Skip to main content

The context you need, when you need it

When news breaks, you need to understand what actually matters — and what to do about it. At Vox, our mission to help you make sense of the world has never been more vital. But we can’t do it on our own.

We rely on readers like you to fund our journalism. Will you support our work and become a Vox Member today?

Join now

Here’s how Google’s rival to Microsoft Office, G Suite, came together

It still has only a fraction of Microsoft’s market share, but Google is trying to catch up.

Hangouts Meet, a G Suite product
Hangouts Meet, a G Suite product
Hangouts Meet, a G Suite product
Google

As of 2015, Google held 3 percent of the enterprise productivity suite software market, with an estimated $397.4 million in revenue, according to research firm Gartner. Microsoft, with almost $12.7 billion in revenue, held a little more than 95 percent.

That’s a gap Google clearly hopes to close with its recent push into enterprise. The company has been adding artificial intelligence features to tools, and even released a piece of hardware that integrates with G Suite, its Microsoft Office competitor, in an effort to attract the kind of enterprise customers that are entrenched in Microsoft products.

One large customer that Google recently announced it had lured to G Suite is Verizon, which shifted 150,000 of its employees to the platform.

G Suite is offered to professional customers in different price tiers (basic, business and enterprise) and different versions. A free version of G Suite for educators, for example, is comparable to the business version, but with some modifications, according to a Google spokesperson.

Many tools that are part of G Suite are available for free to consumer users with Google accounts; these tools include Gmail, Hangouts communications tools, word processor Docs and Excel competitor Sheets.

Before G Suite, there were free business Gmail accounts, which came after the release of the consumer version of Gmail. Here’s a compact rundown of the origins of G Suite, and how it expanded and changed over time:

2004: The consumer version of Gmail launched as an invitation-only product that was still in testing, according to Matthew Glotzbach, former director of product management for Google Apps and Google Enterprise.

2005/2006: By early 2006, Google announced Gmail for Your Domain, and San Jose City College was one of the first organizations to test it. Glotzbach said the apps and tools that make up what is now called G Suite were layered into this professional version of Gmail.

2006: Later in 2006, Google launched Google Apps for Your Domain, the first iteration of what eventually became known as G Suite. This included Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk (the precursor to Google Hangouts, which in its current form offers text, video and audio conversation options), and web publishing tool Google Page Creator, the precursor to Sites. The company offered a free version of the suite and was still working on a premium paid version.

2007: Google Apps Premier Edition, the first paid version of Google Apps, was released. New features included more storage and 24-hour support, according to a Google spokesperson. In a press release about the news, Google named Procter & Gamble Global Business Services, Salesforce.com and Prudential Preferred Properties as customers. Also in 2007, Google Docs and Google Spreadsheets, the latter now called Sheets, which were existing offerings from Google, were incorporated into paid and free versions of the suite.

2011: Google set a limit of 10 users per account for the free version of Google Apps. It’s not clear how many users had previously been allowed on the free version, but according to a user who wrote in a help forum, the company had previously allowed up to 50 users on a free account.

2012: This is the year Google stopped offering free Google Apps accounts to new users. Legacy free accounts stopped receiving new features added to paid accounts at this time, according to a Google spokesperson. However, to date, legacy accounts are still supported. These accounts differ from consumer Gmail and Google accounts, which give users access to free versions of certain apps in G Suite, in that they have features otherwise limited to paid accounts, including customizable domains, freedom from ads in Gmail and support for multiple users if already included on the account.

Also in 2012, Google added cloud storage service Google Drive to the suite of tools; it’s currently available to both paying and non-paying consumer users, though it’s unclear if it may have been for paying customers only in the beginning. Google also added archiving service Vault, which is available to certain tiers of paying customers and can also be purchased separately, according to the spokesperson.

Also during this year, a slideshow tool previously incorporated into Docs was broken out as its own tool, Slides, according to a Google spokesperson.

And Google appointed Diane Greene, co-founder and former CEO of cloud computing software company VMware, to its board of directors.

2015: Google hired Greene to lead enterprise efforts including cloud computing and productivity applications. The move was read as indication that the company is serious about making a bigger play in the enterprise market, where it has lagged behind Microsoft and Amazon.

2016: Google Apps was rebranded as G Suite. The rebranding came with a lot of name-changing which is explained here. Google announced a piece of hardware called the Jamboard that integrates with G Suite tools. Jamboard is an interactive screen that automatically saves images created on it and can be shared with remote workers by video chat. The company additions include a new tool called App Maker, which helps developers create new apps for G Suite.


This article originally appeared on Recode.net.

More in Technology

Podcasts
Are humanoid robots all hype?Are humanoid robots all hype?
Podcast
Podcasts

AI is making them better — but they’re not going to be doing your chores anytime soon.

By Avishay Artsy and Sean Rameswaram
Future Perfect
The old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemicThe old tech that could help stop the next airborne pandemic
Future Perfect

Glycol vapors, explained.

By Shayna Korol
Future Perfect
Elon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wantsElon Musk could lose his case against OpenAI — and still get what he wants
Future Perfect

It’s not about who wins. It’s about the dirty laundry you air along the way.

By Sara Herschander
Life
Why banning kids from AI isn’t the answerWhy banning kids from AI isn’t the answer
Life

What kids really need in the age of artificial intelligence.

By Anna North
Culture
Anthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque messAnthropic owes authors $1.5B for pirating work — but the claims process is a Kafkaesque mess
Culture

“Your AI monster ate all our work. Now you’re trying to pay us off with this piece of garbage that doesn’t work.”

By Constance Grady
Future Perfect
Some deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapySome deaf children are hearing again because of a new gene therapy
Future Perfect

A medical field that almost died is quietly fixing one disease at a time.

By Bryan Walsh