Windows Phone Thoughts: ActiveSync really got me today

Sometimes the quirky design inherent to ActiveSync really gets to me. Case in point: a few days ago I did the HP Jornada EUU1 & firmware updates. I reinstalled everything on the Jornada, but somehow my clock wasn't in sync with my desktop PC - it was an hour out. I couldn't figure out why until I checked the clock settings - it was set on the Redmond time zone, -1 hours behind my local time. Evidently I forgot to change the time zone when doing the device walk through after the hard reset. This resulted in me arriving an hour early for an appointment - so much for the PIM function!

What I don't understand is why ActiveSync can't take a Pocket PC that's been freshly reset and push down partnership information. Time zone, device name, the last backup, etc. I've named my Pocket PC "LittleShogun", so when I do a hard reset I need to first rename the Pocket PC from the control panel applet, move the synced files out of the sync folder, delete the partnership from the desktop, sync the Pocket PC, create a new partnership, and move the files back over. From what I've been told, you can drop a Palm in the cradle, tell it what profile to use, and BAM, you're done.

There are certainly some lessons that Microsoft can learn from Palm, and this is one of them - ActiveSync is too inflexible, unstable, and difficult to use. Or is it just me?