Microsoft gets reprieve on access to Google calendar API

 

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By Stewart Mitchell

Posted on 15 Mar 2013 at 10:58

Microsoft is to continue getting access to a key API that allows it to incorporate easy syncing of Windows Phone handsets with Google's calendar.

The decision to grant access to the CalDAV API is the latest in a long-running saga between the tech giants, after Google had earlier withdrawn support for Exchange ActiveSync.

That move made it harder for Microsoft to bridge the gap between its Windows Phone platform and Google's mail and calendar protocols, and CalDAV was seen as a solution - until Google said yesterday it was going to retire the API.

Now Microsoft looks to have been given a reprieve after a Google blog suggested a few whitelisted companies would continue to be allowed to use CalDAV. The company also extended the deadline for CalDAV access from 31 July to 31 September.

"CalDAV API will become available for whitelisted developers, and will be shut down for other developers on September 16, 2013. Most developers' use cases are handled well by Google Calendar API, which we recommend using instead," Google said in its latest spring clean blog.

"If you’re a developer and the Calendar API won’t work for you, please tell us about your use case and request access to whitelisted-only CalDAV API."

ZDNet probed further and although Microsoft has yet to reveal its intentions, Google confirmed that "this will not impact the agreement with Microsoft" and that Microsoft would still be able to implement CalDav support on Windows Phone.