It’s been a long time coming, but Google Calendar has finally added sync support for Apple’s iCal on Mac OS X.
Google Delivers Syncing Support to Apple Users.
The announcement of support for CalDAV with Google Calendar now means that Mac OS X iCal users finally have a standards compliant and free solution to sync their Mac’s calendaring data across the net. The testing at Google for syncing iCal to Google Calendar using the open source solution known as CalDav has been brewing behind the scenes at Google for a number of months.
Google Calendar and iCal Learn to Talk.
According to Google, iCal and Google Calendar will be able to talk and update in each other seamlessly. So, any changes you make in iCal will automatically be updated in Google Calendar and changes made on Google Calendar will also update iCal. The only caveat is iCal updating will only appear on Google Calendar the next time you sign in. So, what if you don’t have a net connection? No problem. Changes made in iCal while offline will be saved and updated in Google Calendar the next time your Mac connects to the Internet.
A Free Solution to Network your iCal Data Across the Net.
Until now the only way to sync your Mac’s iCal service to Google Calendar was through the use of third party applications on your Mac that enabled iCal to talk to Google Calendar servers. Google’s support for CalDav now offers syncing for the first time at a no-cost solution.
Apple's MobileMe Gets Competition.
Google’s announcement of iCal to Google Calendar syncing comes after the release of the much anticipated iPhone G3 and the update of Apple’s own proprietary web-based Exchange compatible portal and syncing service, MobileMe. It's a double-edged sword for Apple basing applications like iCal on open standards. While CalDAV does make Apple Computers more compatible, it also means that it’s easier for companies like Google to develop their own solutions and services. Services that could undercut Apple’s own initiatives like MobileMe.
Google Calander iCal Sync is a Great Start.
Google’s iCal support does have a number of bugs that remain to be ironed out. Event reminders and alarms don't currently sync with Google Calendar. You can’t create "To Do’s" and have them sync between iCal and Google Calendar and Google Apps “Room Scheduler” isn’t supported. If you’re planning on using Google Calendar with other Calendaring applications that support the CalDAV standard, you’re out of luck. There is currently no support for any other CalDav based applications, including Mozilla Sunbird. Only iCal is presently supported.
Get Started Now with Google Calander iCal Sync.
You can find Google Calendar CalDAV support at the "Google Calendar Help Center." A thorough overview for installing and configuring iCal with Google Calander is available on Google’s CalDav “Getting Started” page.
