Google App Sync Tool For Microsoft Outlook Flops Out

The launch of App Sync software was Google’s most aggressive move challenging Microsoft’s stronghold in enterprise market . According Google’s claims its app was designed to allow the users to switch to Google Apps while retaining the Microsoft Outlook interface. At the first instance, the odds were in favor of Google’s, as the Google Apps are cheaper and easier to run. Things changed overnight, as Microsoft announced on its blog that Google’s new Outlook plug-in suffered from serious flaws that could disable the integral Outlook functions.

Google launched its App sync software as an optional tool to its Premier and Education Edition users. The plug-in allows the users to sync up messages, calender appointments and contacts between Outlook and Google’s hosted office service. Google promised that people would be able to use Outlook along with the Gmail component of its Apps suite. Google had to tone down its claims, as it was exposed that some plug-ins fail to work with Google Apps Sync for Microsoft Outlook.

Shortcomings of the Google’s plug-in

Google provided the details about some of the broken plug-ins its enterprise blog, which included Adobe’s Acrobat PDF Maker toolbar, as well as Microsoft’s Office Outlook Connector and Outlook change notifier. Google has recommended that users who have the Google App Sync tool installed, and want to use these tools and plug-ins should simply uninstall the program until a fix is evolved.

Given the plugins, the major problem with Google’s add-on is that it disables Windows Desktop Search as well as some other third party search tools. Outlook Product Manager Dev Balasubramanian explained that installing the Google plug-in would change the registry key and disables the ability to search Outlook data. Further, that implies if you are searching for an older e-mail say your company’s dividends in last quarter, it would take you a back-breaking effort to rummage through the archive to reach your e-mail.

According to Google, it does so to inhibit the endless attempts to index the sync files that the special software creates. To amend those programs that hampers the Windows functions, Google would require the cooperation of companies that makes them, including Microsoft. According to sources Google is working on it.

Update by Google

In an Update Google spokesman Andrew Kovacs suggested in a note that users can still use the new Apps Sync plug-in by using Outlook’s default search.

Conclusion

Google’s greatest barrier in the enterprise market is the corporate culture that is indispensably aligned to cognition of software. Well, nothing can be more familiar to work on than Microsoft Outlook. So if today, Google fails to design a simple app that implements its own services through Microsoft Outlook, I wonder how a revolutionary road can be achived by the big-G in the near future as far as Enterprise is concerned.