Google Apps - The Good, the Bad, and the Odd

In a prior blog, I overview moving a personal site to Google Apps. Before taking the leap yourself, here’s a grab bag of gotcha’s and pleasant surprises.

Googley gotcha’s:

• Yes, you do need a domain. :)
• During the initial setup, I inadverently closed my Google Apps window while entering the CNAME changes. Eventually, I went back to , I was able to pickup where I left off. (The “a” is for “apps” – Google likes to use one-letter IDs when it can.)
• The Mail and Chat services weren’t enabled by default. To enable additional services, look for the “Add more services” link hidden next to the Service Center heading.
• Transferring the MX registration can take 24-48 hours, depending on your timing and your registrar.
• The Google App accounts have their own login area . Trying to login using your domain at the standard account prompt won’t work.
• Along the same vein, the Google Apps Account is separate from a regular Google Account. To access all that Google has to offer, you need both. (Happily, the cookies don’t conflict, and you can be logged into both accounts at once.)
• The applications are useful and usable, but not truly ready for prime time, when compared to conventional suites, like OpenOffice, or Microsoft Office. The Sites can be especially frustrating. (Can you say “GeoCities”?)
• While GA “Starter Pages”, iGoogle, and Blogger, all seem to utilize the same “Gadget” plugins, they seem to be using different code bases. It would be great if there were all shared between the three platforms.
• The starter pages can be configured by anonymous users. Once a user has configured a start page, the administrator can’t push start page changes. (So, an anonymous start page isn’t a good fit as the domain welcome page.)
• If you delete a page in a Google site, you can’t reuse the name. The site will stubbornly append a numeral to the end, so instead of having a new “Welcome” page, you end up with “Welcome2”.
• • Google Documents (which is different than a Google Site) don’t expose a shared folder structure. You can setup your own folders to organize documents, but no one else will see those folders.
• Google Calendar’s “Find Next Available Time” feature can be set to search only “Working Hours”, but you can’t configure the working hour span (it’s 8a to 6p, M-F, like it or not!).

• Not all Google assets play well together. For example, I tend to draft blogs in Google Notebook first. Pasting directly from Notebook to Blogger generates some ugly HTML. I have sanitize the copy first by pasting from Notebook to Notepad to Blogger.
  And some pleasant surprises:

• While some application features are missing, and performance can be choppy, the collaboration features help pick up the slack.

• If you source a new domain through a Google Apps vendor, the domain setup is pre-configured.
• The Standard Version starts out with 200 user ceiling, and you can ask for more.
• Any user can be deputised as an Administrator.
• You can create additional CNAME records for quick access to different services, like calendar.yourdomain.com.
• You can map Sites to addresses under your domain, so that the clumsy Google Apps link is not shown.
• Gmail now lets you import mail (new or old) from other GMail accounts using POP (in case you already got one).
• The Apps allow some quick-and-easy color and logo customiizations.
• Individual assets can be shared with Google Accounts outside your domain (if the administrator doesn’t disable external sharing).
• GMail handles rich text quite well, so you can paste a table from Word into an email.
• The Calendar is easy to share with people outside your domain, like contractors.
• The Premium Accounts ($50/user/year) also have access to free video conferencing!
  And, of course, everyone in your domain still has access to all the other Google goodies, like Notebook, Blogger, Knol, and more .

HTH, Ted.