Google Domains is shutting down

Google Reader aside, I've luckily not been too impacted by Google's tendency to suddenly shut various services down. Google Wave felt ahead of it's time, Google+ was something different but never really took off as a social network.

I use Feedly, Google Docs and Twitter/Instagram as replacements. Given their recent AI push for Google Docs I'm hopefully that situation doesn't change.

Actually, I almost was a victim when they shuttered their free tier of G Suite which they ended up not imposing on smaller accounts. (I should really keep an eye on that). The last thing I want to be doing is switching email providers, especially as it's been over a decade since I first started using the service for my own personal domain.

And so to Google Domains, a service that only came out of beta last year, which is now being sold on to Squarespace. No official announcement that I've seen, but a help article on the topic explains it all.

On June 15, 2023, Google entered into a definitive agreement with Squarespace, where they intend to purchase all domain registrations and related customer accounts from Google Domains.

domains.google is not only a great URL for them to have for the service, it's really good when searching for domains, comprehensive in it's results and often suggests decent alternatives. Maybe not useable alternatives, but enough to give you something to think about.

Squarespace have a dedicated site for the transition over at domains.squarespace.com but as someone who has only ever known of them as a podcast sponsor, I don't know how well they can service domain purchases.

No word on when it happens but something I'll be keeping an eye on for the next few weeks as I figure out who to use as a registrar.