Google wants to give you free communications applications (chat, e-mail, calendar, etc.) for your intranet – free but at a price.
Before you jump at this ‘free’ offer, ZDNet blogger Donna Bogatin writes that “When it comes to an organization's applications hosting, Google's "free" comes at a heavy cost.”
"Google Apps for Your Domain" beta test is now taking requests for participation. Fellow ZDNet blogger Dan Farber reports on Google's latest initiaitve in "Google Office 'version 1.0' debuts":
Google doesn't yet have an Office 2.0–a full suite of hosted productivity applications aimed at the Microsoft Office crowd, especially the small- and medium-sized firms–but starting tomorrow companies or organizations can deploy Google email, calendar, chat and Web page (Page Creator) hosting for free (ad supported). The set of Google communications applications is an extension of Gmail for Your Domain, and has some limited UI customization and administration features. Later this year, Google will offer a subscription service with additional storage and support options.
For more information read Google's not so fine print: Google Apps TOS put Google first.
I don’t begrudge Google becoming the most powerful information broker on the planet (and, in my opinion, the most powerful company in the world). However, consumers and corporations alike do need to know what they’re getting into when using Google and their assorted applications. I do wish however they were more forthright about how much of people’s personal usage and information they track and store because it’s significant. Scary significant.
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