Hi, Any news on synchronizing contacts and calendar with an Android Phone? As I understand it, you "only" have to install Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync on your servers. Saludos Jonas
"Only," yes. Unfortunately, the way the licensing is set up for that particular component, it doesn't make sense for us to offer it, based on the number of requests we've received. I don't want to get into the details of SmarterMail's licensing (I suspect that their model for the ActiveSync offering is at least partially dictated by Microsoft anyway), but as it currently stands, it's kind of a non-starter for us. If the licensing scheme ever changes we could look at offering it. But for now it is not likely that we will be able to offer it.
Confusing Popup Thanks for the clarification mjp. I was totally confused and wasted a lot of time trying to find the 'advertised' feature that pops up every time I connect to my webmail account: "Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync is an optional add-on that syncs SmarterMail mailboxes with most mobile devices and smartphones. The Exchange ActiveSync add-on is the only synchronization method that uses direct push technology to sync collaboration items in real time, ensuring any changes are automatically recorded in both SmarterMail and the mobile device. Using the Exchange ActiveSync add-on, you can sync the following collaboration items with Apple devices: email, calendars, and contacts. Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync is not currently enabled for your account." Please change the popup to not advertise a feature that we cannot install or even purchase. On a further note, not having this feature will probably cause me to drop my account altogether. Having push notifications of email messages to my iPhone could have given me an alternative to using Google (which does allow an exchange connection). Now I can see no real reason to keep using this account for email. Of course if you can point me to an equivalent technology that supports push notification to my iPhone all will be forgiven Simon
You can uncheck "Show at Login" on that popup and you'll never see it again. If SmarterTools and/or Microsoft ever make it possible to license ActiveSync on a per user - not per-server - basis, we will be happy to sell the service to you. But as the licensing currently works, I'm afraid it's just not something we can offer.
Do you look at all at different alternative mail servers? The need for this kind of connections will probably go up with time, and it might prove a bigger disadvantage in the future not being able to provide the service. What about installing some other service in parallel to offer the service to the few, and get some real knowledge and marketing power on smartphone use?
I know it sounds simple, offering alternatives for something like email (hey, it's just another server!), but I'm afraid it's not. Email service is integrated in account setup, Control Panel, our API, etc., which makes supporting a second system quite involved. Supporting two different email systems also means supporting in-house expertise for two systems. Even if only a handful of people use the second system. That's why we dropped MySQL support years ago, because it was under-utilized and we lacked proper administrative expertise. But you may notice that we began to offer MySQL again when the demand increased. If the demands is there, we'll offer pretty much anything. But I'm afraid it just isn't there yet for MS ActiveSync. You would think that with the number of smartphones out there - and our technologically sophisticated user base - that there would be huge demand for all kinds of different integrations, but it just isn't working out that way. So far.
There is also the difference between people actually asking for something, and people using it, and even paying for it, if it is easily available. You might even have a few who don't sign up or silently leave on this account. In my opinion, if there is a change you know will happen anyway within a year or two, it might be better to be proactive than change at the last moment because you really have to...
Brainstorming: Would it be possible to create some kind of app for android that takes care of the syncing on the client? It would probably need access to the same data as the webmail can get.
