[josefresco]

Google does the same thing when a customer previously used their own "branded" email for Google services, and then switches to use G Suite (formally Google Apps).

Every login will prompt to select the organizational account, or the personal account.

Not sure why only MS is being called out for it ... they probably modeled their system after Google.

[klodolph]

That's not what Google does. (Edit: It sounds like Google used to do this. I switched to G Suite very recently and did not end up with an account in this state.) If you have an existing [e-mail] Google account and then sign up for G Suite as the owner of example.com, what happens is the old [e-mail] account gets divorced from its email and given a new temporary name. You can then change it to a new @gmail.com but that change is permanent.

Unfortunately you cannot merge. Google services will have an option to switch between the different accounts. The priority order is shared, and to change the order you have to log out of all your accounts and log in again, with the primary account first. I decided to keep my @gmail.com account first, so I only have to switch to the @example.com account when I check GMail.

Could be much better, of course. I was personally a bit frustrated with the process.

[maxsilver]

> That's not what Google does

I mean, that is exactly what Google does. Google does allow the change you listed above, which is nice. But if you don't explicitly change your accounts, you keep getting the "pick an account" screen on every single login, just like the parent described, and just like Microsoft shows users too.

Google's UI for it looks like this : https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-_g4V2wYd-SI/VrZF-5K2yCI/A...

Which is very similar to Microsoft's UI for it : https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/azure/active-directory/medi...

[JeremyBanks]

To clear up the confusion: Google has that UI, but it's legacy. They no longer allow you get your account into that state; new G Suite accounts and personal Google Accounts can't use the same address.

[crb]

Yes, they can; you register a Gmail account as [e-mail], proving you control that e-mail address.

Then, an admin who proves they control the entire example.org domain registers it for G Suite, and creates a 'crb' user.

You now have a conflict account situation: https://support.google.com/a/answer/7062710?hl=en

[josefresco]

How legacy? Personally I made this change/split maybe 12-15 months ago and still get the prompt. I'm also pretty sure I had a client with this same issue recently, although I can't confirm with certainty. I routinely migrate clients TO G Suite which is why I have some first-hand exp here.

Also, when signing up the Google system will not allow you to use the same email (if it's registered) but once you "take over" or verify domain ownership, you can then claim / use that address - which I believe creates this situation.

[josefresco]

This is the correct answer. I get prompted every day.

[klodolph]

Hm, maybe I just divorced my personal account early on and forgot about it. I remember it being frustrating. Does Microsoft not allow you to do this?

[shalmanese]

I got into a confused state with my Youtube account where I have two accounts linked to the same Google account. One of them lists all my subscriptions but doesn't allow me to comment. The other one can comment but says it has no subscriptions on the sidebar but I can see all of my subscriptions if I click the subscriptions button.

I occasionally have to perform some bizarre incantation once in a blue moon to switch accounts when I want to comment on something and then switch back so I can see my subscriptions again.

[badthingfactory]

If Google had the same terrible UX, I would rant about that as well, but I've never had a single problem with any of my Google accounts. I cringe every time I have to do any type of maintenance on one of my MS accounts because I know it's going to be terrible, and it always is.

[zip1234]

They both use OAUTH2, which is a web standard.