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I got Gmail for My domain!

Travis Harris [PersonRank 10]

Monday, May 1, 2006
18 years ago33,564 views

I finally got Gmail for my domain today and quite frankly... it is really cool.
It does have a few things that don't quite work for me, and I'm not certain that I am going to be able to get through these issues.

1) I can not link to my @gmail.com account – This is a problem with my Google homepage and for bouncing back and forth between my other addresses. Now I could forward all my other addresses E-mail to this new account, but my next point makes that tough.

2) Only two gigs – not the same size as a Gmail account. I know that this sounds greedy, but with my Gmail account My % is already growing too fast and I don't know what I'm going to do when I hit 100% If I now have about a gig less, that is going to be much more of a challenge.

3) Can't sign in from gmail.com – you would think that I could just use my full Email address and sign in from gmail.com, but no luck..... They give me a rather long address to type in to check my Email from a computer I have not set up with (https://mail.google.com/hosted/newcovsoft.com) now, fortunately, I will be able to get around this simply by making a sub domain for my domain (gmail.newcovsoft.com) But I have come to expect a little bit more from Google.

4) API – I could be wrong, but I can not find an API anywhere.... I will need to add employees on the fly as they are added to my companies Software system (http://www.tryross.com) There is an option to upload a spreadsheet of users, but to use that I can not just hack this to work with my software. They could change authentication and that would break it, and I can't rely on something that may not keep working.

5) No Custom Welcome Email – Gmail sends each of your users two emails when you create their account, but I do not have the option of sending them an E-mail.

6) Can't Share contacts – With a medium sized business, you generally want each person in the company to have everyone else in the company to be in their contact list. A step beyond this is, there may be people that everyone in your company deals with and you should be able to

But again..... the service is great.... some of the things that I really do like are

1) Managing Users is a breeze – I've used more interfaces that one should in a lifetime for managing Email. Adding and changing users is the easiest that I have used. Also Mailing list creation is as simple as adding a user.

2) Just like Gmail – once you get in, users are just like Gmail. I know that sounds dumb, but it is refreshing that it is not dumbed down all over the place.

3) Multiple admins – When signing up, it told me to choose an Admin user. I was afraid that we were going to be stuck with that account, but any user I add I can set as an administrator. This is not unlike some other systems that I have used, but it works much better!

4) Faster than Gmail – It may simply be the huge volume of information that I have in my Gmail account, but with my domain, it seems that Gmail is much more instant feeling than my Gmail account. With Gmail from the time I click on an Email to the time that it opens is usually 2-5 seconds (used to be instant feeling) with this, I'd say .25 second or less

As of this point I have not updated my MX record, so I do not have the ability to send/receive Email or chat, so I'm sure there will be some more points that I am able to make. I'm hoping there is a way to limit the chat to only other people in my company, but I'm rather doubting that'll be the case.

Captain Kangaroo [PersonRank 3]

18 years ago #

I recieved my Gmail for domain a while ago and honestly, I haven't used it yet. I have also forgotten the link page for it to sign in. It is almost a waste of time as far as for my needs go. I wish I knew how to get rid of it or to give it away because I don't want to waste Google's space.
Oh well,
Mike

Niraj Sanghvi [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Mike, I think an empty account would not even show up as a blip on Google's disk usage. If they were that worried about space, they wouldn't be offering 2 gigs per account in the first place.

Travis Harris [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

ahhh, but the concern is that he may use it. thousands of maybes sitting around have a large potential growth. This makes it so google has to be a little less ability to invite more people. But, in the end, does it really make any difference? probably not! (unless they release some huge feature that makes everyone want to activate their previously abandoned gmail domain!

Kirby Witmer [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

I just recently got gmail for your domain as well. It's kinda cool, but I'm not ready to switch to it just yet... I share some of the same issues as Travis.

/pd [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

any idea if the calendar funtion works with these accounts too ? I heard that thye plan to have hosted calendar service for doman accounts too. but how is it behaving with the current calendar module ?

Ludwik Trammer [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

According to them calendar for hosted domain is coming soon (see: https://www.google.com/hosted/)

What's interesting for me are the jabber accounts (IM), are they in your domain? That would be really great...

/pd [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Ahh.. Excellent question Ludwik!! That service just slipped thru my radar. Yes, that would be excellent espcially gtalk!!

or [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Yes the jabber account are in your domain.

CarLBanks [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

I've been fully using Gmail For Your Domain and Google Talk works just fine using it. I'm glad to hear about calendars too!

Mark Thomson [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

I'm wondering if you will be able to have Gmail for not only internal company use but also for site visitors.

It would be cool to offer my site members an email address and cobranded interface. Not really all that practical but if you've got a couple cool 'vanity' sites/domains it could be of interest to users.

For example someuser[put at-character here]widgetreviews.com

Google?

Rob [PersonRank 0]

18 years ago #

I've been using this for a while now. Very snazzy. I only use four of my allotted 50 email addresses though. Ah the life of an open-source software co.

Travis Harris [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Mark, I only got 25 allotted accounts, above that is premium (though not available yet) Though, this idea would be attainable with that API that I was hoping for in point four of my Con's. Right now, I am able to offer my customers their own E-mail addresses, and even unique (their own in a manner of speaking) domains to go with them if they want (otherwise I use a sub domain of one of the other domains that I use eg user[put at-character here]abccompany.attdeal.com)

Anthony [PersonRank 0]

18 years ago #

Hey Captain Kangaroo... if you have an account you're not using I'd be interested in it. You can ask Google to do a domain change. Let me know...

I wonder what an account goes for if one was to auction it on ebay? hmm :)

/pd [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Anthony : auction will fringe on TOS voiltion!!

Captain Kangaroo [PersonRank 3]

18 years ago #

Anthony, email me at either mostpsp[put at-character here]gmail.com or at mostlabs[put at-character here]30gigs.com. I will see if I can do a domain change.
Mike

Captain Kangaroo [PersonRank 3]

18 years ago #

I forgot what the page was to log in though...

Josh Meyer [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

The login address should be https://www.google.com/hosted/yourdomain.com

Captain Kangaroo [PersonRank 3]

18 years ago #

Thanks, that works. The only problem is that I forgot my login stuff!
Oops,
Mike

Captain Kangaroo [PersonRank 3]

18 years ago #

Sorry Anthony. I was able to log in, however it is for my domain and I can't change it from http://mostpsp.googlepages.com. Plus it has all of my information on it.
Sorry,
Mike

Adam B. [PersonRank 4]

18 years ago #

I've had google for your domain for a while. I was granted 200 accounts for free. So the reports of over 25 being a premium are false.

Adam B. [PersonRank 4]

18 years ago #

Scratch that, I checked again, and it was 150.

Captain Kangaroo [PersonRank 3]

18 years ago #

I only got 5. But that was all I asked for.
Mike

Captain Kangaroo [PersonRank 3]

18 years ago #

It says that I have 5, however it also says that I can get up to 25 for free.
Mike

Sam Davyson [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

I asked for 10. I get 25 free. Although I have just swicthed the MX back to my normal webmail host, since Google don't offer autoresponders right now.

Oh my god! I just realised that vacation response would have worked nicely... I am switching back!

Michael @ BLITZ [PersonRank 0]

18 years ago #

Problems I've seen with GMail for Domains that wouldn't make me switch over.

1) There are issues w/ POP. Even though I have leave mail on server checked in my email client, they are still only downloaded once. This causes problem when I have users who check their mail at home/mobile/etc.

2) They need to implement IMAP.

I was sick and tired of entering that long URL to access my host page so what I did was create a redirect from my domain name so it's now mail.mydomain.com

Other than that it's really great. I'm pretty impressed by their antispam filters as well.

Militantplatypus [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

I also have hosted gmail, but haven't switched my mx records yet.

As for entering the long url, I just created a redirect off of a subdomain, that instantly sends my to http://www.google.com/hosted/milita...

Anthony [PersonRank 0]

18 years ago #

Capt. don't worry about it. thanks for the effort tho :)

Captain Kangaroo [PersonRank 3]

18 years ago #

No problem.

Jamie [PersonRank 0]

18 years ago #

Yeah, the 2GB limit is a concern for me as well. I see the expanding space as an answer to people asking how they can bulk delete old items from their account. Google did not (and still does not) provide a way to remove lots of old items at once. With the hosted domains having a fixed limit, they need to revisit that question and figure it out :)

Richard N. Piper IV [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

I have Gmail for Your Doman for Media4God.org and have 50 User accounts and am only using 1 User account. This is an online ministry and I am wondering if there is a way to change how many users you are allowed to have for free? If anyone knows the answer to this please email me at richard.piper[put at-character here]media4god.org

Mobadass [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

I just signed up for it but no e-mail yet :(
How long did it take you guys?
Also if it is possible could someone send an invite to me (not sure if there are invites)
my email is mark {period} obad {via} gmail {period} com

lol I don't want to be stuck with that crappy msn live email

THANKS!

OREO [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

No invites.. and it took me a month or two to get it.

Mobadass [PersonRank 1]

18 years ago #

:(ok that sux but!!!
ill wait!

edward [PersonRank 0]

18 years ago #

I am debating using this for my domain, but I received 1000 user accounts. For me, the hassle would be setting up each user's account.

KoTi [PersonRank 0]

18 years ago #

Hi ,this is koti. i am very happy to say that i got, Gmail hosted for my domain name one week back.

But the thing is if i change my MX records to Gmail MX records in my isp server.
It will take around(24/48 hours) time to update these records. After this time Gmail hosted may work properly, in mean while my mail will work or not(if i want to send and receive mails in this duration what will happen). This is the only burning problem for me as if now., so any one please help regording this situation.

Thanks in advance.

Regards And Thanks
KoTi
softsu[put at-character here]gmail.com

iZeitgeist [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

Gates could probably make a good use of Gmail for the domain hotmail.com.

Nelson [PersonRank 0]

18 years ago #

Hi all,

I have my own domain. Anyone can tech me, how can I register to use Gmail for my domain service?

Thanks

Nelson

Sunil Nair [PersonRank 9]

18 years ago #

Nelson, go to https://www.google.com/hosted/Home to get started.

Ramibotros [PersonRank 10]

18 years ago #

I got one ramibotros.com!!! too bad i found out i must have owned the domain from before :D .. i'm stupid, i know

Ramibotros [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

Damned i really wished to own mail[put at-character here]ramibotros.com :'(
http://images.google.com/images?q=tbn:nH3Lm3jfXVlxYM:www.wegehenkel.com/images/my_work/illustration/illu-crying-baby.gif

Tony Ruscoe [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

Ramibotros – why don't you just buy the ramibotros.com domain then? It's available...

http://who.godaddy.com/whois.aspx?domain=ramibotros.com

And if you've already got "Gmail for your domain" approved then you should be able to start using it almost right away!

(BTW, http://www.GoDaddy.com – which I linked to above – are quite cheap and it enables you to update your MX records easily so that it works with the "Gmail for your domain" service...)

pyxlb0mb [PersonRank 1]

17 years ago #

I just got my invite tonight ... and I have available 10000 email .... I run an association though and I have over 500,000 members ... so go figure ... gotta pay to play!!!

John [PersonRank 0]

17 years ago #

I just got an account for gmail for domains. Question... when I login, I don't see the calendaring feature. Is that still not an option? Do we know when that might happen?

Another thought... when it becomes available, will calendars be able to be shared to a list (ie. staff[put at-character here]domain.com) that will share the calendar to, say, all users?

I'm intrigued about this. I may sit on it a while until the calendar thing and shared contacts comes about.

Thanks!

Art-One [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

I've got mine too, i.e. after having registered a second time... Now i've got it after a few weeks. Now I have to change my MX records to there servers, but my ISP doesn't accept their names... I've just contacted my ISP's support desk. I hope they'll answer soon.

John, I hope for calendaring too and also for space to put our homepage on, etc. etc.

Ionut Alex. Chitu [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

There's always Google Page Creator.

Art-One [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

There is, but it should be nice to put my domain name on it ;-)

Roland Allen [PersonRank 0]

17 years ago #

I just got GMail for my domain. I like it because now I'm using my domain more. I had begun to use GMail more because of the accessibility. GMail for my domain is, in a sense, almost like having a free exchange server service provided my Google.

Art-One [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

Allen, it's not almost, it is like having a free exchange server.
You have mail, contacts, calendars & if you use writely & spreadsheets you have half of office (and if you consider base & picasa even more).
Need something more?
(I agree that extra features would be nice & I would like also to host my site, but that's really it...)

Lee Redhead [PersonRank 0]

17 years ago #

I have just activated my Gmail for Domain service and it is all working well though I have a qustion regarding Google Talk which somebody here might have a solution for.

The notification works great and tells me that I have a new email in my inbox, so I click the notification and get taken tothe standard Gmail login page which I then have to got to the correct page and login.

Is there anyway of telling Google Talk that you now use a hosted service and it should go to a different page?

Lee

Sankar Anand [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

currently there is no gmail notifier for gmail for your domain i think

but gmail for your domain works great with gtalk

enter the username as username[put at-character here]dominname.com
and login so that you can use the in built notifier..... and even you can add gmail contact.s.

Leonard Schultz [PersonRank 0]

17 years ago #

Does anyone know if there's a way to add a second domain alias to Google for Your Domain, so that it accepts mail addressed to either?

I would like Google to accept mail to both the com and net versions of my name, but I don't want to have to forward all the mail from one to the other (waste of a mail server) and right now Google refuses delivery of the second.

Dave [PersonRank 0]

17 years ago #

for the notification I use the gmail notifyer plugin for FireFox :-)

it works like a charm.

also, GMAIL HOSTED DOMAINS ROCK

now all we need is IMAP :-)

stefan2904 [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

Gmail Notifier (only for Windows 2000 or XP and Mac OS X 10.3.9+ (including Tiger)) is also very nice... (if firefox is not started..)
https://mail.google.com/mail/help/notifier/

Wouter Schut [PersonRank 10]

17 years ago #

[put at-character here]Leonard Schultz, you should try to forward your mail from the *[put at-character here]yourdomain.net to *[put at-character here]yourdomain.com. Or you could forward every mail (with a catch-all) for *[put at-character here]yourdomain.net to a filter-account filter[put at-character here]yourdomain.com and create a filter per user-account...

If anyone wants a @xurble.com you can mail me at admin[put at-character here]xurble.com

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