Tag Archives: Google

Google Apps vs Google Accounts – the difference between them.

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I’ve used Google Apps for my domain, and until recently I wondered why I could have two separate Gmail accounts on the one login.  I’ve read various explanations of how Google accounts worked but it wasn’t until I disconnected my Google Apps account from my Google Account that the truth sank in.

I started with a Google Apps account and gradually added Google services to it.  I always assumed that I had one Google account, and that as administrator of my Google Apps domain, that I could reset the password etc easily if I was hacked.  Not so, because what I actually had was two Google accounts that had the same login details and the same password.

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It suddenly made sense why PicasaWeb would not tag my images using my Google Apps contacts, since these were two separate contacts lists on two separate accounts.  I found Google Docs I had contributed to in my Google account, whereas most of my work documents were in my Google Apps account.

As a solution I migrated all my email and contacts to my GMail account (on the Google account).  I could now tag my Picasaweb photos using my contacts in my address book.  The contacts were also present in Google reader as well so I could now email articles to my friends.  It made sense to have all my services in one common account but this created a problem.

If you’ve used GMail to send email from a different address to your own, some recipients see a “on behalf of” message – e.g. From: [email protected] on behalf of [email protected]  I didn’t think this looked very professional but Google has a solution.  Using the technique recommended by Google I set up another sending address but using the Google SMTP server with my Google Apps login details.  Now (as intended) I can send email from my GMail account and it looks like it came from my Google Apps account, and as a bonus an extra copy of outgoing mail is saved in my Google Apps accounts.

I’m not sure that using my GMail account is as professional as using a Google Apps account, but to recipients of my email there is no distinguishable difference.

There is very little operational difference between Google Apps email and regular GMail apart from the fact that the contacts list for Google Apps accounts are not shared with other Google services.  You can also add extra storage to a regular GMail account but this is not possible with a Google Apps account (unless you upgrade to the the premier version).

With many schools and businesses moving to Google Apps, I think it is important to be clear about the difference between the two types of account.  It would be nicer to see closer integration between Google Apps and Google accounts but I can see the reasons why this has not been implemented.

Google DNS

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I recently read about the launch of Google DNS.  I don’t use my ISP’s DNS servers, I use OpenDNS and have always thought my service felt nippier.  However without any method of testing any test is subjective and lacks any scientific rigor.

I found out about Steve Gibson’s DNS benchmarking software and carried out a couple of tests earlier tonight. It seems that Google DNS isn’t quite as fast as they would have you believe, although it could be network location dependent.  I’ll carry on using OpenDNS as I like the security and other features that they offer, but it could certainly be worth keeping an eye on.

VirginMedia have already outsourced their email to Google.  Perhaps one day Google will provide their DNS services as well!

Google: friend or foe?

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After signing up for Google Latitude to try it out, I was impressed by how slick it was.  It loaded up all my contacts from my GMail account and then asked me who I wanted my location releasing to.   The software worked flawlessly (once I’d managed to sign in) and I could also see my location on an iGoogle gadget.  Very impressive.

As mentioned I already use Gmail for my email – between multiple PCs, much faster and more intuitive than using an IMAP-enabled browser.  I use Google Calendar for tracking birthdays, important meetings and for publishing my professional calendar.  I use Google Sites for sharing my resources, and with my teaching groups to put useful pieces of information online. I use Blogger to write this blog.  I use Google Docs to keep some of my work online where I can get to it.  All of this accessible from a single user ID and password.
I’ve also read about educators using Google tools (e.g. Google Docs) with their pupils (see here the excellent work Tom Barrett does).  I don’t know many people who haven’t got a Google account for at least one of their products.

I had a conversation with our Information Manager at work, about the forthcoming data retention legislation.  I object strongly to local councils, government departments and other state bodies having access to my email and communications data without proper safeguards and controls.  Anyone who read my email would be bored to tears, I am a fairly average (read dull) law abiding citizen – but it is the principle of the legislation I object to.  Then our data manager pointed out the irony of my position when I willingly hand all my personal data over to Google.

For 2 years I’ve enjoyed the convenience of GMail with its excellent spam filtering.  I’ve enjoyed the wealth of products that Google has to offer, but I haven’t really stopped to consider why it offers those services, and what is in it for them?

I have found many and varied opinions on the web, some specific to Google and others to the wider implications of data privacy.  I’m a little less comfortable with Google than I was, to the point that I’m wondering if to move my email elsewhere.

Do you use Google’s tools?   How do you feel about your privacy?  Are you bothered?  I would appreciate your feedback/comments below.