Google has announced they are both redoing the interface to Gmail, but also releasing a free Workspace tier that doesn’t include email.
That new level, Workspace Essentials Stater, is everything but — Docs, Sheets, Chats, and such. and citing TechCrunch, the plan could be seen as a Trojan horse for IT, as it doesn’t require administrative controls. The plan is limited to 25 people, but an unlimtied number of teams in an organization can sign up.
Why do we care?
So, I noted this and was intrigued but decided not to cover it… until I noted providers discussing it too in this context, and the solutions were entirely focused on preventing signups.
And thus why we care. Too much of the focus here is trying to solve a business problem with a technical solution. If you’re worried about your users signing up for this, perhaps the solution isn’t to block them from doing so, but instead make sure they wouldn’t want to do so because they have approved solutions that work.