Short answer: I've decided to stay with Gmail for domains (gmail apps for business plan).
Gmail seems to be a better solution for email. Period. At least for my small business.
Powershell? Really!!!!
The way to work with alias accounts makes zero sense (two days of trying to make it work??? Google it takes two minutes). Fix this issue, and I might return.
Although, I did not try to validate my domain... last time I tried that (6 months ago), I tried for over a year and it finally worked after being on the phone with support for over an hour... he went in and fixed the issue, after "support" on this website stated it was "my issue" and "me not doing things right".
So, support at Microsoft needs to be fixed.
Case in point, when the office365 support person called, he actually raised his voice and said "that is not true, I'm looking at it right now. Do you have your browser open? Where are you?" This was after I explained to him that the instructions that he sent were wrong and the labels did not match. Then he wanted to argue about it... I hung up at that point (first time I've ever hung up on support... even the guys/gals from India I can deal with, heck, they are working a job, no issues there... this person was plain rude).
The gmail support called and basically said they will not support outlook 2013 until later. Told me I could use the browser online, thanked me for supporting google, and then said bye. No arguments, no making up stuff... much better experience.
I'm waiting for Gmail to launch the apps sync for outlook 2013.
Microsoft has pretty stuff, but the backend is so hard to deal with that most people will go someplace else... unless they are admins and want to launch this for a huge company (over 20 people). Even then, I'd be pressed to understand why they would go with Microsoft's solution, unless they are real tech "admins" and paid to support the company.
I'm just a guy looking for a simple email solution that works out of the box.