So what is this Google Hosted Applications? or Google Applications for your Domain
Well put simply its Google attempt at combining mail, calender talk and basic publishing facilities for small businesses. It allows you to use Googles existing infrastructure with your domains so if you have a domain what are you waiting for off you go the web site you want is www.google.com/a there are of course a few caveats including.
- To use Google hosted applications you must have access to the your mx records of your domain, now depending how you bought the domain this may or may not be a problem. If you bought the domain through a registrar which allow you to make changes through a control panel follow Googles on-line instructions if you bought the domain as part of a web hosting deal you will need to contact your provider directly and ask for these changes to be made.
- Google apps for your domain currently restricts to 25 email addresses this includes mailing lists, for most small businesses this really won’t be a problem but just in case you plan a large shift be aware.
- Finally its free at the moment but Google makes no promises on the long term availability of this service.
That’s the problems sorted barring one, Data protection this is a grey area but your data is being held on Googles server not yours now depending on the laws in your country and what data you keep this might be a problem I would strongly recommend you do not keep credit details on Googles Servers.
So still want to use Google Hosted Applications?
I hope you do so once you have set-up your account for Google Apps for your Domain and sorted your MX records check out our quick guides on setting up mailing lists and using calenders .
Google Apps for your Domain Part 1 - Email
Google Apps for your Domain Part 2 - Calender
The biggest benefit of Google hosted applications is its ability to harness Gmail or Googlemails facilities nearly all the power user tricks seen in Gmail is available in Google apps for your domain for our top 5 see:
5 Google Hosted application tips
We are hoping the Google carry on supporting and expanding google hosted applications indeed we have already started a wish list including mobile support amongst others feel free to add to it:
What’s the future for Google Hosted Applications
We have been using the services for several months and have migrated several clients over, the biggest benefit is the removal of SMTP server which can be a nightmare to maintain. The process of transfer while straight forward is not for the non technical user, yet many of the benefits are so if you are having trouble migrating your client base across email us sales-gafyd@venture-skills.co.uk (note the -gafyd check out our Google tips to see how we use alias tracking) and we will happily help with migration.
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November 21, 2006 at 2:58 pm
[...] The blog has been going over a month now very successfully we actually have return readers, I know it suprised me as well. Today I have started making the site easier to search and to help people find specific content, to this end I have created a new section called What’s X. This section will contain mini tutorials explaining the technology described in the blog along with internal links to articles about specific technology. It seemed only right to start with the technology we blog most about Google applications for your domain, I will do a couple of more pages in the next few days. [...]
November 28, 2006 at 11:23 am
[...] Here are 5 tips for better productivity in using Google Hosted Application, most of these tips also work with Gmail and calender functions, if your not sure what GAFYD is then check our our Whats X section on Hosted Apps [...]
February 17, 2007 at 10:55 am
[...] time we have had some really interesting posts and discussions, on all manner of things including Google Hosted Applications, Drupal, Search engine optimisation, branding and identity. But a question we are asked is bloging [...]
January 30, 2008 at 3:06 pm
Well, i have read in the FAQ for google applications that you can sign like a partner if you are a developer or maintain a number of domains and customers mail to automatize the process of the google app config but you can’t find anywhere any form or registration to use the API. Someone is a current partner? should i email directly the google team? Thanks in advance