Google returns to termination of senior GSuite account, does not accept users’ emails

Google has finally launched a solution for people with “old” Google GSuite accounts. After the initial threat to close free GSuite accounts if users did not start paying for the service, Google completely refused. Once users slip through some of the registration hoops, Google will allow their ~ 16-year-old account to continue to operate. You will even be able to save your email address.

So far, the saga, if you haven’t watched, is that Google has a user account service with a user domain, now called “Google Workspace,” formerly called “G Suite” and “Google Apps”. The service is basically a regular Google account that allows you to use email that ends in your user’s domain name instead of “@ gmail.com”. Today, this service is focused on business and costs money every month, but this has not always been the case. From 2006 to 2012, Google custom domain accounts were free and have even been transferred in families as an amazing way to have a Google identity online.

In January, some Google counters apparently noticed that this tiny group of longtime users was technically getting a paid service for free, and decided it was unacceptable. In January, Google posted an ad declaring these people “old GSuite users” and basically telling them, “Pay or lose your account. ‘ These users subscribed to Google’s free service and stored data on it for 16 years, and there was no indication that it would ever be charged. Google has been hostage to this for more than a decade of user data, urging users to start paying business tariffs for Workspace or face account closures.

A week later, after the inevitable public outcry, Google slightly conceded and said it vaguely will ultimately give you “the option to move paid content that doesn’t belong to Google Workspace and most of your data to the free version.” If you are told that you will be able to keep “most of your data” that you have accumulated for 16 years, this is a rather alarming statement. One feature of Google in January was that “this new option won’t include premium features such as custom email,” so you’ll have to stop posting your email to Google, and you’ll probably have to go through some wild account Google conversion process. This then allowed these users to wave anxiously in the wind, without further details, for six months.

How to save a free GSuite account

In May, Google finally informed these users what would happen to their accounts. The new support page I say“For individuals and families By using your account for non-commercial purposes, you can continue to use the old free version of G Suite and opt out of Google Workspace. ” here or in the GSuite admin panel. You need to confirm that your GSuite account is for personal use and not for business use, because businesses still have to pay for Workspace. If you’re already leaning towards Google’s will and started paying for Workspace because of the January announcement, Google says you should contact support.

The biggest news from this latest ad is that Google has decided not to take away people’s custom emails. A second support page says, “You can continue to use your custom domain with Gmail, store access to free Google services such as Google Drive and Google Meet, and store your purchases and data.” It now seems that there will be no change in your account, provided you click the “self-transition” screen before the deadline.

The deadline for opt-out, which has changed several times, is June 27, 2022. If you do not complete the waiver by June 27, you will be automatically billed for Workspace. If you do not have a card and you do not reject it, your account will be suspended on August 1 and closed.

Automatic registration and billing without the explicit consent of users is one of the strangest parts of this story. If you don’t follow the technical news scene closely, chances are you won’t know what’s going to happen and you’ll either suddenly be billed without your consent, or find that your Google Account has suddenly stopped working.

For a company whose key pillar of business is to convince users to store huge amounts of data on their servers, to play similar games is an amazing solution. At least, he came to a reasonable conclusion.