ActiveSync 4.0 ?

Do you know why ActiveSync 4.0 has not been released yet on Microsoft's
website and when it will become avialble ?

http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/pocketpc/default.mspx

The latest version available is 3.8. I know one can download it from the
developer preview but iam looking for a link which i can provide to our
current user base.

Maybe someone from MS can answer when it will be available for the general
public. Are there any issues currently being worked on and is that the reason
it is not yet made available ?

Thanks,

-Shiv

Peter
Fri Oct 07 13:53:32 CDT 2005

v3.8 is the latest version for currently available devices. v4.0 is provided
for developers working with Visual Studio 2005 and pre-release Windows
Mobile 5.0 devices. v4.0 only offers new functionality when used in
conjunction with a v5.0 device so offers no benefits to users of existing
devices - you should stick with the currently supported release (v3.8) at
this time.

Peter

--
Peter Foot
Windows Embedded MVP
http://www.inthehand.com | http://www.peterfoot.net

"Shiv" <Shiv@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:A0400011-493A-453A-867E-48F5AE43D78C@microsoft.com...
> Do you know why ActiveSync 4.0 has not been released yet on Microsoft's
> website and when it will become avialble ?
>
> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/pocketpc/default.mspx
>
> The latest version available is 3.8. I know one can download it from the
> developer preview but iam looking for a link which i can provide to our
> current user base.
>
> Maybe someone from MS can answer when it will be available for the general
> public. Are there any issues currently being worked on and is that the
> reason
> it is not yet made available ?
>
> Thanks,
>
> -Shiv
>

Shiv
Fri Oct 07 15:51:02 CDT 2005

Peter,

Thanks for a quick response.

BTW is there a way to unsign a signed CAB file ? Iam trying to avoid
packaging 2 versions of the CAB files (signed for WM5 and unsigned for older
devices) in our installers since our data cab files run into mega bytes. The
other alternative is to have different installers for WM5 and non-WM5 PDAs
which is not something iam looking forward to since we have about 200+
products to deal with.

Any help would be greatly appreiated.

-Shiv

Skyscape, Inc
http://www.skyscsape.com


"Peter Foot [MVP]" wrote:

> v3.8 is the latest version for currently available devices. v4.0 is provided
> for developers working with Visual Studio 2005 and pre-release Windows
> Mobile 5.0 devices. v4.0 only offers new functionality when used in
> conjunction with a v5.0 device so offers no benefits to users of existing
> devices - you should stick with the currently supported release (v3.8) at
> this time.
>
> Peter
>
> --
> Peter Foot
> Windows Embedded MVP
> http://www.inthehand.com | http://www.peterfoot.net
>
> "Shiv" <Shiv@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:A0400011-493A-453A-867E-48F5AE43D78C@microsoft.com...
> > Do you know why ActiveSync 4.0 has not been released yet on Microsoft's
> > website and when it will become avialble ?
> >
> > http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/pocketpc/default.mspx
> >
> > The latest version available is 3.8. I know one can download it from the
> > developer preview but iam looking for a link which i can provide to our
> > current user base.
> >
> > Maybe someone from MS can answer when it will be available for the general
> > public. Are there any issues currently being worked on and is that the
> > reason
> > it is not yet made available ?
> >
> > Thanks,
> >
> > -Shiv
> >
>
>
>

The
Fri Oct 07 18:52:49 CDT 2005

Actually AS 4.0 offers some "negative" benefits, too:

- Cannot use IP/ethernet sync (e.g. Wifi, or wired ethernet) - this was
possible with 3.8. was removed due to a security hole.

- With USB, AS 4.0 disconnects Dell Axim x50v after a couple of minutes -
probably some bug they have introduced in AS 4.0, since no such problems
with 3.8.


"Peter Foot [MVP]" <feedback@nospam-inthehand.com> wrote in message
news:OnvOsB3yFHA.2516@TK2MSFTNGP12.phx.gbl...
> v3.8 is the latest version for currently available devices. v4.0 is
> provided for developers working with Visual Studio 2005 and pre-release
> Windows Mobile 5.0 devices. v4.0 only offers new functionality when used
> in conjunction with a v5.0 device so offers no benefits to users of
> existing devices - you should stick with the currently supported release
> (v3.8) at this time.
>
> Peter
>
> --
> Peter Foot
> Windows Embedded MVP
> http://www.inthehand.com | http://www.peterfoot.net
>
> "Shiv" <Shiv@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
> news:A0400011-493A-453A-867E-48F5AE43D78C@microsoft.com...
>> Do you know why ActiveSync 4.0 has not been released yet on Microsoft's
>> website and when it will become avialble ?
>>
>> http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/pocketpc/default.mspx
>>
>> The latest version available is 3.8. I know one can download it from the
>> developer preview but iam looking for a link which i can provide to our
>> current user base.
>>
>> Maybe someone from MS can answer when it will be available for the
>> general
>> public. Are there any issues currently being worked on and is that the
>> reason
>> it is not yet made available ?
>>
>> Thanks,
>>
>> -Shiv
>>
>
>

The
Fri Oct 07 18:55:15 CDT 2005

1) Have you tried to compress your WM5 CAB file? It usually reduces the
size by a factor 2 or more.

2) Wait a few months, then WM5 will represent more than 50% of your
downloads. In the mean time, Pocket PC 2003 will be penalized by having to
do a larger download for install... hey, that's another incentive for then
to get a WM5 device! :)


"Shiv" <Shiv@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:2841B686-0186-461F-AEB9-3D7ED233A83D@microsoft.com...
> Peter,
>
> Thanks for a quick response.
>
> BTW is there a way to unsign a signed CAB file ? Iam trying to avoid
> packaging 2 versions of the CAB files (signed for WM5 and unsigned for
> older
> devices) in our installers since our data cab files run into mega bytes.
> The
> other alternative is to have different installers for WM5 and non-WM5 PDAs
> which is not something iam looking forward to since we have about 200+
> products to deal with.
>
> Any help would be greatly appreiated.
>
> -Shiv
>
> Skyscape, Inc
> http://www.skyscsape.com
>
>
> "Peter Foot [MVP]" wrote:
>
>> v3.8 is the latest version for currently available devices. v4.0 is
>> provided
>> for developers working with Visual Studio 2005 and pre-release Windows
>> Mobile 5.0 devices. v4.0 only offers new functionality when used in
>> conjunction with a v5.0 device so offers no benefits to users of existing
>> devices - you should stick with the currently supported release (v3.8) at
>> this time.
>>
>> Peter
>>
>> --
>> Peter Foot
>> Windows Embedded MVP
>> http://www.inthehand.com | http://www.peterfoot.net
>>
>> "Shiv" <Shiv@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
>> news:A0400011-493A-453A-867E-48F5AE43D78C@microsoft.com...
>> > Do you know why ActiveSync 4.0 has not been released yet on Microsoft's
>> > website and when it will become avialble ?
>> >
>> > http://www.microsoft.com/windowsmobile/pocketpc/default.mspx
>> >
>> > The latest version available is 3.8. I know one can download it from
>> > the
>> > developer preview but iam looking for a link which i can provide to our
>> > current user base.
>> >
>> > Maybe someone from MS can answer when it will be available for the
>> > general
>> > public. Are there any issues currently being worked on and is that the
>> > reason
>> > it is not yet made available ?
>> >
>> > Thanks,
>> >
>> > -Shiv
>> >
>>
>>
>>

The
Fri Oct 07 22:04:05 CDT 2005

> v4.0 only offers new functionality when used in conjunction with a v5.0
> device so offers no benefits to users of existing devices

But there are already a number of WM5 devices already on the market (i.e.
released)!

See http://www.pocketpcthoughts.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=43468

rick
Wed Oct 26 10:22:10 CDT 2005

Our QA guys are all in a knot today because when they got their WM2005
Dell x51 devices, they all (but one) upgraded to Activesync 4.0. Now,
when they run the synchronization function in our software (which can
take several minutes and move a couple of megabytes of data) on 2002 or
2003 devices, they can't always make it through a sync. Our software is
reporting having received the network error 10054, which translates to:
"An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host."

It appears that its not possible to download AS4.0 separately, but I've
got clients with mixed x50/x51 environments, and they have been tempted
to upgrade everyone to AS4.0. I've tried to discourage this behavior,
but they sometimes share cradles between devices.

Also, I've still got to write code for both device versions from a
single machine -- which means I *need* to install AS4.0. And, thus,
encounter this annoying communications problem.

So, what are the odds of the next release of AS4.0 fixing this?

ajdavis
Wed Oct 26 14:29:25 CDT 2005

I feel your pain, Rick. I'm getting exactly this behavior. Since I
upgraded from ActiveSync 3.7.1, it seems that the Pocket PC can't
receive a single HTTP response over about 600K. It gets a
WebException: "An existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote
host".

This is upsetting. My company is porting an application from Palm to
Pocket PC that uses heavy HTTP communication. We were planning on
rolling out a few thousands or tens of thousands of devices this
Spring.

Microsoft? Hello? Do you plan to fix/support your currently useless
product? Do you plan to reply on your newsgroups to developers with
large install bases when they complain that your product has
showstopping bugs?

Thanks,
Jesse.

rick
Wed Oct 26 17:27:31 CDT 2005

Oh, thanks for that info. We just happen to have a response size
limiter built into our server. I hadn't thought to try it because it
seemed to be a time based issue. I'm gonna tell'em to try limiting
responses to 500K.

The
Wed Oct 26 19:40:00 CDT 2005

i think you guys should post that on the activesync newsgroup:
news:microsoft.public.pocketpc.activesync

rick
Fri Oct 28 10:17:28 CDT 2005

After some testing, we've determined that 400K max response size is
safe. Anything above that can cause dropped connections.

ajdavis
Thu Nov 03 09:16:48 CST 2005

Actually you're right, the issue is *TIME*. Watching the interaction
in Ethereal, I see that the desktop gets the whole message in a
millisecond, & the device slowly streams it from the desktop over USB.
(In my application, the device has a lot of processing to do for each
kilobyte, so there's a lag between reads.) After precisely 15 seconds,
the desktop closes its connection to the Server, & the device gets "An
existing connection was forcibly closed by the remote host". I've
verified this with a little test app, which has a configurable delay
between reads. Independent of total size & read-chunk size, a download
fails 15 seconds after it starts.

I believe this is an ActiveSync 4 bug, & I think the bug is this: when
the connection is closed, & there's still data in the buffer on the
desktop, the desktop SHOULD keep the TCP-over-USB connection open until
the device has read the whole buffer. What it ACTUALLY does is close
the USB connection when the HTTP connection closes. Setting Keep-Alive
true doesn't help.

This bug does NOT manifest with WiFi.

My solution was to download the whole response to a file on the device
as quickly as possible, then stream this response out of the file to my
app. I use Zlib compression to help prevent out-of-memory exceptions
when storing a large response in this file.

I'll cross-post to microsoft.public.pocketpc.activesync.