care of all the behind-the-scenes gunk for us. We can just concentrate on business and content!
Hi David,
It’s nice to not have to worry about the behind the scenes stuff.
That’s one reason why I like Blogger. It might not have all of the power that WP or other platforms have, but it does have Google standing behind it and it’s easy to operate.
It’s great to hear that you’ve had good experiences with Google’s customer service. That’s a sign of a great company.
You are right, Chris!
It’s fine to just sit back and let the technical stuff be handled by the Pros. I have no problem paying for that kind of kind service.
Blogger is a fine platform and I’m thrilled it works for you.
I’m surprised I don’t have a resolution yet to the nickname problem by now. I will keep updating this page as new information comes down, but I agree with you the hand holding that went on earlier today with Google support was much appreciated.
You are right, Chris!
It’s fine to just sit back and let the technical stuff be handled by the Pros. I have no problem paying for that kind of kind service.
Blogger is a fine platform and I’m thrilled it works for you.
I’m surprised I don’t have a resolution yet to the nickname problem by now. I will keep updating this page as new information comes down, but I agree with you the hand holding that went on earlier today with Google support was much appreciated.
I think customer service is the way businesses can stand out from the competition as it becomes easier and easier to make and create exciting new products.
From what I’ve read of your Google experience, it seems to be working well there.
Also, I’ve been reading a forum where people have been making suggestions to a certain company. Someone brought up Google’s new product offerings, so it will be interesting to see if anything happens on that front. Other companies will have to move to keep up or risk falling behind.
I think customer service is the way businesses can stand out from the competition as it becomes easier and easier to make and create exciting new products.
From what I’ve read of your Google experience, it seems to be working well there.
Also, I’ve been reading a forum where people have been making suggestions to a certain company. Someone brought up Google’s new product offerings, so it will be interesting to see if anything happens on that front. Other companies will have to move to keep up or risk falling behind.
Chris —
I agree customer service is key — and so far Google have been able to get away with providing great “beta” product but without any tangible means of support. Today we now have a way to “buy in” to getting help when we need it and when we want it. That’s a good thing in the marketplace.
I know some people have had trouble with GAYD — I read their group every day — but I have not had those troubles. I am lucky, I suppose. I live on Google. My calendar is packed with subscribed-to-calendars, I stress their email servers, I have bunches of domains pointing at them and, yet, everything works out just super!
Google has its eye set on big business. They want hundreds of thousands of people using their stuff. It will be interesting to watch it all play out!
MSFT doesn’t have a change. Their similar offerings are slow, proprietary and closed. No one wants to use IE7 for anything — even if they’re forced to use it!
Chris —
I agree customer service is key — and so far Google have been able to get away with providing great “beta” product but without any tangible means of support. Today we now have a way to “buy in” to getting help when we need it and when we want it. That’s a good thing in the marketplace.
I know some people have had trouble with GAYD — I read their group every day — but I have not had those troubles. I am lucky, I suppose. I live on Google. My calendar is packed with subscribed-to-calendars, I stress their email servers, I have bunches of domains pointing at them and, yet, everything works out just super!
Google has its eye set on big business. They want hundreds of thousands of people using their stuff. It will be interesting to watch it all play out!
MSFT doesn’t have a change. Their similar offerings are slow, proprietary and closed. No one wants to use IE7 for anything — even if they’re forced to use it!
Here’s the morning update from Google Support:
Not much news today from yesterday.
I will keep you updated!
Here’s the morning update from Google Support:
Not much news today from yesterday.
I will keep you updated!
UPDATE:
I didn’t hear back from Paul.
I was charged for the additional account. No charges were supposed to appear on the required credit card until the end of April.
I decided to activate the extra account since I paid for it.
Janna’s Blackberry interface is not working. She cannot login to her Hosted Gmail account. An error on the Gmail side asks for captcha confirmation but no captcha is provided! I emailed support yesterday. No response. No acknowledgment of the initial email. I will call them later today. Here’s someone else who is having the same problem.
UPDATE:
Just called Google phone support! They are not working now.
How is that “24/7” Technical Support in email and on the phone? I leaving a message now considered Technical Support? Ridiculous!
I wrote to Support and received this robot brush off:
Grr!
$50 per user per year is not worth it for the few extra features, in my opinion.
It’s also disappointing how it supports sxip but not the upcoming OpenID (which even MS are starting to support!).
Joe!
1. How much would you have to pay a year elsewhere for 10 gigs of email space?
2. I like being able to call on Google for official support 24/7 — even though it isn’t quite there yet — it’s more like 12/5. 😀 Doesn’t MSFT charge $40 per phone call for support now?
3. I like the native Blackberry integration.
4. The integration of the Apps for collaboration under a single hosted workspace is amazing and simple to use.
5. I enjoy the 99.9% uptime guarantee for email.
UPDATE:
The Blackberry problem was fixed yesterday evening. All is working fine again so far.
I had a very good laugh about the first part with the “robot”. has not happend to me yet/ Google will end up being like Microsoft (try getting technical support…;) Some of the GApps features are neat… my favorite one being the API. We are doing some Open Source Development around it. check out the beta (soon)… http://www.applicationexchange.com
Hi edbong!
Thanks for the comment and welcome to Urban Semiotic!
Yes, the “robot” thing was pretty funny even when it happened. It was a bit surreal!
Your application looks keen! Congrats! Keep us updated on your progress!
I’m gonna have to check this out it sounds interesting and yeah I’ll pay for that kind of guarantee for emai. Why not?
Let us know what you think when you get it set up, R.!
Google is doing a great work. I just can’t appreciate all these… It’s really great.
You’re quite right about that, Srinivas!
I’m writing a book called the “Google Apps Administrator Guide” and more info is here:
http://bolesbooks.com/thomson