News, info, and opinion by Mac users, for Mac users.

January 16, 2008

updates

BusySync 2.0 offers bi-diretcional gCal and iCal syncing

Posted Jan. 16, ’08, 5:51 PM PT by Aaron Freedman
Category | Software » Updates

Zz020C4E0A For a while now, I’ve been on a quest to find a free alternative to Spanning Sync; that is, an application that offers bi-directional Google Calendar and iCal syncing as good as or better than Spanning Sync, all for the grand price of nothing. So far, I’ve found four apps, the latest being Plaxo, which I’ve been content with since I first reviewed it. Now though, there seems to be a new contender — BusySync 2.0.

Announced at Macworld, BusySync 2.0 is the upcoming version of the BusySync app, a preference pane that syncs iCal calendars over a local network or the Internet without the need for a dedicated server. While this is a great program already, version 2.0 makes it even better by adding bi-directional Google Calendar-iCal syncing. Unfortunately, BusySync 2.0 still doesn’t fulfill my “search for a free Spanning Sync” criteria, as it is simply not free. BusySync 2.0 will cost $25 when it’s released in February (but if you get BusySync 1.5 for $20 now, you get a free upgrade to 2.0 when it comes out), though the upcoming public beta will let you try it out for free. Still, this is a lot cheaper than the $25-a-year or $65-one-time price for Spanning Sync.

While it may not be free, BusySync 2.0 may turn out to be a good, cheaper alternative to Spanning Sync when it comes out. But until then, there’s still plenty more options.


3 Comments

Well Author Profile Page said:

I've been very pleased with Plaxo. I sync Google Calendar, iCal, and my phone with it. Only problem I've had is that Yahoo! has broken functionality with it.

January 17, 2008 6:45 AM
Stacy said:

I work for CallWave and we just launched a cool new visual voicemail app made just for Macs running Tiger or Leopard. Here's a podcast if you're interested in seeing a demo: QuickTime: http://www.callwaveblog.com/podcast/callwave_apple_voicemail_app.mov

January 17, 2008 9:11 AM
Geoff Cleary said:

After a little googling, it looks like GCALDaemon, one of the alternatives mentioned in the post above, isn't really Leopard/iCal 3 compatible. So, until it is updated, it is a non-option.

Just a word to the wise.

January 25, 2008 5:02 PM

Leave a comment

 



Visit other IDG sites: