Windows Live Hotmail now supports “push” email with Windows Mobile 6 devices (I know this works for the Professional edition, not sure about the Standard edition) – however it still doesn’t synchronize contacts.

On the other hand, for syncing contacts and calendar with most web-based PIMs (MSN/Hotmail, Yahoo!, etc.), Funambol has made available a hosted sync server with connectors for web-based PIMs in addition to the standard enterprise connectors for MS Exchange and Lotus Notes. Something worth looking into …

I just did the switch, and my main reason was spam. My microsoft exchange setup netted me 100’s of spam’s a day and i just couldn’t take it. now i’ve got the iphone with the imap set up and i do miss the calender sync and i could have used postini to clean up my spam but google is free and no matter how you argue it, Google is going to do a better job than me at fighting spam, backing up my stuff, security etc. etc. etc… so i’ll deal with out calendar sync for now (c’mon, someone will fix that out in time) and I’ll enjoy my spam free world, my God it’s wonderful!

Good Day,
In my work we are using this software;
http://www.unitedteam1.com
and the truth that we are very satisfied is very easy to use and for a very competitive price.

Thanks.

As an IT consultant, I have several clients of mine with NetVigour’s Hosted Exchange service (www.netvigour.com) and they honestly couldn’t be happier. The service is rock-solid, you can spread the storage across all of your users, and of course the mobile features are great! And, they have a nice reseller program (paying way more than most everyone else) to boot…

I have been using http://www.123together.com for a long time now, and have never had any problems. I was a beta tester for Exchange 2007, and I’ve seen first hand the benefits of a solid and well supported server. As you said, Exchange is a bullet proof option. Combined with the 100% uptime guarantee of 123toghether.com at such a low price, it is an unbeatable combination for managing communication. I can’t imagine switching away from it.

Hello Jose, did you realize gmail has new features which “Get mail from other accounts
Now Gmail can check for the mail you receive at your other email accounts. You can retrieve your mail (new and old) from up to five other email accounts and have them all in Gmail. Then you can even create a customized ‘From:’ address, which lets you send messages from Gmail, but have them look like they were sent from another one of your email accounts. Please note that you can only retrieve mail from accounts that have POP3 access enabled.”

Try hosted Zimbra Collaboration Suite from http://www.01.com — lots more storage than most hosted exchange accounts and friendly to Mac’s and Windows as well… outlook/isync connectors available… standard SSL IMAP, excellent webmail w/ keyboard shortcuts and the whole Web 2.0 thing to boot…

I was not happy that mail2web had increased rates also. Since I use a smtp proxy it is very easy to switch hosted exchange providers. I switched to 4smartphone.net. It’s a bit more than I paid before but I get a free copy of Outlook 2007. There is no way I could live without Exchange Server.

Following Kevin’s advice I have merged all my mail accounts on a Gmail one and it works flawlessly on the Q1 with Outlook 2007. However, what refrains me from keeping this setup is that when I reply a message, it will always use the main account and not the destination one. What a pity

Too bad GooSync can only sync with one device at a time at the current time..many of us have multiple devices thus an exchange works better

This totally works for me. I am on a Treo, and I can sync the calendar wirelessly with GooSync (SyncML based). If you upgrade to their paid service for about 20 British pounds a year, you can sync contacts too! IMAP from Gmail IS push if you use an email client that supports the IDLE feature of IMAP such as Chatteremail. I don’t really care about to dos and memos when I am out and about, so the solution is wonderful.

It depends. If you just host your own calendar, to-do and contacts on the Exchange, it may not be that tough to give up.

Meanwhile, we use Exchange at work and I can sync work mail, contacts and most importantly, the calendar and to-do, between myself and my colleagues directly. It would be very tough to give those up at this point.

One of my favorite sayings is “You get what you pay for”. Gmail is good but has a long way to go compared to a paid for hosted exchange account. Push email, sync’d calender, contacts, notes, folders (rather than labels), all things I would miss for sure and I only use 3 devices!

I use hosted Exchange from http://www.itsolutionsnow.com which is as cheap as the competitors but offers unlimited (!) storage. Quality of service is good and their support is excellent. Much recommended!

No real mobile professional can live without over-the-air sync of Calendar and Contacts. E-mail is only a third of the mobility equation. And, IMAP Gmail or no IMAP Gmail, Exchange is still the only real mobility solution.

What about calendar, contacts and tasks? I find having these synced across all my devices is just as important as having my email synced. Does GMail offer these as well? Even if it did, they can’t be synced via IMAP as far as I’m aware.

@GoodThings2Life, I’m not sure Microsoft will try and compete with Google on this one, at least not for their free accounts. They pulled POP3 access for new free accounts about a year ago so I doubt they would make IMAP access available.