While I dislike the feature getting removed, this argument does not hold up to scrutiny. They will remove using external SMTP servers to send emails from external, third-party addresses. Sending as another Gmail or Google Workspace address will continue to work, but that path is fully Google-internal.

Emphasis mine:

> You can continue to use "Send as" for any -->Google-hosted identities<--, including other Gmail addresses or aliases associated with your Google Workspace account. The discontinuation will not impact these addresses, which only applies to third-party, non-Google email accounts.*

Isn't it because inside a Google Workspace you'll still be able to "Send as" but only from someone from the same Google Workspace (and hence same domain name?). At least that's how I read their article.

Maybe the disproportionate support is about domains outside of the workspace workspace? (I can see why sending as "trollshillingaccount291879@hotmail.com" from a GMail account is potentially lots of maintenance).