Followers here on HPC:Factor of the ActiveSync 4.0 fiasco can breath a sigh of relief as Microsoft have finalised an ActiveSync 4.x release. ActiveSync 4.1 was released to manufacturing on November 18th, as the first finalised web redistributable for the fourth generation sync client - this despite ActiveSync 4.0 being released to manufacturing in May.

When HPC:Factor were the first to publish a review of ActiveSync 4.0 on the day of it's release, we made it clear that the program would be a mixed blessing for the H/PC community. Unfortunately, the release was also a mixed blessing for users of the Pocket PC and for the then pending Windows Mobile 5.0.
Amidst a series of high-profile criticisms from the Windows CE community, and privately from the testers and OEM's behind Windows Mobile 5.0, Microsoft were forced to silently recall ActiveSync 4.0 to iron out the bugs. Despite the recall, OEM's expected Microsoft to honour the release schedule for Windows Mobile 5.0, and when the first lines of devices began to emerge from OEM's, they shipped with the crippled sync client.

It has been for this reason that ActiveSync 4.0 never materialised as a web redistributable. The 4.1 release is a fixed version of its counterpart, maintaining the same system requirements as before.
For Windows CE 3 device users, the release does provide better optimised and future proofed sync support, however for many the continued absence of LAN synchronisation without investment in Exchange Server 2003 will prevent uptake.

Download: ActiveSync 4.1 | AS4.1 Readme

View: Windows Mobile