Google relenting (I think!) on free legacy custom email domains

ttavoy

In January google calmly announced the approaching end of free legacy Google Apps accounts. User outrage ensued

Google's initial response was to offer to keep alive some of the free features but not including custom domains for email. User outrage continued

It appears that in the last few days they have caved in. It looks like they are now offering to spare free custom email domains from the chop, for people who "self-identify" that their accounts are for personal use.

Go to admin.google.com and it now says:

Time to choose the transition path for your account
We’re extending the transition period for those using the Legacy Free Edition of G Suite. Upgrade now to enjoy a special discount on a Google Workspace subscription, or self-identify your legacy subscription is for personal use.

Learn more

[Check!] Continue using your custom domain with Gmail
Keep using Gmail with your custom domain [yourdomain.com]

[Check!] Retain access to no-cost Google services
You will retain access to the no-cost version of Google Workspace services such as Google Drive and Google Meet, and additional Google services such as Google Search, Google Maps, and YouTube

[Check!] Keep your purchases and data
You will retain access to paid content such as movie purchases at Google Play and data stored on Google Workspace

Click on "Confirm for personal use"

Thanks for choosing
You have chosen to continue using the Free Legacy Edition of G Suite for personal use.

sean

Out of the frying pan 🍳and into another 🍳! Sooner or later, Google is going to burn you. 🔥

Why not avoid the frying pan altogether and own your stack by moving your stuff to a Nextcloud instance here on Opalstack? 🙂

ttavoy

sean Why not avoid the frying pan altogether

Good point but there could be one thing of real value which google still brings to the table.

I've heard it said that mail sent through google's SMTP servers has "high deliverability", meaning that no other player in the galaxy will dare to blacklist it. I don't know how true that actually is ... any opinions welcome!

The possibly valuable thing which google offers is sending email from your own domain and through google's SMTP servers, without involving strange or contrived headers such as "Sent on behalf of:" or "X-Reply-to:"

But I do not want to receive email via google. Their own spam filters are un-liveable-with.

Would this work? ... Send via google, and receive via Opalstack. DKIM and SPF would be set for google, and MX would be set for Opalstack.

sean

ttavoy I'm not 100% certain but I think if you connect an external mail account to a Gmail account it will force you to use the external account's SMTP to send mail.

ttavoy

sean I think if you connect an external mail account to a Gmail account it will force you to use the external account's SMTP to send mail

This explanation from www.gmass.co gives helpful background I think

It used to be that you could configure any additional address that you own to use as a From Address in your Gmail account and have those emails send through Gmail’s servers. A few years ago, Gmail changed that policy and now forces you to enter the SMTP server credentials for any new From Address you want to set up that isn’t hosted on Gmail or G Suite.

Gmail made this change around August of 2014. With the increase in usage of SPF and DKIM, it no longer made sense for Gmail to allow you to send emails from a domain that Gmail itself has no control over, through Gmail servers. Gmail was opening itself up to abuse by allowing people to send any emails they wanted from any domain they wanted through their email system.

On the other hand, you might be lucky and grandfathered in if you set up your Alias From Address before Google made this change.

Grandfather Power!