(in)ActiveSync

Over the years I have owned one or two PDA-type mobile devices at various times, not really using them as the workhorses of office productivity that they are often portrayed as being, but more out of sporadic curiosity and out of an interest in their programmability.

Recently I got a Treo 750 as a replacement for my mobile phone and as it also runs Windows Mobile 5.0, I find myself effectively with another PDA. This time there is more of a chance of it becoming a real everyday tool for me as it pretty successfully combines a mobile phone with PDA Pocket PC functionality.

But, and here finally is my point, over the years ActiveSync has always been a bugbear in terms of reliability and stability of configuration and use - AND IT IS STILL NO BETTER IN ITS LATEST INCARNATION! Connected once, synched, never recognised again except as an USB device error. So now I am stuck trawling the forums looking for help in resolving the issue, un-installing/re-installing (didn't work), upgrading ActiveSync from 4.2 to 4.5 (didn't work), swapping to other USB ports and other machines (you've guessed it - didn't work)...

...frustrating.