EWS is enticing for several reasons, but I'll wager that implementing it would be no small task. When CardDAV support gets implemented in Zimbra which looks like as soon as GnR; you could ditch or turn the iSync connector (unless using 10.5/.4 of course) into just an optional simple setup wizard for Mac 10.6 mail/cal/address.app. Let's face it: Easy, one-click setup trumps the top of most end-user needs. (Though server filter rules would be a close second, mainly because it's nice to keep everything organized the same in all clients, but hopping on the ZWC isn't complicated.)
As Elliot pointed out, what's really interesting to note is how strongly Apple is backing CardDav. It just got a lot less buzz than the EWS news purely because people can identify with those servers at their workplace - course we plan to change all that. Make it: W
e are changing that mindset.
Quote:
Additional new features in Snow Leopard Server include:
* the new Address Book Server, based on the CardDAV open standard, which provides a central location for users to store and access personal contacts across multiple Macs and synchronized iPhones;
* iCal® Server 2, based on the CalDAV open standard, which includes web-based calendar access and the ability to view meeting invitations and details on iPhone using iPhone OS 3.0;
Source: Mac OS X Server Snow Leopard & Address Book Server & iCal Server |
(A while back I was intrigued by a few of the ideas the CalAtom/CardAtom team presented; but now that we have so
many big names standing behind CalDAV, I'm glad Apple took the initiative to push for CardDav.)
Entourage on the other hand really should just go ahead and implement full CalDAV, but as a MS product clearly EWS was more important to them first - there's an RFE open for us to bend to their WebDAV variant.
I see us supporting EWS for external account aggregation and in Zimbra Desktop sometime, so the reverse (connecting to ZCS like it was EWS) isn't a complete stretch of the imagination. (Maybe an alternative to ZCO for Outlook someday.)
---High level strategy/ignore if you don't like corporate theory discussions---
If I was Apple (at war with Microsoft on both desktop and phone OS fronts) I'd kick Entourage use (which comes with Office for Mac) "down 'n out cold" by shipping iWork by default (they're already in the $50 range / could still charge for upgrades, and the Mac users they win over might offset the development cost). (I don't think they're sweating loosing much ground to Sun's OpenOffice at the moment, but fully embracing ODF can't hurt right?) Native EWS integration in mail/.cal/address.app was clearly a good first move however - since they need to say it syncs with Windows environments easily. For Mac fans, hopefully that tide will change and it'll be MS products that need to spend time focusing on compatibility with other standards rather than the other way around.
Now if Apple would just bring their hardware prices down...but I digress. (Heck that argument works two ways, lower prices can equal faster adoption, but often at the sacrifice of quality / surplus money to spend on things like operating platforms - and Apple does make excellent software.)