I'm about to buy a domain so as to create email addresses for my family member like firstnamefamilyname.com
Is there anyone using Google Apss on a regular basis in those forums? Is it good? Is it worthwhile to upgrade to Premier for personal use?

Although I don't use Google Apps as my primary email application, I do use it occasionally. It's (almost) the same as Gmail, so if you're happy with that, go for it. Of course, you could always take advantage of the POP3 access and use whatever client you like.

Personally, I wouldn't upgrade to Premier for personal use, not unless you really need to store more than 2GB of emails online. The additional space (and 99.9% uptime) is the only real benefit for home users I'd say, unless your family members really want 24/7 phone support from Google rather than you!

Where are you buying your domain? Through Google?

<< ... and 99.9% uptime ... >>

BTW, I think there have been some downtime reports recently, which apparently means you get a refund (I'm not sure though) so don't assume this feature will actually mean you get better reliability...

This applies to Gmail, so I would assume it would apply to Apps too: Even when Gmail is experiencing downtime, you can access your mail through POP. So that's one more reason to not go premier probably.

I have both a gmail and a google apps account.
I use the google apps account as my primary email account.
I've bought the domain and then point it to google's mxs servers.
I dont recomend the upgrade for the same reasons of Tony.

I see thanks for you comments. I don't know yet where i'm gonna buy the domain, i just saw that it was available.
I guess i'll see what they have to offer later when Presently and Jotspot go out and when everything gets integrated.

I just set my family up with new Google accounts and then forward their namefamilyname.com email address to the gmail account. That way they all have access to Gmail, Docs & Spreadsheets, Calendar etc but they can keep their familyname.com email addresses. Gmail can even use the correct reply to address when forwarding emails to it.

I have a site on my familyname.com address so my hosting provider allows me to forward unlimited email addresses. If you don't have a hosting account that won't work.

I have the same setup with my domain name. I get it all forwarded to my regular account and I am happy. How much more reliable can premier actually be? Its not like Google has been so derelict in providing reliable gmail uptime (seriously, who cares that it goes down for 5 minutes every two months or so?).