I don't keep up much with the Microsoft space, but aren't they supporting Cal/CardDAV now too on their windows 8 phones?
If so it is a bit of a weird thing for Android not supporting those protocols to be considered a 'crazy high bar' of effort. If the other smartphone OS's support them, it is somewhat curious that Google doesn't as well. Even when they support it server side. Strikes me a bit too much like a Hotel California situation.
Microsoft has CalDav/CardDav support coming for WP8 in the next update [1]. iOS has had CalDAV/CardDAV support to boot (AFAIK).
I'm not sure why posters ITT are acting as if I am making demands to Google. In my original post I simply stated that "it would be nice" to see native CalDAV/CardDAV support in Android. But apparently making suggestions for a better product by providing the same support for open standards that other OSes provide is "a childish perspective" according to a Google employee [2]. I guess we need to keep in mind that a client and a server are barely even related [2]. TIL.
Neither Apple nor Microsoft allow you to plug-in your own sync adapter. What if you do not want to use CalDAV/CardDAV, but your own protocol?
For example, Samsung, Asus and Sony do exactly that. They provide their own sync adapters. Maybe that's more important to them (and their customers) than generic CalDAV/CardDAV.
I think the key point is that while the Contacts and Calendar applications are typically pre-installed on an Android device, they are still applications and not a part of the operating system itself. Any third-party developer could create a competing application that would have equal status on a device, while supporting CalDAV and CardDAV as well.
Trying to build CalDAV and WebDAV into the Android OS wouldn't work, because they would be dependent upon those applications, which would then make them essential OS applications.
Contacs ("People") and Calendar are part of AOSP, althrough most vendors do not ship them.
It does not matter, as neither AOSP nor vendor-specific Contacts or Calendar applications contain any protocol code. These frontends use contact and calendar specific content providers, which in turn provide plugin based API for sync adapters. Google's own sync adapter is such plugin, as well as Facebook's or even Microsoft's (for Skype contacts).
It is true, that there are no CalDAV/CardDAV sync adapters on the devices. However, because not everyone is interested in one, it is perfectly fine to install them from Play Store for those interested.
Cool didn't know it was next update for windows 8, but still a good sign.
I do find the dichotomy of supporting "open" protocols to their service, but not from their operating system a bit odd. Though in that respect Apple isn't much different regarding imessage/facetime/etc...
I guess I would rather have my device/os support open standards over the service I might use them upon.
That's because one is a service, and one is an open operating system. If a service doesn't support a protocol, you can't use that protocol with it, so there is demand that the service support the open protocols that most clients have implemented. If an open OS doesn't have built-in support for a protocol, you can choose to add it. It's apples and oranges. It's like saying your laptop doesn't support a particular printer because you have to install a driver to print.
For an OS, it makes more sense to err on the side of supporting fewer protocols by default and allowing users to clients to add the ones they need than bloating it up with all possible protocols you ever might want to connect to on any server, anywhere.
If so it is a bit of a weird thing for Android not supporting those protocols to be considered a 'crazy high bar' of effort. If the other smartphone OS's support them, it is somewhat curious that Google doesn't as well. Even when they support it server side. Strikes me a bit too much like a Hotel California situation.