Online Ads Aren't All Bad
So, after spending some more time with my "Two birds" killer, I realized I had made an incorrect observation about it's capabilities, or, rather, Windows Mobile 5's capabilities. Whereas I thought I had set up true Outlook synchronization with my MDA, I had really only set up email pop access through the device. It turns out that, with the most recent iteration of Windows Mobile and ActiveSync, Microsoft had disabled wirelss syncing between PCs and mobile devices.
This was not good for obvious reasons. After much "research" on the subject, the only answer I could some up with was to beg my IT department to move to a hosted Exchange service. You see, Microsoft didn't totally kill wireless sync, they just restricted it to Exchange-based networks. Granted, that accounts for a large majority of people who might use a device like the MDA, but it in no wise helped me.
As I was using Google to launch one of my many searches on the subject, an ad on the results page caught my eye. It said something to the effect of "wireless sync for mobile without Exchange". Curious, I clicked on the ad, as I am not want to do very often. I sure am glad I clicked on this one.
The company being advertised was Emoze. Sure enough, they provide a plug-in for Outlook, with support for Lotus Notes and Mozilla Thunderbird promised, which provides "push" sync services with mobile handhelds, such as my trusty MDA. The service is in beta, according to the emoze website. After a simple registration, I downloaded and installed the beta client on the laptop on which I run Outlook. In no time at all, I was up and running. Next, I had to install the client on my mobile. Another easy painless install later and I was up and running.
True to its word, Emoze delivers Blueberry-like "push" email to various handhelds. As soon as I receive an email in Outlook, I receive it on my MDA. Outlook calendar items, tasks and notes are instantly synchronized both ways. While this may be a beta product, I have yet to see anything wrong with it on my Windows XP SP2 / Outlook 2007 Beta combination. Everything works as advertised. This is an incredibly useful application and I'm sure many will find it useful. For the first time ever, I'm glad I saw a banner ad.
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