ERROR: Too many simultaneous connections - IMAP with Gmail issue after SP2 update

Issue:

Using Outlook 2011 for Mac connected via IMAP to several Gmail accounts, getting the following ERROR pop-up in Outlook:

Mail could not be received at this time.

The server for account "Gmail" returned the error "[ALERT] Too many simultaneous connections. (Failure)." Your username/password or security settings may be incorrect. Would you like to try re-entering your password?

(Note, all password information is correct and has nothing to do with the issue.)

After dismissing the pop-up it continues to come up over and over again for each of the IMAP Gmail accounts I have connected to Outlook (5 of them).  The pop-ups won't go away no matter what you do, only restarting Outlook seems to help.  It is a huge hassle and interruption of workflow (you can't use Outlook as the pop-ups come up rapid fire).  This behavior typically happens when waking my MacBook, or when I switch from one WiFi network to another.  Sometimes it will happen for no apparent reason at all.

Information:

After some research, I believe that this Error is a case of Microsoft changing the way the Error is handled by Outlook after SP2.  Before SP2, the error seems to have been handled differently and allowed you to continue to use Outlook without interruption.

The error comes up because of a limitation of the number of IMAP connections possible within a single Gmail account - specifically:

http://support.google.com/mail/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=97150

Too many simultaneous connections

According to the Gmail Terms of Use, each user account is intended for single use. This means that if you have multiple users frequently accessing the same account or more than one IMAP1 client accessing Gmail at the same time, you may reach a connection threshold and receive the error message, 'Too many simultaneous connections.'

Gmail currently has a limit of 10 simultaneous IMAP connections per account.

Please note that your mail client may actually open multiple connections in the background. This means it's possible to reach a connection threshold simply by using only two mail clients to access the same account at the same time.

If you often use multiple mail clients or mobile devices with the same Gmail account, we recommend closing and/or signing out of any mail clients you're not actively using.

Action Requested:

Please don't respond to this thread suggesting that the MS Identity has anything to do with this.  It doesn't.  I've done the whole identity thing, even fully uninstalled and reinstalled Office 2011.  Nothing helps.

Microsoft needs to get the message that the error handling of this specific error is causing users huge headaches.  The error handling pre-SP2 was much better.

Workarounds:

The only workarounds I have been able to find have been quitting Outlook to allow the IMAP connections to be disconnected.  Additionally, if you have an iPhone or iPad, or even another user on Outlook that may also be connected to the same IMAP accounts they may be using some of the limit of 10 simultaneous connections causing the error.  Disconnecting these other clients may also resolve the error.  Finally, going to the browser based interface for Gmail (desktop version of the interface only) shows a last connection link at the very bottom of the interface.  Clicking on this link allows for an option to disconnect all connections to that Gmail account (these are the IMAP connections).

Doubtful that Google will go beyond the 10 simultaneous connections, so it is up to Microsoft to deal with this known limitation that worked fine pre-SP2.

MS - don't fix what isn't broken.  SP2 has to be the worst example of Quality Assurance I have ever seen.   Please resolve ASAP.