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 BusySync - 2.2.3Share and edit iCal calendars on a LAN or over the Internet. |
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Featured Reviews
Best of iCal and Google Calendar 
- Version: 2.1.9, 12/10/2008 09:14AM PST
(1 of 1 users found this comment useful)
jimabeles
Another reason to use BusySync - Version: 2.1.9, 12/7/2008 12:05PM PST
(1 of 1 users found this comment useful)
tesler
Per my previous comments on Calaboration/CalDAV vs. BusySync, I have discovered a limitation of CalDAV that does cause me concern.
The source of the problem is that iCal does not currently support the notion of a private appointment. In Google Calendar and other calendar programs, when you share a private calendar with a colleague, they can see details of most appointments but for a private appointment they can only see that your have blocked off the time.
Whether you use BusySync or CalDAV, a new event created in iCal will appear as Public in Google Calendar until you mark it Private in Google Calendar. There is no working around that.
However, if you mark an event Private in Google Calendar, sync it to iCal, edit event details in iCal, and sync it back to Google, BusySync and CalDAV behave differently. BusySync preserves Google's privacy setting; CalDAV does not. With CalDAV, any change to the event in iCal causes Google Calendar to reset the event's setting to Public. Your once private event is no longer private. Bummer.
I will probably switch back to BusySync. :-)
The source of the problem is that iCal does not currently support the notion of a private appointment. In Google Calendar and other calendar programs, when you share a private calendar with a colleague, they can see details of most appointments but for a private appointment they can only see that your have blocked off the time.
Whether you use BusySync or CalDAV, a new event created in iCal will appear as Public in Google Calendar until you mark it Private in Google Calendar. There is no working around that.
However, if you mark an event Private in Google Calendar, sync it to iCal, edit event details in iCal, and sync it back to Google, BusySync and CalDAV behave differently. BusySync preserves Google's privacy setting; CalDAV does not. With CalDAV, any change to the event in iCal causes Google Calendar to reset the event's setting to Public. Your once private event is no longer private. Bummer.
I will probably switch back to BusySync. :-)
Works like a charm if you need it - Version: 2.1.9, 12/7/2008 09:44AM PST
tesler
I used BusySync for three weeks to sync Google Calendar with iCal. I had already set up MobileMe ($99/year from Apple) to synchronize iCal on my home computer with my iPhone and with iCal on my work computer. BusySync provided the missing link to my Google Calendar at work.
BusySync was easy to use and worked very well. I encountered only one shortcoming. Very rarely, a meeting didn't sync or showed up at the wrong time. I don't know whether BusySync, iCal, or Mac OS X was at fault. or whether human error contributed. I probably could have fixed the problem using Reset Sync History in BusySync Preferences but I wasn't aware of that feature until today.
Today, I stopped using BusSync. I stopped because one week ago, Google released a utility, Calaboration, that you run once to start synching Google Calendars with iCal using the CalDAV protocol. See http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?answer=99358 for instructions. Previously, setting up CalDav for this purpose was a tedious process. Because Calaboration does just one thing, it is even easier to use than BusySync.
However, CalDAV has limitations which could be a problem for some users. Google lists some current limitations on the aforementioned page under "Known Issues" and "Troubleshooting". Other limitations are listed in a review of Calaboration in MacWorld (http://www.macworld.com/article/137259/2008/12/calaboration.html), in comments on that review, and in BusyMacs' FAQ (http://www.busymac.com/faq/index.html#caldav).
I haven't, as yet, found the limitations of CalDAV to be as onerous as they sound. For example, it is claimed that synching is one way, from Google Calendar to iCal. It is true that, with CalDav, you can't "push" a calendar from iCal, i.e., you can't make a calendar created in iCal appear on Google Calendar. BusySync does support "push". But for a Google Calendar that you have synched with iCal using either CalDav or BusySync, changes made in iCal show up on Google and vice versa.
If all you want to do is to sync your own existing Google Calendar with your own iCal, Calaboration may suffice. If you want to sync iCal calendars among several people on a local-area network or sync iCal with Google Calendar while avoiding some limitations of CalDAV, BusySync is the strongly recommended solution.
BusySync was easy to use and worked very well. I encountered only one shortcoming. Very rarely, a meeting didn't sync or showed up at the wrong time. I don't know whether BusySync, iCal, or Mac OS X was at fault. or whether human error contributed. I probably could have fixed the problem using Reset Sync History in BusySync Preferences but I wasn't aware of that feature until today.
Today, I stopped using BusSync. I stopped because one week ago, Google released a utility, Calaboration, that you run once to start synching Google Calendars with iCal using the CalDAV protocol. See http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?answer=99358 for instructions. Previously, setting up CalDav for this purpose was a tedious process. Because Calaboration does just one thing, it is even easier to use than BusySync.
However, CalDAV has limitations which could be a problem for some users. Google lists some current limitations on the aforementioned page under "Known Issues" and "Troubleshooting". Other limitations are listed in a review of Calaboration in MacWorld (http://www.macworld.com/article/137259/2008/12/calaboration.html), in comments on that review, and in BusyMacs' FAQ (http://www.busymac.com/faq/index.html#caldav).
I haven't, as yet, found the limitations of CalDAV to be as onerous as they sound. For example, it is claimed that synching is one way, from Google Calendar to iCal. It is true that, with CalDav, you can't "push" a calendar from iCal, i.e., you can't make a calendar created in iCal appear on Google Calendar. BusySync does support "push". But for a Google Calendar that you have synched with iCal using either CalDav or BusySync, changes made in iCal show up on Google and vice versa.
If all you want to do is to sync your own existing Google Calendar with your own iCal, Calaboration may suffice. If you want to sync iCal calendars among several people on a local-area network or sync iCal with Google Calendar while avoiding some limitations of CalDAV, BusySync is the strongly recommended solution.
It also makes syncing with other iCal users (e.g. family members) really easy.