X

Windows 8 app updates nix Google ActiveSync support

Users of Microsoft's Mail, Calendar, and Contact apps have lost sync support via Google's Exchange ActiveSync with new updates.

Steven Musil Night Editor / News
Steven Musil is the night news editor at CNET News. He's been hooked on tech since learning BASIC in the late '70s. When not cleaning up after his daughter and son, Steven can be found pedaling around the San Francisco Bay Area. Before joining CNET in 2000, Steven spent 10 years at various Bay Area newspapers.
Expertise I have more than 30 years' experience in journalism in the heart of the Silicon Valley.
Steven Musil
Screenshot by Lance Whitney/CNET

Microsoft began rolling out substantial updates to some core Windows 8 and Windows RT applications tonight. And while users of the Mail, People, and Calendar apps will see a laundry list of new features, they will also reportedly lose some functionality.

Users of Mail, Calendar, and Contact apps have lost sync support via Google's Exchange ActiveSync, according to a report in The Verge.

Screenshot by CNET

"We can't connect...because Google no longer supports Exchange ActiveSync," reads a message suggesting users try to reconnect their accounts to the Mail, Calendar, and People apps in Windows 8.

The move shouldn't come as a complete surprise to users. Google announced its intention in December to terminate Exchange ActiveSync support for new customers at the end of January, but Google offered an extension of support until July 31. Microsoft has now apparently disabled that access.

As noted by The Verge, the change appears to contradict earlier promises of continued support.

"If you've already connected your Google account to your PC using the Mail, People, or Calendar apps, this change doesn't affect you at all," Microsoft said in a Windows 8 support page. "Your email, calendar, and contacts will continue to sync properly."

Updated March 27 at 5 p.m. PT with Microsoft comment: "In light of Google's decision to change its support for EAS, we are now using IMAP for those customers that wish to connect their Gmail accounts. More information on how to synchronize Google services on your Windows or Windows RT device is available here."