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Google has announced some upgrades and changes to the Workspace suite of Apps and Services a few hours back. Now, Anyone with a Google account can avail of such features. Google claims that over 3 billion users use Workspace apps.
Availability
People will soon see some changes to the Google apps like Gmail, Docs, Chats, and more. All of them will be piled up in a single tab so that users can switch between apps quickly. As an example, Google Chats will slide over to the left to reveal a shared spreadsheet. Google’s new “Smart Canvas” is more related to this. Various apps can be interlinked with another feature called “Smart Chips.”
Google Chat
For getting started, Google is officially pushing an offer to all the users to turn on Google Chat. The option will be found under setting within the Gmail app.
Upon turning on, Google Chat should be an available option for all Google users. Google Chats feature direct messages and chat rooms. The company modified chat rooms into Spaces.
The New Space
Google’s this Space is nothing but a modified chat room feature where all the top-level communication apps are integrated at a place like Gmail, Chat, and Meet. Google is developing its services greatly, you can now use more emojis, add user roles, several moderation tools, and also make your space discoverable to others. The button line is, with Google’s Space you can have a taste of Slack and Discord at the same place.
“If you start something with an email and then you want to upgrade it into more real-time interaction between a group — or even for a project — you’re able to do that and you can keep the context. Then you can all seamlessly upgrade into a meeting at the same time.”
– Sanaz Ahari, Senior Director of Products, Google
Google announced a more streamlined and intuitive user interface for Spaces soon this summer.
Pricing
Google didn’t announce much about their upcoming modifications with the Workspace. However, the company mentioned that a tier will be there titled “Google Workspace Individual” for $9.99 per month. Users of this tier will have more workspace tools without even requiring those tools to set up their domain or custom email address.
More About Workspace
Google has designed workspace to be very productive for the users. As soon as a user wants to have a meeting with others, Workspace will provide them with options to attending the meeting remotely or in a reserved meeting room.
On the companion mode, users can turn on cameras so that people don’t feel left alone. These features will come soon in September on desktops and later on smartphones.
Web App Like Desktop App
Google is working to develop a web app for Workspace which will come out in September as well. With this app, users will feel that they are using actually a desktop app rather than just jumping between some tabs in the browser. Via several Electron apps and Single Site Browser windows, Google is planning to develop the aforementioned web app.
Workspace for Enterprise
Google has added Enterprise options as well. Workspace for big companies needs more features and management along with better security options. Google thus added the enterprise option to target the big companies and their needs on an online workspace.
Apart from every other feature, enterprise users will get several “trust rules” for Drive files for access and permissions. There will be more security options and label files depending on the sensitivity.
Wrapping Up
Google Workspace has been getting frequent updates for the past few months. The company wants a very precise and productive platform to offer to its users. It seems Google Workspace is in serious competition with Microsoft Teams. Users will see more pop-ups about these updates. Google’s Chat, Meet, and Upcoming Spaces will be a set of handy apps for all, expected by Google.
