Google, which looks like it will be teaching rivals like Symantec to mutter words like "predatory pricing," has slashed prices on the widgetry it got from its $625 million Postini acquisition last July and is using the new price points like a billy club to force users on to the "cloud."

Piggybacking on its brand, reach and scale, Google expects a great increase in its user base, particularly among SMBs, now that it's selling Postini's software-as-a-service e-mail malware security for $3 per user per year, down from $30.

The widgetry is part of its Google Apps Premier Edition, which includes Gmail, Google Docs, Google Calendar, Google Talk instant messaging and Start Page for customizable home pages, but can also be used separately, say, with Exchange, Notes, Groupwise and SunMail, positioning it as a possible migration path to Google Apps.

Postini's new offerings include the $3-a-year Message Filtering to handle spam and malware; a $12-a-year Message Security that adds virus detection, outbound message processing and content policy management; and $25-a-year Message Discovery functionality that includes message archiving, retention and discovery with no storage limit. The last cost about $100 before.

Postini is supposed to have 14 million users and 40,000 business clients.

Meanwhile, Google has also come up with a way to bypass any Valkyrie administrator who may be barring its productivity software from the enterprise and so score points against Microsoft Office.

On Thursday it announced Google Apps Team Edition, appealing to that same independent streak that saw grown men sneak PCs into corporate America under their raincoats 25 years ago.

The freebie software will let people within the same domain collaborate using Google Docs, Calendar, Talk and Start Page, without involving IT, and work on the same documents, spreadsheet or presentation even if the stuff is, oh, light on security and version control.

Google is reportedly working on Microsoft SharePoint-style content management but that doesn't help a user now.

Google's answer is to suggest that Team Edition be upgraded to the Google Apps Standard or paid $50-a-user Premier versions that permit admin control. It says 500,000 businesses are using Google Apps.

Immediately, Team Edition is only available in the US, but Google is working on other localizations.