anyone using Gmail, or google calendar for business?

[notfarnow]

I have my website hosted by a family member... he has helped me out tremendously in designing and setting up the website, troubleshooting issues and helping me manage content & updates.

However, he's a bit flakey and there have been a couple brief occasions where my website has been down.

Right now, I'm using a generic remax email, and would like to go to one that is "me@mywebsite", and then my part-time assistant could have "her@mywebiste". I spoke to my website guy about getting my email accounts set up, but also explained that I am anxious that if his server goes down, I would lose email... something I can't afford, even for a day.

He suggested using a business gmail account using my domain name, so I could get my "me@mywebsite" email address.

Does this make sense? anyone else using a gmail account this way? I don't want to set it up only to find that there are limitations of issues that will drive me crazy. For example, I want my assistant to be able to access and read my emails, and even reply to them, using either my email address or hers.

I also need to figure out how to properly syncronize google calendar, so that it automatically syncs with my outlook & blackberry calendar. Anyone else have this set up and working? Someone else recommended trundle, but I've never heard of it, and want to go with something that's proven effective

any input is appreciated.

[stomachmonkey]

email hosting is cheap. You can get an account with any of the majors for literally a couple of bucks a month with multiple addresses. 1and1.com has a product that gives you 5 addresses for $1.50 per month, $0.69 for the 1st 6 months.

Then use gmail to also retrieve mail from those accounts. That will provide you with one of the best spam filters available, for free, and acts as a backup, for free, should the other server blow up. You can receive and respond via gmail as you@yourdomain.com

[Paul_Heery]

Yes. I have been using Google Apps for my business, my wife's business and my homeowner's association for years. We don't use it for websites, but I point the MX records to google for email and other services.

Google just changed the free Google Apps so it is limited to 10 email accounts, it used to be 50.
If you need less than 10 email accounts, sign up here.
Google Apps helps groups build communities – Google Apps

Syncing with Outlook can be painless. Just set up Outlook to connect to the server as a MAPI client. That way, any changes made from any client (Outlook, web client, smartphone) will synch.

On your Blackberry, just use the Gmail app. It now supports Google Apps hosted email.

[scottmandue]

I use yahoo mail and calender... prefer it of Gmail.

It is free so doesn't cost anything to check it out.

YMMV

[Eric Coffey]

Yep, Google Apps is great for what you need. Pretty cheap too ($60/yr, per user) especially compared to running your own Exchange Server. We switched over to Google Apps some time ago. There were a few teething issues, but it is working great now.

Google Apps


EDIT: Looks like Paul beat me too it, with better info.

[dad911]

My company on google apps also. Switched about 6 months ago, I like it better than our old exchange server.