ActiveSync Going Away with Windows 7? (Again)

This is actually a crazy brilliant idea. People have gotten very used to having to install tons of random drivers and crap to get things working that they desparately need, and I think that probably keeps them from installing MORE crap to sync their phone, etc. It's just too much work.

This could be a good selling point for not only windows mobile devices but also peripherals for computer manufacturers, etc. Neat.

I have Windows 7 Build 6801 and it requires Windows Mobile Device Center 6.1 to sync Windows Mobile to Outlook. My devices an HTC S730, palm Treo 750, palm Treo Pro show up under Device Stage but they are not added to the TaskBar with common tasks and what not.

I think AS is here to stay...

Device stage will show all "connected" devices by default.. how the manufacturers use it is open to the manufacturer..

You will still need the back end drivers for any device (windows wont automatically have the nokia software, the palm software, the windows mobile device software, as well as any sort of game controller programming tool, fancy keyboard device management /remapping tool, fancy speaker software built in)

What device stage is for.. is to allow them to unify the access point, and offer a page with more information and links to that software as well as on board storage .. perhaps a charging indicator for your various phones and whatnot..

IE Activesync will likely be completely gone and replaced with Device Center.. but all devices that currently require "evil drivers" will still require them