Slashdot Mirror
Google Tests Multiple Account Login
tekgoblin noted joyous rumors for anyone forced to use multiple Google accounts "Wouldn't it be great if you could log into all of your Google accounts at the same time if you have multiple? Well it seems that Google may be implementing a way to do this in the near future. Right now it can be done with scripts such as a Greasemonkey script, but that isn't as easy as
Google doing it for us.
The people over at Google Operating System have had users submit a screenshot of what looks like a beta test for multiple account login. It appears that it will be available for Calendar, Code, Docs, Gmail, Reader, and Sites for the test but surely it will be across all Google apps when it's released."
I've really been waiting for this!!! the script solution is kind-of buggy... Please release this for Google Apps fast!
:-)
TIA
Get all accounts pwned at the same time too?
Wouldn't it be great if you could log into all of your Google accounts at the same time if you have multiple?
Who has multiple google accounts, and for what?
I mean, don't get me wrong, I have lots of email addresses, but I be sure to spread them around. Gmail, Hotmail, and Yahoo are the ones I check frequently.
I wouldn't want to put all my eggs in one basket, you know?
Being able to link all your accounts to one person (you) is fully in the interest of Google.
we started doing this 3 weeks ago when youtube began offering synchro for gmail accounts.
Good people go to bed earlier.
Even better, why don't they let you merge accounts? It's a pain having separate accounts for different applications. (I can't remember how I got into this mess!)
Please mod parent up. One of the primary reasons for having multiple email addresses in the first place is to compartmentalize your online activities. This isn't innovation, just a way for Google to add more granularity to their dbs.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
To my dream of simultaneously logging into a googol Google accounts.
I see no reason for my news reading to be linked to my Youtube account and then linked to my Gmail account and my browsing habits - I'd rather keep them separate, thank you.
Google keeps asking if I'd like to link them, and I want a "No, and don't ask me again" button to check.
Bill Stewart
New Fast-Compression-only CPR http://preview.tinyurl.com/dy575ks
Hotmail has had this for years. Very convenient. I'm frankly disappointed at Slashdot Editors for thinking this tiny feature is news.
....looks like this still isn't the year of the linux desktop :'-(
I have two accounts: 1 personal, 1 business -- I just launch an incognito mode window in Chromium and everything has worked fine so far. Definitely a reason I love the Chromium-style ease of incognito mode windows versus Firefox's either-or style.
... where Chrome itself allowed you to do this across any website.
Chrome used to have an Alternative User Account system that seems to be nuked from the current versions, unless it has been hidden behind YET ANOTHER FLAG. (seriously Chromium devs, make a god damn about:config page!)
This feature was incredibly useful for signing in to multiple accounts that can't be emulated with Incognito mode.
Personal example being Public account for any old crap, private account for friends, and business account for banking, shopping, etc.
I was really happy that someone else out there decided that it wasn't stupid to have multiple accounts with web browsers and actually have visible options for it, unlike SOME browser developers i won't mention...
But apparently it isn't important to web browsing, apparently it conflicts with Google Simple Is Best philosophy... bullshit, complete bullshit.
Simple is NOT best, simple DESIGN is best. There is absolutely nothing wrong with having complex settings hidden away from users (about:config, hey hey?), but Chromium takes it even further and forces you in to making a huge mess of flags in shortcuts...
n/t
The account limits to infinity and beyond so that I don't have to Buzz around from account to account to avoid current silly ceiling limits.
Please mod parent up. One of the primary reasons for having multiple email addresses in the first place is to compartmentalize your online activities. This isn't innovation, just a way for Google to add more granularity to their dbs.
This. I keep separate Google accounts for different purposes because I don't want activities from one part of my life into another. I have different reputations and almost different personalities in each: dealing with co-workers occasionally on a personal level and dealing with friends, always on a personal basis, are two different things, and I don't want group (a) to get into my Picasa photos, Calendar, and YouTube comments relating to group (b). So, I have different "personal" accounts that I give out to groups (a) and (b). Each of these is separate from a third account that I use with some friends who live abroad. I don't want any bleeding across of these groups, so I've even created separate Firefox profiles for each one.
Single-signon isn't what I'm looking for.
Use Firefox and create multiple profiles. You will have a window for each of your Gmail accounts. http://support.mozilla.com/en-US/kb/Managing+profiles
News flash: If you don't want it, you don't have to use it.
What. Did anyone say Google was forcing you to use this feature? Just because I might want to compartmentalize my emails doesn't mean I want to have to log out and log back in every time.
Google sometimes 'locks down' your account for up to 24 hours, due to various criteria that aren't very well specified - e.g. http://www.google.co.uk/support/forum/p/gmail/thread?tid=7226841f0bdafc8d&hl=en - hence it's a good idea not to have all your eggs in one basket.
It has also been known for Google to disable accounts - http://www.searchenginejournal.com/google-has-disabled-my-gmail-account/7871/ - for no clear reason. Of course, if you pay for Google Apps premier edition, you do get a support phone line for this sort of thing.
I have approx 3 google accounts, 2 google apps accounts, many client google apps accounts & i have a few scattered legacy youtube accounts etc.
I guess it would be nice to be able to switch easily but I'm not sure how they are going to do it elegantly.
Right now the best option is to use IMAP and bypass the complete web interface.
What. Did anyone say Google was forcing you to use this feature?
They did last week, when my youtube account was unusable until I'd paired it with a Gmail account, so I wouldn't exactly hold my breath on this one just yet.
Just because I might want to compartmentalize my emails doesn't mean I want to have to log out and log back in every time.
Actually, that's exactly what this means. Security takes effort.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
First, linking YouTube and Google accounts probably has nothing to do with this specifically, rather, getting rid of the seperate login database for YouTube.
Second, that's not what I meant. I am looking forward to this feature. You are not me, and if you want security, don't link your Google accounts together, end of story.
Where have you seen anything that indicates this is what they're doing? Far as I can tell from the rather limited screenshot, it just allows you to switch between accounts without having to log in and out every time; I don't see any mention of single signon, or integration of accounts w/ each other.
This must be why I have to log in again every time I load the page.
I have been after this feature for a while though, nice to see it arriving.
...these aren't my real teeth.
Many people on the internet do this all the time. Sites like /., reddit, all the chans, and youtube make much more sense once you realize this.
Why is it so hard to only have politicians for a few years, then have them go away?
Google offers to host business mails, etc. on its own batch of Google Apps.
Business have out-sourced their employee's mails & calendars to Google,
Schools have out-sourced their students data to Google
Service providers do that for mail and contacts too (My mobile phone does it).
So people can end up having several different accounts on Google and wish to have a way to connect to all of them at the same time.
I would be grateful if I could use my GMail contacts list (that I've been using for years) with my Mobile phone company free SMS sender (that was recently remade as a iGoogle widget on their own Google-outsourced portal).
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
...blah
I can actually see a use for myself. I don't see what the big blow up is. I run my own personal dyndns domain, have the mail hosted on google... why should I have to log in to 4 accounts to check my personal email?
Having a hissyfit because features are being added that benefit others but not yourself just makes you look like a dickhead.
Maybe the reason why I own multiple accounts is that I don't want them connected, either for security or privacy reasons.
So yeah, I'll pass on this.
GEORGE: Ah you have no idea of the magnitude of this thing. If she is allowed to infiltrate this world, then George Costanza as you know him, Ceases to Exist! You see, right now, I have Relationship George, but there is also Independent George. That's the George you know, the George you grew up with -- Movie George, Coffee shop George, Liar George, Bawdy George.
JERRY: I, I love that George.
GEORGE: Me Too! And he's Dying Jerry! If Relationship George walks through this door, he will Kill Independent George! A George, divided against itself, Cannot Stand!
better yet, if you're so concerned, you could always register a domain and run your own mail server.
do not read this line twice.
Well, a few weeks ago I found it was impossible to READ Google Groups Usenet interface unless I was logged in -- previously I could browse without being logged in and only needed to sign on if I wanted to post. So now because I've done that Google's search knows who I am too -- now my file lists all the Usenet messages I've read as well as all the searches I've made. Privacy? Get over it is the message.
Especially when no information about those features is actually known yet. On the other hand, it does make for amusing reading...
Don't reply to me, reply to the GP. I do run my own mailserver.
Why are people trying to tell me this? Tell GP. I already expect no privacy from Google. I use all their stuff to improve their service towards me.
I don't want any bleeding across of these groups, so I've even created separate Firefox profiles for each one.
If that's not a sign of OCD, my name is Cowboy Neal.
Nothing 'requires' a Gmail account... Gmail is an individual service that can be dropped. You probably signed up for a Gmail account, which automatically registered a Google account. This is where you sign up for just a Google account: here. And I'm halfway sure it can be linked to any email address (Yahoo, Hotmail, etc.).
I have 2 active Windows Live accounts, one for school and one for personal use. I can switch between accounts simply by clicking the username on top-right corner.
To me Google just *learned* something nice from competitors.
Yet.
You can already link you gmail accounts (forwarding) and calendars (sharing). It seems like google is just looking to make it easier for everything else as well. The biggest difference I see is linking different groups of contacts. It will be easy enough to differentiate based on tagging.
There will be no encouragement to force you to link them, because places like my university, that uses Google Apps, will definitely want to control authentication to our stuff, and let you do whatever you want with your own.
There's already a useful page with radio buttons, when Apps get confused about what you are trying to connect to, it pops this page up and asks which account you are trying to connect with.
Give a man a fish and you have fed him for today. Teach a man to fish, and he'll say "WHERE'S MY FISH, YOU IDIOT?"
Hey, don't reply to me either, I run my own domains too and use Gmail. Sheesh!
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
...or you could just have Google run the mail server for you with Google Apps? :-)
I've got Blogger blogs with various identities, and the comment moderation messages all forward my main gmail account, but I have to log out and log in as another identity (or do it with a different browser) to approve/reject the comment.
Simultaneous multiple login would make this much easier.
- RG>
Hey pal, this isn't a pleasantforest, so don't waste my time with pleasantries!
i don't know why i think this reply should go way down here, but sure. i was simply stating that if you're worried about the info resultant from google knowing what accounts belong to whom, you're probably best-off not using their service at all, since....c'mon, it's google, and they already know.
btw, i have multiple gmail accts *and* email from my own domains. i just don't care if they know, but i can see why some ppl would.
do not read this line twice.
c'mon, it's google, and they already know.
True, and something I'm considering right now as I mull over whether or not to can a couple of my gmail accounts for good.
Even so, that data's technically harder for Google to prove. Start linking all your accounts together and you've done the work for them. In other words, if they're really desperate to profile me, they can do the work, not me.
Linux, you magnificent bastard, I read the fucking manual!
What I want to do the most is tie my free google account closer to my google app account. Why would I want multiple normal google accounts? But I, like many started off with a normal one and then opened a google apps account and realised there is not good easy way to check both in one place.
Even now, I made the "mistake" of opening an app engine account with my normal google account. I'm starting to polish off my site and want to use a domain name. So I went to the control panel, click the appropriate button and it tells me to open a google apps account. Yes I can remove app engine fro my normal account and open one for my google apps account but why should I have to?
Why does there seem to be absolutely no community pressure for google to provide stronger authentication and account recovery features? The fact that google provides fantastic free products does not diminish their responsibility to mitigate the damage done to their clients by account hijacking. I think that anyone who knows somebody who has had an account irretrievably hijacked will understand this sentiment. If you are doing anything intensely personal or sensitive with gmail, you are an idiot. Too bad the vast majority of the public doesn't understand that if their account gets hijacked, it is game over, and google is completely non-interested in assisting the user to recover the account.
Never shall my "regular" account and my "porn" account meet. That's the whole point of having a separate porn account. Duh.
Those who have university Google Apps accounts already can do this. My daughter can log into her regular Gmail account and her university Gmail account simultaneously so obviously Google has had this figured out for a while. I know they have have different URLs but that's not what allows it; it's really just a matter of fixing the cookies to make this happen. I sure as heck could use this and would all the time.
Now I can stalk my ex's email without logging out of my own
Did I mention your name or even quote your text? So why do you think I'm "trying to tell you" anything? I did that here to indicate that I'm responding directly to your post. Previous was just thematically related to its "parent".
Hmm, I have no tried to use it with different google mail accounts, but I use it with two corporate accounts and a normal private one and I have no problem. I do this in Safari, Firefox and Chrome without any problem. So what is new here?
"Freiheit ist immer auch die Freiheit des Andersdenkenden" - Rosa Luxemburg, 1871 - 1919
I was an att.net webmail business user (my philosophy is, you get what you pay for) but AT&T discontinued its in-house webmail service and dumped me onto Yahoo Mail, an email service for children. The first change was that I can't view more than one email account at a time, I have to log out and in and out again. Drives me nuts. Now I either have to put up with Yahoo's incompetence or change my email address that I've had for years. Good to know Google, at least, respects its users.
At least with Google Apps accounts, I have been doing this for about a month, now. And yes, it's nice.
The article clearly shows that you have the option now to not use it. If they implement it as something you have to use (unlikely), how would they know you even have multiple accounts to force you into using this?
Complete pain in the arse.
The only way that I could get into my YouTube without agreeing (explicitly or implicitly) to merge the accounts (which I really didn't want to do) was to visit a GA page and explicitly log out first, and then go back to YT.
I haven't visited YouTube for a while. I really liked the core product, and used to use it a lot (as did everybody else), but then they started forcing me to go through a nag screen every time I visited to try to get me to localise the account to "improve my experience" and find "more appropriate" material for me based on locale. I didn't //want// search localisation, I //like// the fact that the internet is global, and I wanted to be able to see science/geometry videos ranked independently of their source country, so I always used to click the "no thanks" button.
And every bloody time I came back, they'd ask me again. And again. And again. And it really began to bug me. YT was a site that I used for fun, and the nag screen was turning every attempt to access that fun into an annoyance, so after a while I simply stopped using YouTube unless I had something specific to look up. Corporate-level optimisation strategy meant that for me, the parent company managed to wreck what was otherwise a great site, and stop me visiting.
Yesterday's experience was even worse. It was Google trying really hard to twist my arm to get me to agree to something that I didn't want to do, to the extent that I was effectively locked out of my YouTube account until I agreed, or until I logged out of my Google account to avoid triggering the "Do you want to merge now or later?" page.
From a consumer POV, this is crap behaviour. If Google users want a more Google-integrated video sharing page, they already have one. It's called GoogleVideo, and it's not hugely successful, partly because a lot of people prefer the more focused YouTube approach and branding, and they prefer sense of independence that YouTube managed to hang onto after the takeover.
I like Google, and hope that they continue to do well, but some of their executive people don't half do some stupid things sometimes. I worry that Schmidt may have his eye on Facebook's success, and see Facebook as a role model for integration, while forgetting that Facebook's history has included episodes that weren't just morally dubious but downright illegal. Facebook's business practices are almost exactly the sorts of things that Google's "Don't be Evil" motto was supposed to keep Google safely away from.
And yes, the advertisers probably love Facebook, and the anti-FB protestors haven't managed a mass FB boycott ... but Google don't have a Facebook/Apple/MS-type business model with customers that are locked in by their investment. Plenty of people who loathe Microsoft still use MS products on a daily basis, and plenty of people who dislike aspects of Facebook don't leave, because it's now their social network hub.
The Google products (apart from Android) don't have that same corporate lock-in, and that's one of the reasons why people like them so much -- knowing that you can leave Google at any time means that it's the safe default option. You can export your calendar details out of GCal at any time, and to switching to an nearly-as-good search engine takes seconds. Google have to stay sharp, and liked, because they're constantly living on the edge of the abyss.
So ... all it takes to "break" Google is for some daft executive to enviously eye up the sort of heavy-handed corporate playbook strategies that have been so financially successful for MS/Apple/FB/Yahoo/AOL, and say, "Well it makes a l
Eric Baird