iCal/Address Book/Mail --> Future Full Exchange Support?

[palmerized]

I was just wondering if we could expect to see full exchange support for the Apple desktop apps (iCal, Address Book and Mail) since they're licensing ActiveSync for the iPhone to enable this support.

It would be great to be able to use these apps instead of Entourage for my daily use. Right now, since the network is on Exchange, we have to use Entourage.

Thoughts?

 

[richard.mac]

Mac OS X server uses the open source LDAP in iCal/Address Book/Mail but it isnt compatible with Exchange which is why some have to use Entourage.

if the protocol was changed to Microsoft Exchange, Windows Servers would be able to serve to mac clients and vice versa. but Exchange it proprietary so Apple would have to pay a lot of money to use it in Mac OS X just like they did to add Exchange support to the iPhone OS, albeit a lot more.

im all for this but i wouldnt use it atm. perhaps if for my career i would work for a big corporation (currently studying at uni) that used Exchange to push email, contacts, calendars to my Mac i would be all for it.

but i definitely think Exchange will be made available to Mac OS X in the future. perhaps Apple is trialing Exchange on the iPhone for the real thing?