Google Apps Goes Premier
Google has launched a new version of Google Apps (formerly Google Apps for Your Domain), and it adds Google Docs & Spreadsheets and a pay service.
There are now two editions of Goofle Apps: the free Standard Edition and the paid Premier Edition. Both editions have Gmail, Google Talk, Google Calendar, Google Docs & Spreadsheets, Google Page Creator, and a customized start page, no limit to the number of accounts, mobile access, and administrator control panel and web-based support.
Premier Edition differs like so: For $50 per user per year, you get a 99.9% uptime guarantee for email, 10 gigabyte inboxes for all email accounts (up from 2 gigs for the free version), the option of removing advertising from Gmail, shared calendars, APIs for integrating existing infrastructure (including single sign-on, user provisioning and management, and support for an email gateway), a limited release of email migration tools, 24/7 phone support, and third party applications and services.
A note: A 99.9% uptime guarantee means your account will be down for no more than 43.829 minutes per month. Google’s getting better, but outages have happened to Gmail, and I’m sure there will be months where Google has to refund a number of customers.
There is a free trial of Google Apps Premier through the end of April. Google Apps is free for schools and other educational institutions, as well as free for families and groups, which is really just another way of saying that those people can only sign up for the free version.
Here’s the control panel:
Interestingly, according to Nielsen/Netratings via Ionut Alex, Google Docs & Spreadsheets has pretty much cornered the entire market for web-based office applications, taking 92% market share. Looks like the market was pretty much just waiting for any big player to step in, and as soon as Google did, that was that.
Is it worth it? The comparable Microsoft Office 2007 suite, Office Standard 2007, has Word, Excel, Outlook and Powerpoint (which Google does not have) and costs $240 to upgrade. If businesses pick up an Exchange Server for $699, and pay the $69 per user license, plus Office Groove Server 2007 for collaboration (at around $1,500-$2,000, reportedly).
For a 1,000-person organization, with a good licensing contract, that could come out to $250-$300 a user, or about five times the cost of Google’s solution. If you upgrade every other Microsoft Office release, that means $250 per user per six years, putting the total cost per year at $41-50, as much as nine dollars less than Google. For less money, you get to own your software, not rely on another company’s servers, get PowerPoint, get more powerful versions of every application, get an Exchange Server (which has many powerful advantages), and get Groove, a hugely powerful collaboration system, all of which scales cheaper as your organization gets bigger.
Is Google really competing here?
Don’t forget: with Google Apps you don’t just get the software, but a service. With Microsoft Office, you need hardware to run it on, ans a sysadmin to maintain it.
(I still wouldn’t call Google Apps a Microsoft Office killer, though…)
- Michael
Comment by Michael Schaap | February 22, 2007
You’re forgetting some huge factors, IT doesn’t run by software alone. You need the servers and the requisite Operating Systems and Cals (Exchange requires Windows). You need someone to administer it competently, including managing the mailbox stores, patching and troubleshooting issues. Oh by the way you do have backup procedures right? Backing up Exchange requires an industrial strength backup solution including tapes, maybe a jukebox depending on the sizes involved. Still its not a no-brainer, but the business case involves more than software.
Comment by Gerard | February 22, 2007
For a large company i can’t imagine why they would put their trust in Google.
However, for small companies, the Premier service could save them a lot of headaches.
I worked at a 50 person company that paid 2 guys to run the server and manage the software. We had downtime. We had cutomer service issues. We had remote access issues. And we had security issues.
For my old comapany, I could see them seriously considering Google Apps.
Comment by Hashim | February 22, 2007
Does Google Docs really offer the same as MS Office?… There is a lot of room for debate here.
Comment by Lebanese Expatriate | February 22, 2007
I’m pretty sure it’s mostly intended for smaller companies, the ones that don’t want to have to deal with maintenance issues - and they already need internet access, so GAFYD will not cause any extra cost in that area.
Comment by Tim | February 23, 2007
Michael: Don’t forget, with Microsoft Office you own what you pay for, both the software and your documents. And, presumably, you need to buy computers for your office, whether you use Microsoft or Google.
Gerard: Most offices run Windows on client PCs, so that is a non-factor for most of the market. They already have someone paid to maintain it, already have the servers, and always will. Google’s solution just means that you use that infrastructure for other things, not that you no longer need it. Also, if your company requires backups of emails for legal purposes, you’ve got a major problem with Google.
Hashim: You’d have those same issues with Google, you just wouldn’t be able to fix them yourself. Still, Google is easier to maintain, especially for a small business. However, the larger your business is, the easier and cheaper Microsoft Office is.
Lebanese: I certainly don’t think so. Where’s PowerPoint, Access, Exchange?
Comment by Nathan Weinberg | February 23, 2007
What is with all the Microsoft astroturfing? All these “random” people insisting Google apps will never be a trend is a bit too convenient.
Comment by federica | February 27, 2007
As Hashim said, I agree that big companies wont trust Google their data.
Google should provide an app like the “Google mini” that runs in house (Not directly connected to the net) and provides services like Mail, Spread sheet, Word processing etc.
I think they can make good money by selling this app and offering support for a decent price.
Comment by cahitoz | March 6, 2007
[…] Google said open APPS for whole world, but banned China IP to register. I first knew Google Apps last year. Some good ideas for Google Apps For Domains, now come to life, you can try a Register Domain to begin. Apps have a Premier Version, but I think all free is better. I registered a free version, and not find JotSpot Wiki for Google Apps I am interesting in API for Apps, I am also interested in Apps projects related with WordPress and Facebook. Not found Adsense referrals for Google Apps in my account. I am so busy, and Google English is so hard to understand sometime.Google Apps is a good product, but Google should take care, in fact someone said that Google Apps Costs The Same As Microsoft Office. Time also money. We can lost money, but can not lost time. […]
Pingback by Hong Xiaowan’s Studio » USA president is Chinese | August 3, 2007
I WANT TO JOIN GOOGLE IN ONLY THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE. I HAVE THE WINDOWS XP PROFESSIONAL AND AN IBM BUSINESS COMPUTER.
PLEASE WRITE ME A E-MAIL AND TELL ME HOW TO JOIN.
ALAN J BELAFKSY
Comment by ALAN JOEL BELAFSKY | October 12, 2007