Google announced late last week that it was closing down several functions and features of its services. Namely “Google Sync” aka Microsoft Exchange ActiveSync support for GMail as well as Google Calendar Sync, along with a few others. I, and many others I have spoken to, use both of these services on their devices and this impacts us. One can configure their sync to use the open protocols of CardDav, CalDav and of course IMAP and this is probably okay for most people. What’s interesting is more Googles attitude about this at a time when they previously wanted people to use GMail and Google Accounts to be a central place for people to store their contacts, email and calendars.

Originally they were the underdogs in this area but with Android to push their cause it’s not surprising that they no longer feel the need to consort with their enemies in the market in order to gain some kind of foothold themselves. With Android users effectively plugged into Googles services now and their user base growing by the minute, it’s only natural that Google will become less interested in being interoperable with other platforms.

This is the next step along the road as Google continues to forge ahead with its own platform. It may not be precisely “Evil” but it is inevitable. For many of us now, it’s no ActiveSync for you.