ActiveSync - More bane than boon

Why oh why is ActiveSync such a stinking pile of crap? People like to talk about how great their OS is based on how often they have to reboot. For me, I'd hardly ever reboot XP if it weren't for the devil that is ActiveSync.

Why does ActiveSync lose its mind and refuse to sync up so often? As near as I can tell from a little googling, ActiveSync was first released (as ActiveSync) in August of 1999. Microsoft has had over 5 years to make this thing bulletproof, yet I have problems with it daily, and I'm not the only one. I would think that a tool that is so important, not only to their developers, but also to their Windows Mobile users would always work.