For anyone paying attention, the relationship between Google and Microsoft could be described as being "rocky at best." If you've missed the shenanigans, a few different situations can be bundled together to create the larger brouhaha: Last month, Google announced that they'd be pulling Exchange ActiveSync for Microsoft's new mobile operating system, Windows Phone. As you can imagine, that made a lot of people who use Google's services, like Gmail and Calendar, but prefer to use a Windows Phone-based device plenty upset.
With Google shutting EAS down, it meant that users had to start using Google's CalDAV and CardDAV services to sync their calendars and contacts, and switch to IMAP services for their mail needs. Of course, Windows Phone doesn't support that at the moment, as Exchange ActiveSync was the go-to service.
Google is set to turn EAS off for new users beginning January 30th. After that, it's all CalDAV and CardDAV support from that point on, which means it's up to Microsoft to make the necessary changes on their end for their mobile platform.
A new report from The Verge suggests that that is exactly what the Redmond-based company is doing. According to the report from an unnamed source, Microsoft was made aware of Google's move away from EAS back in the Summer of 2012, but they couldn't do anything about it without delaying the launch of Windows Phone 8. That obviously wasn't an option, so they've been working on the additional features since.
Unfortunately, while it's good news that Microsoft is doing the right thing to add support for Google's standards, there is no set time frame to expect the update to Windows Phone. According to the same source, though, Microsoft is asking Google to push back their turn-off date for EAS another six months, to make sure they have plenty of time to roll-out the update in a realistic way.
As it stands, Google has reportedly kept quiet on the situation. They haven't responded to Microsoft's request, and the January 30th date is quickly coming up.
Either way, it's good that Microsoft is doing what they need to do to keep their users happy, so that they can use Google's services and continue using Microsoft's operating system. As soon as we hear more about a release date for the software update including support for CalDAV and CardDAV, we'll pass along the information.
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