Google is soon going to bring a price tag to what you use now for free, The G suite legacy free edition. It consists of the email app, Docs app, and Calendar app among others.
A long-time user of all these services, Richard J. Dalton Jr. who operates a scholastic test-prep company in Vancouver, feels cheated because of this change.
“They’re basically strong-arming us to switch to something paid after they got us hooked on this free service.”
– Richard said talking about the situation.
Mr. Dalton first used Google work email for his business, Your Score Booster, in 2008.
Google clearly wants longtime users of their G suite app ecosystem to start paying a monthly charge. The users have to pay around $6 for each business email address. Businesses have been given an ultimatum to switch to the paid service by June 27. Those who do not voluntarily switch will be automatically moved to Google Workspace. If you still fail to pay by the 1st of August, your account will be suspended.
Small-business owners are furious over this decision from the company. It’s not about the decision being a hard financial hit for them but they also don’t need that major inconvenience each month. These owners feel that the tech Moghul is being absolutely petty for a company that earns billions in profits. It applies true to some extent for a few owners as they might be first-time business owners using these apps for their workflow.
Google’s business decision of starting to charge for its existing software also proves that the company is trying to profit off the utility factor, its apps have already created throughout the years. Apps such as Calendar, and Gmail have helped users for a decade now in managing their work and schedules. Recently, it’s been observed that Google has become more aggressive with its ads and paid software. This is the reason you might come across multiple ads on the Youtube videos you are watching, as opposed to one or two earlier.
The company with this decision is trying to compete with companies like Microsoft, whose productivity apps such as Word and Excel are extremely dominant in the market.
The company has already had to push its plans for a paid service from May 1 to August 1 due to a number of complaints from its longtime users. Google also declared that people who use their account for personal purposes may continue to do so for free and they won’t be charged.
When Google began with Gmail and Docs in the early 2000s, they aimed at new startups and small businesses and tried to get as many people to use their software as they could. They also let companies bring custom domains that matched their business names to Gmail. Even when these apps were in testing, they put out the word that these apps will be free for life. In 2020, G Suite got a new identity as Google Workspace. The company states that over 3 billion total users, use a free version of the workspace.