Google Apps: Goodbye Unwanted ExpensesGoogle Apps: Goodbye Unwanted Expenses

Apple has built a really good model of using the cloud but it fails to deliver an essential element.

Sometimes squeezing dollars becomes challenging but you can’t lose sight of the rewards. My initial temptation was to do nothing and make no changes and later I mused about using our Mac Mini Server as an email server. But a reality check led me to say, "No, just use Google."

My server buddy offered some suggestions that all made sense up to the point that neither one of us understand Apple and their ways. Apple's cloud service comes up short whenever it comes to email (and one other thing). The idea of Apple not being able to support our domain email just doesn't make sense and I've always worked around it. So this is why I opted for Google Apps (Standard) and because it's FREE for 50 users or less. The Apple purist in me wants to use Apple's cloud services, especially since Apple acts like a company that is trying to come out of the closet as one that serves businesses--not just consumers. So moving to Google speaks volumes about the inadequacies of Apple--meaning we pay Apple for MobileMe hosting services and they won’t even do what Google does (free).

The Google Apps signup is easy with clear instructions to create an Alias (CNAME) pointed to our domain. I did this online through our domain registrar control panel in a couple of minutes. Next, I recreated all the user accounts for mail on Gmail and then authenticated our ownership of the domain with Google. (There is an import tool) The changes went into effect by the next day. The Gmail app also provides a testing tool to verify account settings and instructions for Macs or PCs using IMAP/POP accounts. After testing with these temporary accounts the next change pointed the MX (Mail Exchange) records over to Google. Since all of our email is funneled through McAfee/MX Logic, the MX records point to them first and then from there we inserted the Google mail servers and priority for each. Next we modified our existing email accounts and went live in minutes without any loss of email or disruption. Having the McAfee/MX Logic disaster failover option and archiving feature is a huge benefit.

A few days later we cancelled our email host services (different than our ISP) and resolved another issue that we find with our customers' providers. Often, the providers do not lock down or properly secure their servers for their customer accounts to accept inbound email from only McAfee/MX Logic servers. SPAM, malware and viruses still creep into customer sites. Google Apps also provides Gmail for mobile devices, calendaring, documents and websites.

Goodbye unnecessary mail hosting expenses. Apple runs in the blind of not getting it (what businesses want) while Google runs the chance of getting more followers into their cloud thinking. Even if Apple were to charge for doing what me and other business owners want, chances are we'd pay for it. Apple has built a really good model of using the cloud but it fails to deliver an essential element. The services of the cloud offering must make sense for businesses and this escapes Apples current solution. Thanks Google for making Apple whole and it's too bad that our email is a hop, skip and a jump away from Apple.