Skip Links

Network World

Alex Lewis

Microsoft ActiveSync to Gmail

It's not just for Exchange anymore!

By Alex Lewis on Thu, 10/01/09 - 12:38am.
Newsletter Signup

When Microsoft announced it would license ActiveSync it had wide-eyed plans to take over the world... and it just got one step closer.

You'd think Microsoft would downright loathe Apple and Google. And, on some fronts I'm sure they do. However they are the two highest profile licensees of Microsoft's ActiveSync protocol. If you've been living under a rock for the last few years ActiveSync is a mobile sync technology for email, calendaring, contacts and other data. ActiveSync has been available on the iPhone for awhile. However it still only sync'd to Microsoft Exchange.

Google is changing the game a bit, okay a lot, with their announcement that virtually any ActiveSync client can now sync to Gmail! This is HUGE! With Google scaling out its cloud services, the integration of Grand Central to Google Voice and now ActiveSync integration Google moves into the mobile world on multiple fronts. Android always had some integration with google services but activesync for Gmail opens the world up to a number of other devices including Windows Mobile, RIM Blackberry, Nokia and, of course, Apple's iPhone. This is disruptive to the mobile industry and may be Google's most significant blow thus far on the mobile battlefield.

Active sync....only one provider at a time

0

The move is great. But active sync only supports a sincle provider. You will either have to merge all accounts or only reap the benefit from one. Active Sync needs to grow up and the giant need to make it happen.

Comment viewing options

Select your preferred way to display the comments and click "Save settings" to activate your changes.

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • You can use BBCode tags in the text.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <p> <strong> <i> <br /> <br> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd> <blockquote>

More information about formatting options

CAPTCHA
This question is for testing whether you are a human visitor and to prevent automated spam submissions.
Welcome, visitor. Register Log in
About Windows into Silicon Valley