I agree, but aren't these fundamentally hard problems? Take your calendar example. You could solve that problem with:

* Standardization. Difficult, but possible, if you can convince the entities involved that it's a good idea.

* Machine learning. Unreliable, since even a human might have trouble bridging the gap between the phone calendar's idea of an 'appointment' vs the desktop calendar's idea of an 'appointment.'

* Future Magic. Only works in Microsoft promo videos.

Neither of the two serious solutions seems very good. Is there a better way that I'm missing?