Microsoft responds to Google's EAS move, sidesteps issue
Linked by Thom Holwerda on Tue 18th Dec 2012 00:03 UTC
Microsoft Microsoft has just responded to Google's move regarding Exchange ActiveSync. Sadly, instead of addressing the very real problems consumers are about to face, Microsoft starts talking about switching to Outlook.com.
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RE: integration or fragmentation
by Nelson on Tue 18th Dec 2012 08:27 UTC in reply to "integration or fragmentation"
Nelson
Member since:
2005-11-29

All this is just going backwards. Instead of going for more seamless and tighter integration - from the users' points of view - for e-mail services, company interests pollute our landscape. To be fair, Google at least doesn't just pull out, they leave a way out, which unfortunately is dependent on Microsoft implementing the open protocols. Which is always a lottery-guess at best. So now Microsoft tries to pull users away, who depend on activesync, which is both an opportunity and a failure. Opportunity to build a "private" user base, failure since it shows MS to be as rigid and un-flexible towards adapting to changes as always. Changes, that in this case, at least IMHO, are good. But I'm fairly skewed here, since I don't depend on activesync. However, all things considered, this whole thing is bad for a number of users, and depdnding on their "affiliation" they can blame either Google or Microsoft, result being they'll have to consider activesync capability as a requirement for their next phone purchase.


Its one thing to come up with a better protocol and want Microsoft to implement it. But IMAP/CalDAV/CardDAV don't come close to matching EAS (except in some specific cases where Contacts fucking rock using DAV, my friend's iCloud set up is sick) .

In the end, this is a specific issue to a specific subset of power user. Most people don't care about "Push this" or "Pull that" or "Sync this".

The normal layman doesn't care about all that. Microsoft could just as easily write an adapter to import Contacts into EAS and side-step the entire issue altogether without implementing a thing.

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