Because Microsoft decided that, despite the 493 different types of email server that all adhere to the same protocols, what the world needed more than anything else was one more email server - that used its own protocol.

Then - if that wasn't enough - they decided that they would add the standard protocols to their server - and also allow the email administrator to set the server up in any way he could think of, whether it made sense, worked or anything else. So every Exchange installation is a little different, and something that works perfectly on one won't work at all on another one - that has a single insignificant difference. It also means that two email clients that are almost identical may - or may not - work - fully or partially - on any given Exchange server.

If your company decided that it's too expensive to hire someone to design staircases, so you have to free-climb up the outside of the building to get to your office, not only wouldn't it have any employees, it would probably get sued by a few hundred government and private organizations.

But if it decides that the CEO wants Exchange set up like this - because he "heard" it's the best way (but wouldn't know a CPU from a disk pack), or because it makes emails look prettier on his Blackberry - and it decided that it's too expensive to hire an email admin who could actually set up a working email network using Exchange Server - you're on your own. (Use a version of Outlook at least as current as the server and it works - but Microsoft doesn't make "Outlook for Android".) And if you can't do your job efficiently until you get your phone working properly on their server setup, one that even the email gods can't fully figure out, you spend your nights and weekends working to get your phone's setup working.

People who are very good at their jobs can always find work, even in economically trying times. So they bring the phone to the email administrator at 10 AM, say "I need this working fully, properly syncing contacts both ways, syncing the calendar and allowing me to accept appointments by 2 this afternoon, or I can't do my job - and Joe, the guy whose name is on the company letterhead, you know, the one who OWNS the company? - will find out why in my resignation right after 2 PM." At 1:45, he types up his resignation, explaining why it's a waste of his time and the company's money, to pay him to do a job that the company is preventing him from doing. At 2:01, he goes to the email administrator and drops off a copy of the resignation, letting the admin know that he thought it would be kind to let the admin know why it starts hitting the fan BEFORE it starts. Then he hands in his resignation and, by the next week is working for a company that actually knows what it's doing. Or he's still working there, but the company has a competent email admin and an email system that works.

Or, alternatively, by 10:30 AM he receives an email on his phone, from the email administrator, telling him that he should now be able to accept the dummy appointment with the admin at 10:45, by using the phone. (If the admin were good enough to not worry about finding another job, the problem wouldn't have occurred in the first place.)

Life's too short to allow someone else's stupidity to give you a heart attack.