Google isn’t shifting Legacy G Suite customers once more, regardless of admin console warnings

Grandfathered-in “Legacy G Suite” customers received a scare not too long ago when one other new “transition” message began popping up within the Google Admin console. “The transition to Google Workspace has began,” mentioned the brand new message that instantly appeared in folks’s accounts. This was after Legacy G Suite customers went via a contentious transition final 12 months, the place Google’s opening place concerned shutting down their accounts if folks did not begin paying, however finally, it was talked into not doing that. A Google spokesperson tells us the Workspace transition message was “a bug that surfaced an previous banner from earlier within the course of final 12 months, and our crew is engaged on eradicating it. Extra adjustments aren’t occurring presently, and people who beforehand opted-in for private use aren’t anticipated to take any additional motion.”

We have obtained just a few questions on this message, and this Reddit publish has folks questioning what the deal is, but it surely’s only a bug. That is nice as a result of Legacy G Suite customers have gone via sufficient already. To recap, Google presently gives companies the choice to pay a month-to-month charge for a Google/Gmail account that ends in a customized area title as an alternative of @gmail.com. Right this moment that is referred to as “Google Workspace,” however attributable to Google’s fixed rebrands, it was first referred to as “Google Apps in your Area,” then “Google Apps,” after which “G Suite.” Google’s customized area service was not at all times paywalled and never at all times completely aimed toward companies—it was free from 2006 to 2012. Google even pitched these accounts to households as a method to let everybody have comparable electronic mail addresses. Some folks did so, which suggests at the moment they’re getting a paid service at no cost.

Final 12 months, the Google accounting division turned its Eye of Sauron on these long-term customers and threatened to remove their practically 16-year-old accounts in the event that they did not begin paying a enterprise price for these previously free and never essentially enterprise accounts. After a public outcry, Google finally left these “Legacy G Suite accounts” alone after making customers affirm that they had been utilizing their accounts for “non-business” functions. After that, the whole lot was settled.

Legacy G Suite customers are particularly not part of “Workspace,” which is a paid service. So this new message that popped up yesterday suggests they’d have moved to a different new service. Though Google says it is an error that customers may see this message, truly following the immediate would lead you to a different error message about “Google Workspace for private use” which is a product that doesn’t exist. Workspace has tiers like “Enterprise Starter,” and grandfathered-in customers are on “Legacy G Suite”, however “Workspace for private use” shouldn’t be a factor. Apparently, this was all of the beta branding for the unique plan final 12 months, and by some means all of it received printed yesterday.

Google Workspace for private use could be an incredible product for Google to promote, by the best way. We have complained earlier than that whereas Apple and Microsoft each promote customized area electronic mail providers to shoppers at an affordable price, Google doesn’t, solely providing enterprise electronic mail at way more costly charges. An enormous a part of the Legacy G suite downside is that these private customers have nowhere to go inside Google.