We are a Macintosh household and, like many families, struggle to maintain a master schedule that represents the interests and obligations of five individuals. Family plans, work, school, church and public holidays are dutifully recorded electronically but synchronized orally as time permits. BusySync is the solution we’re trying now:
With BusySync it’s incredibly easy to share iCal calendars with family or coworkers on your LAN without the need for a dedicated server. Shared calendars can be viewed and edited by multiple users, and changes are instantly published and synchronized with all users on the network. You can even make changes to shared calendars while offline and your changes will sync when you reconnect to the network.
I’ve performed the initial sync. So far, selected shared calendars are in sync with Gcal and transmitted to connected systems. I expect we’ll need to flatten our categories to make cross-platform synchronization most effective. Do not underestimate the challenge of integrating calendar schedule categories with your spouse. As in other fields, people are rather proud of their ontologies.
On a positive note, one side effect of using gCal as a sync point allows me to sync my Blackberry Pearl 8100 calendar wirelessly to the master calendar using Google tools.
If you have Macintoshes and a family calendar issue you might want to download the trial program and check it out.
(See also: BusyMac)
