Over the past few months, Google has been rapidly updating its workspace. And in these updates, Google seems to be focusing on improving its products as well as keeping all those products connected to make an ecosystem. And Google has finally opened Google Workspace and Google Chat for all of its users. Any user with a Google Account will now be able to use Google Workspace -G Suite. With this update, Google users will now be able to access more new systems in Google Apps, including Gmail, Docs, Chat, Meet, Drive, and Sheets. All these apps can now be used in a single tab. This might not sound like a big deal but, Google says that the number of users for its Workspace apps counts in 3 billion.
What features does it include?
First, Google Chat helps you connect with your team through messages and group conversations. Then there’s the ability to see all of your messages in one place i.e. chat and Gmail. There are dedicated virtual rooms to help you organize your workflow.
The latter — Spaces — replaces Chat Rooms, an area in Workspace Chat “for people, projects and topics to come together, with a real-time collaboration canvas,” Sanaz Ahari, senior director of product management for Google Workspace, said in a briefing last week. Spaces will be available for its enterprise customers first and then later trickle down to all.
But the best part has to be its ability to collaborate with other Google productivity and office apps like Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides. These are all office-oriented features which people used to pay for. And now that it is all free to use, it definitely turns heads.
Also Read: LeoSquad a virtual workspace
Do you need to pay for these?
While the aforementioned features are free for all to use, Google does have subscription plans.
Workspace Individual, a new subscription tier aimed at freelancers and sole traders with features such as email marketing tools, and smart booking services. This new subscription tier will soon be making its debut in the US, Canada, Mexico, Australia, Brazil, and Japan with an introductory price of $7.99/ month. This will go up to $9.99/month.
What else?
Google has also announced that it will soon introduce Google Chat Room as “Space”. Space and chat rooms will not be much different, but Google claims that space and chat rooms will be different depending on the work. According to Google, there will be some changes in the space including message thread, user rolls, moderation tools, and new emoji reactions will also be added. Google has said that it will bring it to the users soon after completing the necessary preparations for Space.
