are google apps still free?

I have to admit I was alarmed this morning reading Michael Arrington’s post, What The Hell Happened To The Free Version of Google Apps? Business Ready is a major supporter of Google Apps for small businesses (the standard edition) as it is a fantastic tool which allows you to easily communicate and work together online.  Hell, to put a fine point on it, we use:

• Google Sites - to host our intranet
• Gmail - to host our email accounts (branded @businessready.ca)
• Google Docs - to share and edit docs on line (don’t forget one of us lives in Portugal!!)
• Google Calendar - to not only track what we are up to at work but also allows us to include it in our personal calendars

After reading Arrington’s post I immediately went and checked our admin account - yup, we still have access to 200 users (we signed up before they reduced this to 50) and all looks well.  And, poking around, it seems the standard edition is still free.  So, I guess the real question is:

would I pay $50/user per year for this?

hmmmm, when there are so many other free options (like Zoho, for example) - I’m not sure.  It really has been effortless for us.  One thing I am sure about is: if you ever wanted/thought about Google Apps for your company I’d sign up now.

Now the next question:

with Google promoting their fee based web apps more aggressively, will the flood gates open for others?

There is a real pressure to offer free web solutions for under ten users (and we promote alot of them).  Is “free” a four letter word again?

Update: TechCrunch has posted the following update this afternoon: Google Apps Standard Edition Findable Again Phew!