<p>After some Winter cleaning, Google announced the immediate discontinuation of Google Sync and Google Calendar Sync. These applications were designed to synchronize Gmail accounts with Outlook, various devices and other software via Microsoft's Exchange ActiveSync (EAS) protocol.</p><p>Popular alternatives to Exchange ActiveSync, like IMAP and POP, give users access to email but do not provide the same rich synchronicity that EAS affords. The technology also allows users and devices to syncs contacts, notes and calendars under a single protocol.</p><p>In addition to removing its EAS connector utilities, Google will be restricting EAS access exclusively to paid Google Apps accounts -- if you want to connect via the Exchange protocol, you'll need to pay up for a premium account. This means Google Apps business, education and government customers will be unaffected by this change -- an area where exchange support remains vital. The changes only apply to personal Gmail accounts and free Google Apps accounts.</p><p>Incidentally, this news follows Google's evisceration of the freebie version of Google Apps, also announced earlier this month.</p><p><a href="http://www.techspot.com/news/51129-google-drops-gmail-outlook-sync-support-microsoft-surprised.html">Keep reading...</a></p>