Mac Calendaring Solutions
Everybody’s always looking for a good calendar option for the Mac. Here’s a few options that will give you a push in the right direction-
iCal – iCal comes built in to Mac OS X. Great basic calendar that can sync to MobileMe, OS X Server or to your Google Calendar. Supports CalDAV standards for syncing to any CalDAV server. Setup a sync with Google calendar using Calaboration. It’s by far the most basic but best looking out of all the calendar options. Access and edit your calendars on the web if you have a MobileMe subscription ($100 per year), and sync over the air to your iPhone. Cost – Free.
Google Calendar – Web based calendar that’s included with a standard Gmail account. You can use the calendar without having an account, but you’ll have no inclusion of the Google address book. Stripped down interface that can set your free/busy time and share calendars with other Gmail users. Built-in sync options for your iPhone & Blackberry. Cost – Free.
Now Up To Date – If you’re an old school Mac user, you might have run in to this many years back. It was one of the only Mac-based shared calendaring solutions available for quite some time. NUTD features invitations, resource scheduling and multi-level privileges. Their client includes a free server for collaboration between multiple users. Great for small offices that need to sync to Palm devices. The next version is configured with the Sync Services framework, allowing it to sync to your iPhone, iCal and Address Book databases. Don’t hold your breath for a release date, it’s two years in the making. Cost – $130 per user, server application included
Microsoft Entourage 2008 – Entourage’s calendar has all the bells and whistles, and if you use it as your primary email client, the calendar is built right in. Compatible with Sync Services, it can connect sync to your iPhone via iCal, or your Palm via Palm Desktop. The most costly of the options, Entourage is included with the Microsoft Office package. Cost – $149 with Student & Teacher Edition of Microsoft Office, $399 for Standard Edition.
This by no means is a full list of every option out there, but should give you some advice if you’re trying to move forward with a calendaring solution.
