Thoughts on Google Apps for Business

Big Dan

EQ Forum Moderator
A couple weeks back I subscribed to a Google Apps account for business using one of my domain names. For $5/mo per seat it's well worth it. However it's a headache.

First and foremost the whole reason I started a business account is to get access to Outlook Sync. Outlook Sync installed and worked great on my Windows 7 box. My Windows 8 laptop however it wouldn't install no matter what I tried this was my primary reason for cancelling the account.

Secondly, having 2 Google accounts is just a pain in the rear. I've been using my Google account for 4-5 years now. It's comfortable like an old shoe. I have so many calendar reminders set and so much history in my Gmail that moving it all is a cumbersome (and quite frankly) annoying process.

Google should provide a tool to copy or move data between the accounts. Outlook sync will only work with the business account so if I want to actually see my calendar I have to copy all the data to the new calendar under my business account.

A majority of my email dumps into my primary Gmail account. A second account is just a nuisance. You can forward from @gmail.com to @domain.com or use POP access but that puts an extra step in the mix.

All in all I wish Google would offer access to Outlook Sync for regular ol' Google accounts. It used to be free but I'd be happy to pay $5-$10/mo for it.
 
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Big Dan

EQ Forum Moderator
Is this the sync feature you were looking for?

Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook
Yes, I pretty sure that's the app I used. It worked fine under Windows 7. I couldn't get it to install on Windows 8 for the life of me. Now both computers are running Win 7 so it would probably be a non-issue.

However, I'm not up for another monthly subscription just to get Google Calendar into Outlook when quite frankly Thunderbird + Lighting + Provider for Google Calendar does the same thing for free. There's also an additional add-on for Google Tasks which runs most of my life from planning projects to shopping lists.
 
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