[olug] Google changes to free

[Ross Nelson]

I've been using Fastmail <https://www.fastmail.com/pricing/> for a few
years for my "professional" account and I've been happy with it. Nice
webmail interface, nice mobile (which is just the webmail in an app), all
the basic features you'd expect.

With file storage (OneDrive), Microsoft Office licenses, and so forth,
Microsoft 365 (formerly O365) is going to be closer to what you currently
have. But if you just want basic email, contacts, and calendaring, I like
Fastmail. (Looks like I have a referral code for 10% off for the first year
if you end up going that route.)

On Sat, Feb 5, 2022 at 10:12 AM Dan Linder <dan at linder.org> wrote:

> Not sure who has heard about the plan, but Google is changing the terms of
> the free G-Suite service this year:
>
>
> https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2022/01/google-tells-free-g-suite-users-pay-up-or-lose-your-account/
>
> I signed up for it near the beginning - it's how I host the Linder.org
> email and use GMail for the actual mail processing.
>
> Over the years I've set up a handful of emails on this for my wife, kids,
> and parents, and only used the Google docs/spreadsheet/etc. lightly.  If
> nothing happens with the change, I'll now have a $42/month bill for their
> services - it's not "break the bank" level, but still, $500/year is pretty
> hard to get past the family financial controller (e.g. wife).
>
> We're an Android family, and all of our devices are registered with our @
> linder.org email.  They haven't said what happens to our devices and
> purchases if we let the @linder.org link with Google expire.
>
> So I have two comments for the greater OLUG group:
> 1: If you're concerned, please take some time to fill out their survey
> about this:
>
>
> https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeY9yv4WGCHvOiJN4tgt3SdsunaVBoT_6rN8un9Q4_lzBKGeA/viewform
> *(It's only one question, so reading an "it'll take you X minutes" comment
> takes longer than filling it out...)*
>
> 2: I've been looking a bit at other email providers (Microsoft O365,
> ProtonMail, etc).  Transferring might be a pain, but I'm willing to change
> to another hosted provider if I'm being forced to by Google anyway.  And
> there are enough options available now (vs 15 years ago) that I can be a
> bit more selective.  Does anyone have any suggestions on where they might
> have a domain hosted that has a decent email web experience (mail filters,
> good spam filtering, etc)?
>
> Thoughts?
> Dan
>
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