In the past few weeks, the online tech journalism brigade proved that, well, rules of journalism continue to apply. Demigods were created, and brought down, all in the span of a week. Google's new Google App Sync plug-in was described in not so subtle terms as a "potential Microsoft Exchange killer" or Google's intentions described as "Google goes for Microsoft's jugular". Well, desperate that we online scribes are, we cant but help go a little overboard in the attempt to capture your, the reader's, eyeballs.

Well, the euphoria didn't last long. The Google App Sync tool, which already had glaring shortcomings in terms of functionality (it does not allow for task synchronization), soon started sputtering and coughing, after a smooth start. It was found that it interfered with Outlook's search, as well as with any third party plug in that might be installed with Outlook. The formerly fawning crowds didn't take long to describe Google's new tool as "seriously flawed", "impaired" and admitting that it "kills Outlook search".

The lesson learnt here is, killing MS Exchange, the juggernaut of enterprise messaging is not going to be easy. Moreover, a new software aiming for the big prize, will need some time to get rid of bugs and stabilize. The Google App Sync tool has some way to go yet. And there are other problems that might be hurdles in it winning over the enteprise market.

1) It allows only synching of mail, contacts and calendars and does not allow task synching.

2) The design of Google's online client is drastically different from MS Outlook, leading to dissonance as people using Outlook as the desktop client need to go online to access their accounts.

Companies looking for a Microsoft Exchange alternative needn't lose heart.There are some very good options, especially for small to medium sized businesses. HyperOffice is one such example, which offers a robust, stable alternative to Exchange, developed over years of experience. HyperOffice is an online messaging and collaboration suite, which allows users the option to work from within their Outlook accounts. It acts as a backend for Outlook and allows users access to most popular MS Exchange features - business mail, shared calendars/contacts/tasks, web mail access and mobile mail access etc.