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Microsoft Agrees To License ActiveSync To Google

Posted by kdawson on from the kitchen-sync dept.

JacobSteelsmith writes "Microsoft agreed today to license ActiveSync to Google. Google is using ActiveSync as part of Google Sync, which enables the synchronization of data between mobile devices and, presumably, Google Calendar and your contacts stored at Google. 'Microsoft's vice president of intellectual property and licensing, Horacio Gutierrez, said in a statement that the Google license is "a great example of Microsoft's openness to generally license our patents under fair and reasonable terms so long as licensees respect Microsoft intellectual property."'"

8 of 133 comments (clear)

  1. Oops. Hell freezing over? by rainer_d · · Score: 2, Insightful

    OTOH, after AAPL licensing it, they would look stupid if they refused GOOG.
    And with this step, it *is* the de-facto standard.
    Intersting thought, that the only thing being left of MSFT in a couple of years is a protocol to sync wireless clients to a server...

    --
    Windows 2000 - from the guys who brought us edlin
    1. Re:Oops. Hell freezing over? by jaseuk · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Actually this is one of the missing pieces in the Google Apps puzzle. They've gained push e-mail and synching on anything that supports ActiveSync which includes Windows Mobile devices & iPhone/iPod Touch.

      Once they finish off Google gears for offline gmail, then they have pretty much fixed the problem off offline / mobile access to GMail which makes Google Apps alot more appealing.

      Most of the complaints against the use of web services is that you lose out when on the road or internet connection is down.

      It's almost the Exchange Alternative everyone has been looking for.

      Jason.

    2. Re:Oops. Hell freezing over? by aaarrrgggh · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Even more at issue is the fact that Google's offering compete directly with Microsoft's server offerings. Apple was just licensing a connector component for handhelds to use MS Servers.

    3. Re:Oops. Hell freezing over? by quarterbuck · · Score: 2, Insightful

      It is the convention to refer to companies by stock quotes in financial forums (yahoo finance for example). Maybe the poster is more familiar with those boards than with slashdot.
      We should welcome all outsiders to our board (onboard?) no? With the recent market situation it is a case of "poor, hungry, huddled masses" :-)

      --
      http://slashdot.org/submission/1062723/Cheap-mobile-data-plan?art_pos=2
    4. Re:Oops. Hell freezing over? by pnevin · · Score: 2, Insightful

      RFC 666

  2. woopee by LWATCDR · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Really this is ...
    Okay why can't we have an open standard to sync data with mobile devices?
    I mean just how hard would it be? I don't use outlook under windows and I do use Linux. I want some way to sync my phone to all my systems.

    --
    See my blog http://ilovecookes.blogspot.com/ for light hearted technical information.
  3. The world is not all black and white by Locke2005 · · Score: 2, Insightful

    A company as big as Microsoft cannot be completely evil. Likewise, a company as big as Google cannot be completely non-evil. MS does play a big role in driving standards, for better or worse. Heck, MS might even be more diligent in getting Silverlight supported on all platforms, whereas I _still_ can't get Flash 8/9 support for my Wii or Android phone. Despite Ballmer's threats to "kill Google", his primary responsibility is to make money for MS shareholders, not to put Google out of business. Besides which, isn't MS planning on abandoning the Zune and getting out of the MP3 player/PDA market anyway? (I wonder if they will still push their OS for cellphones.)

    --
    I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  4. Re:Why? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

    They didn't license the software, they licensed the protocol for emails, contacts, calendar to be pushed to devices. MUCH different than the software you are complaining about.