u/dr100

So ... "Google Accused of Pushing 'Free For Life' G Suite Users Onto Paid Plans" is now the last post on Slashdot, and there is also a link to TheRegister (I wouldn't have found it otherwise, I don't know if it ever hit the front page). Not including links because I've been caught in the past by Reddit's anti-whatever that might be, but they're easy to find.

I bet we'll now get a break, again. Until next time ...

Sound kind of obvious, but just in case - I'm putting it out there - for the ones that still want/need to use some Google services 15GBs for EVERYTHING might become tight. For example if you're pushing all the old mail, and you're doing Whatsapp backups on the same account 15GBs it's already tight if you weren't born yesterday. Of course, Drive and Photos ... sky's the limit.

However, you can configure multiple accounts, and certainly you can have without any side-effects a different one for your Whatsapp backups (as it isn't visible to anyone else, heck it's probably even advisable security-wise). Whatsapp backups used to not count but they do since a few years (not sure if it's only for new files or everything). (Android) Device backups theoretically take space, but I'm not sure how much, in any case also you can split to another account with no problem. Drive and Photos are harder to untangle, you might or might not split any or both.

Needless to say this applies only to people who can manage multiple accounts, set up their recovery methods, etc. (as they won't be domain accounts so you can reset their passwords as you please). I'm sure I'm speaking to a different crowd here, people who had their domain for 15-20 years, but I swear: each time I help someone with their phone they don't even know which Google or Samsung account they have. Half of the time we end up making a new account.

Also of course this is relevant if one wants to just use 15GBs a few times (probably at most 2-3x and not even full each time). If one needs the 100-200-1000GBs- ... plans it doesn't matter, in fact it's best to just use the same account to share the space.

I'm asking because the original attempt to kick us out (the one that started this sub) had an even clearer and unambiguous "move or else" message, but for the ones that didn't blink first ... we're still here.

Also, in my VERY limited experience it seemed like Google is a little reticent in actually nuking accounts or especially their data; sure there are stories about accounts getting flagged and locked with no recourse but for serious criminal activity (well at least alleged) or accounts nuked by mistake on even huge organizations with active contracts and proper support, but that's not really what we're discussing here.

I guess many people would move and try to host their email some other place and move to Workspace and try to use the Identity free licenses for the other services (including most notably maybe Play Store purchases) but it would also be interesting if someone tries a "who chicken first" with Google and reports what happens. I'm pretty sure there isn't much to lose, I mean even after they suspend you they'll still welcome you in the same Workspace if that's what you wanted ...

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^(For context I'm speaking of course about the "Your subscription may be suspended soon. This G Suite legacy Free Edition subscription is limited to non-commercial use." thing that's making the rounds.)