Help Android/NoteII and Outlook. Jeez.

[TorontoNote2]

[Is it just me or are folks getting ticked off with Android and Outlook? I just want them to play nicely together like my Blackberry did. I could set up a Calendar item in Outlook on my laptop, for instance, and invite whomever I wanted to to the appointment. They would then know exactly where I was going to be at a given time and could either attend or not as they wished. I didn't even need folks to respond that they were attending; just wanted to know that they knew about the meeting. NO WAY WITH ANDROID! I seem to be able to get the Android to send a vcs file to Outlook but Outlook vcs files sent to the Android are stripped out or simply do not appear as an attachment and thence into the calendar on the Android device. I cannot begin to imagine the business market share that Android is losing by this lunacy in an attempt to set up some future nefarious project?

I am an executive with a large carrier. Blackberry has ruled the market because of their features and especially seemless integration with Outlook. The Android OS has bungled this to the nth. degree to say the least in what appears to be an attempt to have Google/Gmail in the middle of it all. A future plan to generate cashflow? There is an issue with many that would use the Android platform as to security as well. I don't like my private information out there in the cloud Lord knows where!My Number ONE issue? Simple. Integration with Outlook. Outlook has become the Number One business tool of all time. I simply want the ability to send and receive emails using my own email account. AND I WANT THE ABILITY TO SEND AND RECEIVE INDIVIDUAL CALENDAR APPOINTMENTS TO VARIOUS USER EMAILS THAT THEY CAN ACCEPT OR REJECT. I WANT EVERYONE TO HAVE THE ABILITY TO KNOW WHAT/WHERE EVERYONE ELSE IS OR REJECT THAT APPOINTMENT FROM THEIR CALENDAR.I seem to be able to send my Outlook calendar appointment to my Android device (a Note II) but when it arrives there is no calendar attachment. It is an empty email.I also seem to be able to send from my Android S Planner to Outlook with somewhat more success as there appears a .VCS file attachment which Outlook accepts and adds to my Outlook Calendar.To be very clear. I do not want to synchronize using Google or Gmail. I do not want Google involved in my day to day business, thank you very much. I simply want my Android product to work seamlessly with my Outlook 2007.The BOTTOM LINE? If this does not happen by the end of January when the new Blackberry comes out, I am going to return ALL of my Android product (Note II's) and go with the Blackberries!In fact, I am going to be pushing the Blackberry product 100% and the Android product 0%. And Mr. Google, if that does not tell you a solid story I am afraid that you are missing the message and missing the boat here.Android must work DIRECTLY with Outlook and it must be seamless. This is not a major request by any means. Any 1st. year Engineering student can do the mods for your software. DO IT! Or be prepared to have your market share decimated. Just my humble opinion.


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[tazman2]

I second this. After coming from a WP7 device to my Note II I was initially happy about its possibilities only to find out that it is lacking crucial work productivity features which make it a pain work work with. If you get something to work it is patchwork. What is so hard with that? The standards are out since years. It is working well (on other platforms).

Are we really so far down in the ecosystem wars that Google can affort to make life harder for their customers?

 

[LSU316]

When you say "work with Outlook" is it safe to say that what you mean to say is "work with Exchange"?

I can tell you that most major players are getting away from MS ActiveSync because of security issues. I would imagine that these same security flaws may factor into Google's decision to not put much focus on Exchange calendar, contact, and task functionality.

My company instituted GOOD which allows corporate to manage pretty much any type of cell phone similar to BBES except with flexibility. With that comes the ability to manage calendar appts, tasks, contacts, etc. Now I admit GOOD has a ton of work to do on the Android side (of course iOS was their first endeavor), but I think you will see a lot of big boys going that route instead of straight Exchagne with MS activesync for mobile simply due to its lack of control.