Google Apps

I Finally Killed Off Google Doc’s

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I have finally succeeded in killing off any remaining documents i had hosted in my personal google account.  This action was a bit harder than i expected it would be.  I won’t go into further details on a public post due to security concerns however i am glad that I was able to go through and move everything i still needed and delete everything I didn’t need.  Exporting data was easy to an offline file but moving things that others still needed to collaborate on was a challenge and requires giving out new URL’s unless i was moving the document to someone else in the same google work domain.  I wasn’t doing that so it was challanging.

This milestone was one of the last I need before I can delete my remaining google app’s id that i used to use as my main account.  The last milestone may be the most difficult but that will be the topic of another post, Android Apps.

 

Partial Goodbye Google

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Today I took the next step in my exodus from Google services.  I deleted my old @powerz.org mail domain from Google Apps.  I had used it for several years before retiring it for a newer one about a year ago.  With my mail backed up elsewhere and after I finally got all of the services dependent on the domain moved I was able to delete my account.  it felt good, however my other Google Apps Domain is more of a challenge.  I still use some of the google doc’s associated with it and figuring out an alternative is my current challange.

Securing my email a bit

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Today I completed my copying of my email off my Google App’s account.  That means all my data is safely on other systems besides Google Apps.  I finished re-pointing most of my domains to my new web host.  Next up is completing migrating my parents to the new system.  I cannot yet delete my Google Apps for Work account but i am one step closer.

My Sudden Allergic Reaction to All Things Google

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I have recently had a technical dilemma.  I have been a user of many Google services over the years.  I have several Google Apps for Work domains.  I post private videos of my family on Youtube.  I have loved Google Voice long before Google owned it.  For most of the time I have used their services I have know there have been some questions about what they do with all the data collected.  From day one of Gmail you knew they were looking at your mail to give you ad’s.  At the time I brushed it off, especially since i didn’t really start using gmail for a few years after it came out.  After I did the lingering security questions were still there but because they provide services that really work well I didn’t question anything nor did I really care.  The cool aid was great.

The problem I am facing recently is I have read more specifically about what data Google collects and how long they store it.  Or rather how they don’t really say how long they store it.  There are many discussions on the topic, here, here, here, and many other places.  After reading a lot on the topic and talking with a few people I work with more knowledgeable on the subject than I am I decided the great user experience wan’t worth all I was giving them.

If was to move providers I needed first an email provider.  2nd I needed to stop using Google Voice.

Until very recently that was no small feat.  I didn’t want to rely on my mobile alone.  That is why I ported my mobile number to Google Voice in the first place.  Thankfully as good timing would have it the new IOS software offers wifi calling and handoff to computers for calls.  This is not nearly a replacement for google voice for me, but it made it easy to move back to one mobile for everything since as long as I had WIFI I know my number would work.  With my new iPhone 6 I would be able to solve my Google Voice dependency.  Next up of course is the bigger issue, my email hosting.  If just picking anyone I would have gone with Office 365 or some other cloud offering.  The problem was as I kept talking to people and reading more I have to say I wasn’t too happy with the US governments tactic’s on getting access to people’s accounts.  After that statement I know people are going to say if you don’t have anything to hide, why would you worry.  Well I don’t have anything to hide, but that’s not the point.  I would rather not know my government could relatively easily get access to my stuff with a court order that apparently happens more often than you would like.  I don’t think I am being paranoid guy about this.  To me it feels more like ignorance is bliss.  Since I do know how creepy stuff is apparently now a days I don’t just want to leave Google mail I want to ensure my data is safe where ever i put it.

I thought about my own server.  I just don’t want to deal with it.  The super secure Swiss email hosting provider was too expensive.  I opted for a well known general web hosting provider in Switzerland were data privacy laws are much more strict than in the US.

Next up for me is to goto the T-Moble store and port my number.  After that it is lots of mail copying to my new provider.

Google Apps Premium

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On several occasions I have blogged about Zimbra. In June I decided to switch back to Google apps. For about a month or so I had been playing with both Zimbra and Google apps. What’s funny is I was relatively happy with Zimbra, but when I was playing with android phones I started looking again at Google apps. It seems like nowadays Google apps is universally accessible on multiple operating systems and phone platforms. Zimbra does use Microsoft’s exchange sync but do not as universally compatible as Google apps. The biggest drawback was the limitations on android phones. Even though I ended up not keeping an android phone I actually like the flexibility that Google apps gave me. When I first started using Zimbra I actually A copy of mail both on my Gmail and on my Zimbra account. Recently I have been less concerned about downtime with anyone provider, so that redundancy seemed like overkill.

What I ended up doing was I stopped using Zimbra and started using the free Google apps. Once I got the IOS 4.0 upgrade for my iPhone however I was compelled to purchase the paid version. There was a quirk with each change sync settings and IOS 4.0 that was fixed with the premium version. I tried the 15 day free account and liked it. I ended up canceling my Zimbra account and and now I am only using Google apps. Feature wise I can’t complain about Zimbra. Overall the two products were similar. I do however like the UI of Google apps. Recent integration of Google voice to my Google apps for domains also affirms my choice was the right one for me at the time. The

So far I’ve been happy with my choice for the past few months. I know every year or two I reassess the situation. I did that about two years ago when I switched from Google Apps to Zimbra, any year or so before that when I moved on to Google apps from another mail provider. Let’s hope I am satisfied with what I have now for a few years. Of course if Google doesn’t continue to innovate I’m open to other options.

Google Apps vs Zimbra

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Way back in October of 2008 I started using Zimbra (Hosted by 01.com) instead of Google Apps.  At the time the reasons were based mainly about security and the lack of good syncing from Google Apps to my iPhone.  I also recall the less than stellar Contact management on Google Apps.

Whats different?  We first the Contact management on Google Apps/Gmail is much improved.  I think it is pretty close to being on par with Zimbra, or enough to be really usable.  Secondly they offer Exchange like sync to any devices such as my iPhone.  With those two problems solved plus the fact that Google Apps always was a better email system I was very tempted to switch.

Another driving factor for me was I wanted to try the Nexus One (see previous posts) and having a Google Apps or Gmail account would make Android work so much better.  That was probably the tipping point for the switch even though I wasn’t sure if I would continue with Android.  Google Apps since it now uses Exchange sync works with many devices including both Android and iPhone.

Is there still a security issue with Google Apps, perceived or otherwise?  The short answer is maybe.  I think they will be good enough if I pay for the Premium account.

For years I have paid for mail forwarding services from Dyndns.org.  I love it, but it is not cheap.  It costs almost as much as a full year for 1 mailbox on Google Apps Premium.  What I would do is route mail to my Zimbra account and to my free Gmail account so I had my mail basically in two places in case I lost any one provider.  It was a bit over kill I know, but I got burned before with a regular email provider.  So on top of my mail routing service I also was/am paying for Zimbra.  2gig’s of storage and iphone syncing is about $65.  If I just bite the bullet and go with one host only (google apps) I can save almost $100 if I go for the free services.  If I want to pay for better SLA and more space, etc I am saving 50% or $50.

Any cloud service has some security risks.  I may be a bit paranoid about the whole google has my stuff issues I have so I started using Google Apps again.  I first tried using it with my old Scott.ac domain and used Dyndns to route my main domain to it.  I found that I really don’t think I want to continue to using the mail routing service after it expires so I setup another Google Apps account for my main domain.

I spent the past half a week uploading all my mail archives to the new account.  The vast majority of my stuff is up there now and labeled and is all perfect.

It is now the first time in years that I have turned off the mail forwarding and have all my mail going to only one place.  I did that as a test to see if I will be happy with this setup once the mail routing service expires.  So far, so good.  Knock on wood.  If I am happy in 3 months than I am now I may actually buy the Premium service.