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Google Workspace is the new name for Google's productivity suite

Gmail gets a new logo, too.

Google

Google is rebranding its productivity tools in an attempt to better cater for people who are working from home. G Suite, itself formerly Google Apps, is being rechristened as Google Workspace, with new logos and branding but not much else. The idea is to make it clear in people’s minds that this is the one place you can go to get all of the tools the company offers and highlighting the new messaging features inside Gmail.

Speaking of which, Gmail (as well as everything else) is getting a new logo that ditches the envelope in favor of a new colorful M. The logo shift is meant to represent the tweaks made to the service earlier this year, with the incorporation of video conversations and real-time chat. Google is also highlighting the improvement of collaboration tools inside the platform, which now revolves around Gmail.

The subtext here is that Google feels the need to get itself out ahead of the competition, including Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom and Facebook. That’s why you’ll see Meet’s video conferencing being built into Docs, Sheets and Slides, in order to give you fewer reasons to want to switch platforms. It makes sense, given how much of the world runs on Gmail, that you would want to keep people glued to that platform.