Comments on: Switching to Google Apps Without Tears

By: Joe

Joe — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 12:17:05 +0000

I can’t belive how complicated they have made it all! I just want one log in to manage my apps e-mail, calendar, docs and my photos, orkut, reader etc.. etc…

I don’t want to be in a situation where I have two calenders or have to use my gmail account for one thing and my apps for the other. Google know this and I can’t believe it will be that tough to make this possible. What a let down from this giant. 18 months since this article and people are stil having the same issues!

By: Roger

Roger — Tue, 04 Mar 2008 16:36:04 +0000

I am a teacher and I implimented Google Apps in my school 2 weeks ago.

Setting up the emails through the school domain was no problem.

Students have very little trouble using it. The shared documents is the most comment feature used. Teachers really like the abiltiy to communicate. Class marks (with individual privacy codes) are posted so parents can see marks from home.

Great price – Free.

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By: Jez

Jez — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 00:45:54 +0000

Just wish google would roll out the jot features and blogspot to google apps ASAP

Held my own domain name for ages, and rolled it over to GAFYD. Just waiting to be EASILY create the blog and page within there, so it can all be managed under the one console page.

By: Judi Sohn

Judi Sohn — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 10:59:23 +0000

Actually, Shawn, some of that is an easy fix.

Under Domain Settings/General in the admin area, scroll down to the bottom and select, “Next generation” (must be in US) and “Turn on new application features to my domain before they are rolled out to all Google Apps customers.”

It may take up to a day for you to see the difference, but you will get your colored labels and invisible chat.

But you’re right about Google Reader. It’s a total PITA but if you want to use Reader, Picasa and other Google Services because mail, documents and calendar you’ll have to have a separate Google Account.

By: Shawn McCollum

Shawn McCollum — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 06:46:28 +0000

I’ve been using google apps for domains and it’s got it’s plus’s and minus’s. The issue that you mention about calendar extends to gmail and your start page. As of right now my gmail doesn’t have colors for labels and I don’t have an invisible option for google chat. Also not all google services work well with google domain id’s, I can’t use my google apps id for google reader. Would I change back to regular gmail? no, just wish my google apps tools had the same functions the public ones does.

By: julie

julie — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 22:24:52 +0000

We are a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, so wanted to take advantage of the Google Apps services. My transition problems were all a result of my domain name host. I was able to change the MX records, but not the CNAME. They finally changed the CNAME for me, but when my website was still not found, they let me know that the CNAME records were incorrect. UGH! It drug on for a few weeks. The tech folks at Google Apps, though, were very helpful and walked me through the troubleshooting process and helped me communicate clearly to the domain host. Now that we are up and running, we don’t utilize all the services available, but it’s nice to know they are there. I especially like the Custom Start Page for our users.

By: Tony Safoian

Tony Safoian — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 20:22:18 +0000

Great article. We work with companies every day to assist them with their migration to Google Apps. Very few companies can take this journey on their own, so we are here to hand-hold! You’ll find a full list of Google partners here: http://www.google.com/enterprise/gallery/apps/smallbiz_services.html

By: Alex

Alex — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 19:40:07 +0000

I’ve run into the same frustrations. It’s interesting that many of the problems come not in migrating from other solutions but in importing data that’s already in Google’s products. This is especially so since most individuals/organizations will have already been using Google’s apps before deciding to integrate them into their domain. I also find the occasional weirdness in logins with multiple Google and Google Apps for Domains accounts – since they all direct you to google.com for authentication.