I am really hoping to get some dedicated import / export tools for all things (especially email); this would certainly aid portability, and probably bring more people into the Google Apps fold, if they felt they could also back out if need be.
Personally, I’ve had a devil of a time with a full-featured (i.e. multi-labelled, using colors, with rules, etc.) populated Gmail account going over to an Apps email, or vice versa, or even Apps email –> Apps email. Exportability to some standard format would greatly help; I wish there were an XML format for this, that could handle all of the possibilities; by definition, it should be extensible, but with at least most functionality supported by all of the major players.
Customizable options for Gmail offline
Google Docs bulk export
Visual indicators for edited and all-new items in Google Docs
Administrator controls for Chat
These are certainly positive steps for Google however; I am continuing to hope for further expansion in what I think is pretty much the best-of-breed out there, for “free cost” environments. It may not rival all of the features I was used to in Microsoft Exchange 2010, but it also is not hosted internally, and Google is soaking up the hardware and software costs associated, in exchange for the advertising, etc.
There are a lot of options out there when you’re about to choose a web host.
On the low end, where I live (for my personal sites, at least!) nearly all are “oversold”. If they weren’t, you really would not like the pricing. A related example : shop around, check with any internet pipe provider, and ask them what a guaranteed, non-shared pipe the size of your home broadband would cost per month. Be prepared for some sticker shock.
As soon as I find some good comparison article out there, I’ll no doubt link it. So far in 10 months time, I’ve been pretty happy at Dreamhost, with multiple users and domains all in that same < $10 per month package.
General disclaimer : pretty much any link to any sales site, web hosts included, gives the referrer (your blogger, in this case) some form of payout just for bringing you to their door. A yup, I admitted it.
