Into The Cloud: 10/10 for Google, -1,000/10 for Microsoft!

The whole point of a smartphone, it always seemed to me, is to have a single point of truth. One calendar, one contact list. No double data entry, no errors, no confusion. For years, I used a Windows Mobile-based device (currently a HTC Touch diamond), and used Microsoft’s ActiveSync application to sync the phone with Outlook both at home and at work. ActiveSync supports synchronizing two devices, so it used to be no problem at all; I had a device containing both my work schedule and all my private appointments.

Then Microsoft came up with a new version of ActiveSync. Oddly enough, the release notes did not mention the fact that the programmers had broken the dual sync feature. Syncing with one computer: no problem. Syncing with the second one: error! Not only that, the original sync partnership was broken, so that the whole process had to be redone from the start.

Annoying to no end.

For a while, I thought that an iPhone might be the solution. But while there are countless web articles about syncing your iTunes music with multiple PCs, all sources agree that syncing calendar and contacts on two computers through iTunes is simply impossible.

And then my dad, who is in many ways more in touch with today’s trends and gadgetry than I am, mentioned Google Calendar. Which syncs with as many PCs as you might feel useful.

So now my schedule is in the Cloud, and I’m in the clouds.