New Workspace for your WFH office? Nah, it's just Google shooting G Suite with the rebrandogun
(2020/10/06)
- Reference: 1602001744
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2020/10/06/google_workspace/
- Source link:
Google has fired a rebrandogun loaded with fresh icons at its G Suite platform. Prepare to relinquish the suite life and put nose to the grindstone in [1]Google's "Workspace" .
G Suite was Google's take on an online productivity and collaboration platform, which included the likes of Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets and so on. Over the last year, the company has been attempting to link things together. For example, Meet was shoehorned into Gmail [2]back in April and last month the Chocolate Factory [3]showed off hardware built to foster collaboration in a business setting.
Archrival Microsoft also has a range of gear to deposit on enterprise desks and in meeting rooms. In fact the seeming ubiquity of Microsoft 365 makes the six million paying Google Workspace business users appear a little weedy in comparison.
Enter the rebrandogun and "a new brand identity" because, frankly, "G Suite" sounds a bit like a character from the Half Life franchise or a 1970s sofa.
The G Suite brand will live on for a few more months for Education and Non-profit customers before succumbing to the inevitable and the new, ever more indecipherable, iconography shows up.
While Google Workspace contains the tools from G Suite, Google is adding linked previews in Docs, Sheets and Slides, allowing a user to preview links without dropping out of the original document. It will also be possible to create a document (again, Docs, Sheets and Slides) within a room in Chat without having to jump elsewhere.
Meet picture-in-picture, which is already in Gmail and Chat, will be rolling out to Docs, Sheets and Slides in the coming months, affording users the opportunity to gurn at each other while massaging figures on that graph or doing group projects.
Google has tried to reassure those a little jumpy about security and privacy: Meet will receive audit logging and classification capabilities aimed at keeping previously ejected users out of future meetings. It will also spot users with those oh-so-witty "abusive display names" and disallow them.
In addition, Chat will receive audit logs, aimed at helping admins spot phishing, malicious behaviour or unwanted data seepage.
That seepage will be further staunched by a redesigned rules platform aimed at protecting data and preventing it from going places it shouldn't.
All are handy features, but it is worth noting that Microsoft has also been [4]banging on about data loss prevention and its ilk and, for many, the warm embrace of Microsoft 365 is hard to avoid at an enterprise level.
That said, Google has scored some notable victories over its rival, including a switch by aviation giant [5]Airbus to G Suite in 2018 . Back then the move was attributed more to collaboration rather than [6]cost , music to the ears of VP for Google Workspace (and former Microsoft exec), Javier Soltero.
[7]Pricing is little changed, although both the names and what you actually get for your money have done. While a new "Business Standard" tier keeps the old "Business" tier price, users seeking features such as eDiscovery and advanced endpoint and vault management will need to opt for the new, and pricier, "Business Plus" tier.
"Business Standard" can be had for £8.28 (US $12) per user per month while the Plus version commands £13.80 (US $18). Access to more of Workspace's features requires the Enterprise tier, as do those companies with 300 or more users.
Matthew Hodgson, CEO at group messenger app maker Element, claimed Google's "increased consolidation" is "incredibly anti-competitive, stifling innovation by making it harder for users to adopt alternatives."
"By tightly integrating together their existing offerings, Google is making it ever harder to use alternatives, and is effectively holding the users and their data hostage - at the users’ long term expense." ®
Get our [8]Tech Resources
[1] https://cloud.google.com/press-releases/2020/1006/googleworkspace
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2020/04/17/gmail_inbox_meet/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/16/google_series_one_meet_hardware/
[4] https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compliance/data-loss-prevention-policies?view=o365-worldwide
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2018/03/15/airbus_cio_interview/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2013/07/15/microsoft_office365_versus_google/
[7] https://workspace.google.com/pricing.html
[8] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
G Suite was Google's take on an online productivity and collaboration platform, which included the likes of Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets and so on. Over the last year, the company has been attempting to link things together. For example, Meet was shoehorned into Gmail [2]back in April and last month the Chocolate Factory [3]showed off hardware built to foster collaboration in a business setting.
Archrival Microsoft also has a range of gear to deposit on enterprise desks and in meeting rooms. In fact the seeming ubiquity of Microsoft 365 makes the six million paying Google Workspace business users appear a little weedy in comparison.
Enter the rebrandogun and "a new brand identity" because, frankly, "G Suite" sounds a bit like a character from the Half Life franchise or a 1970s sofa.
The G Suite brand will live on for a few more months for Education and Non-profit customers before succumbing to the inevitable and the new, ever more indecipherable, iconography shows up.
While Google Workspace contains the tools from G Suite, Google is adding linked previews in Docs, Sheets and Slides, allowing a user to preview links without dropping out of the original document. It will also be possible to create a document (again, Docs, Sheets and Slides) within a room in Chat without having to jump elsewhere.
Meet picture-in-picture, which is already in Gmail and Chat, will be rolling out to Docs, Sheets and Slides in the coming months, affording users the opportunity to gurn at each other while massaging figures on that graph or doing group projects.
Google has tried to reassure those a little jumpy about security and privacy: Meet will receive audit logging and classification capabilities aimed at keeping previously ejected users out of future meetings. It will also spot users with those oh-so-witty "abusive display names" and disallow them.
In addition, Chat will receive audit logs, aimed at helping admins spot phishing, malicious behaviour or unwanted data seepage.
That seepage will be further staunched by a redesigned rules platform aimed at protecting data and preventing it from going places it shouldn't.
All are handy features, but it is worth noting that Microsoft has also been [4]banging on about data loss prevention and its ilk and, for many, the warm embrace of Microsoft 365 is hard to avoid at an enterprise level.
That said, Google has scored some notable victories over its rival, including a switch by aviation giant [5]Airbus to G Suite in 2018 . Back then the move was attributed more to collaboration rather than [6]cost , music to the ears of VP for Google Workspace (and former Microsoft exec), Javier Soltero.
[7]Pricing is little changed, although both the names and what you actually get for your money have done. While a new "Business Standard" tier keeps the old "Business" tier price, users seeking features such as eDiscovery and advanced endpoint and vault management will need to opt for the new, and pricier, "Business Plus" tier.
"Business Standard" can be had for £8.28 (US $12) per user per month while the Plus version commands £13.80 (US $18). Access to more of Workspace's features requires the Enterprise tier, as do those companies with 300 or more users.
Matthew Hodgson, CEO at group messenger app maker Element, claimed Google's "increased consolidation" is "incredibly anti-competitive, stifling innovation by making it harder for users to adopt alternatives."
"By tightly integrating together their existing offerings, Google is making it ever harder to use alternatives, and is effectively holding the users and their data hostage - at the users’ long term expense." ®
Get our [8]Tech Resources
[1] https://cloud.google.com/press-releases/2020/1006/googleworkspace
[2] https://www.theregister.com/2020/04/17/gmail_inbox_meet/
[3] https://www.theregister.com/2020/09/16/google_series_one_meet_hardware/
[4] https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-365/compliance/data-loss-prevention-policies?view=o365-worldwide
[5] https://www.theregister.com/2018/03/15/airbus_cio_interview/
[6] https://www.theregister.com/2013/07/15/microsoft_office365_versus_google/
[7] https://workspace.google.com/pricing.html
[8] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
G Suite
HildyJ
I'm sorry, that name always made me think of a brand of sex toys.
This Rebrandogun works better than most of Google's rebrandings. Not that it makes the products and services any less slurpy.
Serious question - usability?
Thomas PinkOne
How do people find the usability of GSuite, sorry, Gworkspace? To me it’s very unfriendly- UI and content all undifferentiated and cluttered together on a flat white background. Tell me I’m wrong but it also seems like it might be an accessibility nightmare, eg if you use a screen reader. I don’t think this is due to the limitations of web apps as I’ve seen plenty of friendlier and more functional UIs delivered this way.
TheRealRoland
I miss 'whale song' :-(
sgp
Time for Lotus Notes to make a comeback.
"Rebrandogun"
Lovely description.
Sill highly radioactive and would only be touched with a 4000 km bargepole.
Slurp, slurp, slurp.