Scobleizer - Latest Comments in Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

Eric D. Burdo — Wed, 30 Aug 2006 12:26:10 -0000

Phil Weber has a good little article on something he wants in a Calendar Service. I think it would be beneficial to a lot of folks.

http://www.philweber.com/20...

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

Steph — Wed, 23 Aug 2006 05:11:43 -0000

I started using Google Calendar the last time my mac died. I was so frustrated about loosing the last weeks of data in iCal (since my backup) that I turned towards something which was online => available from home, from school, from my sister's... I'm never very far from an internet connection if I have a computer.

However... I've now gone lo-fi: I print out a paper planning for myself and write things in it with a pencil. I'm not in a corporate environment, my appointments are often made when I'm on the run, and my contacts don't all use some piece of software or other that would allow me to deal with all of them easily (well... the closest thing is gmail, which brings me back towards gcal).

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

orcmid — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 15:57:50 -0000

Re #22: if you select an area on the calendar page and then right-click it for a new calendar item, the time will be filled in on the form that comes up, too. I do this all of the time.

And even though I don't have Exchange (so I'm technically off-line all of the time, which I prefer), I love it when events provide calendar entries that I can open and they import into Outlook automatically.

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

orcmid — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 15:56:22 -0000

Re #22: if you select an area on the calendar page and then double-click it, the time will be filled in on the form that comes up, too. I do this all of the time.

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

Cider — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 22:44:18 -0000

rsart,

Yeah, damn that Paul Scoble and his ridiculous opinions!

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

SarekOfVulcan — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 21:01:01 -0000

I like Google Calendar because I'm not connected everywhere -- no laptop. I can get to Google Calendar from home, work, library, etc., with no problems, though.

It's the same reason I use Bloglines instead of a fat client, and why I use the web interface to do my blog posts.

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

Andrew Calvo — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 18:53:03 -0000

Here are my comments on the issue.. #1 Google NEEDS to make native outlook integration. I know there are third party programs which allow Google Calendar to work in outlook, but its not easy for the average user to use.
#2 I'm using Gmail for Domains, and my biggest fusteration is how every time a new email address is created, I have to manually go into each and every user account and add that user to "Manage Calendars" there needs to be an easy way to automatically do that.

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

francine hardaway — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 17:35:55 -0000

I disagree with your assessment about Google. I use gmail and Google calendar and share my calendar with my partner and my family. I like it because I live in two different towns and regularly work on three computers, two PCs and a MAC.
I can definitely take an email appointment and add it to Google calendar. And I like that it allows me to see my clients' calendars, too.

I wish it synced up to my Windows Mobile 5 device, but I it will soon. In the meantime, I have it fixed to send me reminders of my appointments as text messages. I admit Outlook is convenient, but change is good, my man.

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

Deepak — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 11:55:02 -0000

I use Gcal all the time, and its become an integral part of my workflow. I subscribe to a total of 5 calendars, love the look and feel and its just a breeze to use. Sure there are a few features that I wish it had, but it will happen in time. Hopefully it won't get too bloated.

All important reminders are sent to me as text mails, so I don't really miss not having an offline option. I do add an ical subscription from gcal to Mozilla calendar as a backup, but I have not looked at it in at least 2+ months.

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

jonezy — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 11:16:53 -0000

the not available when i'm not online thing is really the only thing that turns me off. I have been an outlook user for about 5 years and i really liked making the switch.

I guess if outlook would let you subscribe to an ical or xml calendar that would be the perfect situation.

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

scottrose — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 09:20:52 -0000

1) - It seems that gmail scans emails for street addresses and if one exists, it will display a link in the upper right side to "Map this address".

It would be nice to have a link that says "schedule a gCalendar event" from this email in that same area. That click would then bring up gCalendar with the contents of the email as comments and you'd only need to enter date/time/location info.

I personally don't see my company moving to a service like this but who knows. I also never thought we would buy a google search appliance either ;-)

Also, I'm using Outlook 2007 Beta2 and really enjoy it.

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

disenchantedtech — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 08:45:01 -0000

Another point about Outlook calendar and the "click, drag, right-click and choose “New Appointment.”" bit, you only need to "click, drag and type" to create an appointment.
Of course you still need to double click it to open it if you want to invite others for a meeting.

Or just click the time and press ctrl-n

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

Oyvind — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 08:34:22 -0000

Oh, no HTML. Here's the link then:

http://www.flickr.com/photo...

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

Oyvind — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 08:33:47 -0000

Re: 1) Your Gmail must behave different than mine, because I get e-mails in both Norwegian and English, and whenever someone enters something like "monday 6 at 1800" or "torsdag kl 2130" (that's thursday at 2130 in Norwegian), I get a box at the right of the message in Gmail saying:

"Would you like to...

Add to calender"

etc.

like this:

See?

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

Ben — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 07:48:36 -0000

Robert,

My situation is that I am 'forced' to use Outlook at work (company policy) and choose to use Google Calendar at home. The benefits of Google calendar for me are that I can access it from anywhere with an internet connection and have the exact same user experience, I have always found it to be extremely quick.

As for the 'offline' problem, I use iCal on my Mac with a read-only Calendar that is subscribed to my Google Calendar private ical feed. It is set to update daily, so if I really need to check my Calendar offline I can fire up iCal and voila. Another plus for this method is that iCal can automatically sync with my iPod - so if I really need to check my Calendar with no PC I can use my iPod. Awesome! Obviously the draw-back here is that it is read-only, but it meets my needs perfectly.

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

Rob Bushway — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 06:29:03 -0000

You need to take a look at www.Parallels.com for running windows apps on the mac - runs circles around virtual pc and is stable.

It is how you can run Outlook on the mac...

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

SlashChick — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 06:23:34 -0000

Hi Robert,

One quick point: If your event is only one day, you can just double-click on the day in Outlook to set it up. No click-drag-right-click needed. I'm not sure if you knew this and were just trying to make a point, or you didn't know this.

P.S. Hi Spiv! (Comment #11) *waves from across the datacenter*

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

Ross — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 04:52:47 -0000

Totally OTT, but Gideon, you could try yojimbo - not as complete (from what I can tell as OneNote) but certainly more maclike - http://www.barebones.com/pr...

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

Paul — Sat, 19 Aug 2006 02:24:52 -0000

synch your phone with iCal on the Mac and with Outlook on the PC, and then synch iCal with Google Calendar--use scripts to automate it.

I actually do this to merge my consulting side biz (use my mac) with my family calendar (google) and my work calendar (enterprise exchange via my Thinkpad).

It sounds complicated, but once it's set up, I synch once every day, sometimes every other day (again most of it is automated, so it's just a matter of remembering to make the blue tooth or USB connection).

Not sure if it will work with your phone though (which is the missing link between the Mac and PC, and thus between Outlook and Google). I use a Treo, and it works great. But this is major geeking out on the calendars!

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

Guy Pelletier — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 22:30:04 -0000

I have to agree, that the calendar is a significant piece of software that is used for work, home, and play. As I get older, I find myself using Outlook to not only struture my work, but also my personal life. With this, a calendar must be available on and off line, any device that I use, (phone, laptop, computer, whatever).
I should be able to share my calendar and/or hide all or parts of it. It has to be attached to any e-mail system that I have (I currently have 4 e-mails addresses).
This is a short list but I think it covers the basics. Software that is used needs to evolve and take advantage of all technologies available.

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

Dave Fourputt — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 22:01:49 -0000

I wish that Google calendar would synch with a Blackberry.

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

LayZ — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 21:53:43 -0000

One small correction in your history lesson. MS Mail and Schedule+ were not precursors to Outook. Having been a Network Courier user, then an MS Mail user (due to the acquisition of Network Courier by Microsoft), then an Exchange 4.0 early adopter, Exchange had its own email client that shipped with Exchange 4.0. Schedule+ was a separate product. Outlook was bascially developed from the ground up in Office. At one time Exchange beta users were choosing between the Exchange mail client and Outlook. So, technically you were NOT using Outlook when is was MS Mail.

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

Karim — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 19:42:05 -0000

So, skimming the comments, that's

5) You can work offline in Outlook.

6) Your data isn't saved on a Google server. (Possibly a concern if you are creating appointments like, "Bring 'sports beverage' to Rashid and Abdullah at Heathrow")

7) Google Calendar doesn't work with IE 7. (Helloooo...)

There is stuff that is possible to do in Google Calendar but which is incredibly lame compared to Outlook. For example, you can "view" your Google Calendar using a mobile phone, but you have to send SMS messages like "next" to view the next appointment. And the data is only available for the next 24 hours' worth of appointments.

Compare that to Outlook and Exchange. I create an appointment in Outlook and it shows up on my phone without doing a thing. Boom. No SMS, no navigating with text messages, no inability to see what's coming up next week.

You can subscribe to a Google Calendar using iCal, Windows Calendar or Outlook 2007, but isn't it read-only in those applications? How useful is that?

There's ways to save and import and export things, but it's a bunch of crazy limitations and third-party apps. YES you can go from iCal or Windows Calendar to Google Calendar. Just set up a WebDAV server, publish to that, subscribe to your published calendar in Google Calendar, and you're done. Oh, I forgot to mention you can't actually edit that calendar from Google Calendar...

The Help text for Google Calendar doesn't inspire confidence, either:

You may receive a 500 error when importing events from iCal or CSV files that contain a large amount of data. If you receive this error, wait for five to ten minutes with your browser window open and then close your browser. Next, open your browser and sign into your Google Calendar to see if your events were imported.

I keep receiving repeated SMS messages from Google Calendar. Help!

Occasionally, if the communication between your mobile device and your mobile providers doesn't go smoothly, you may receive duplicate SMS message notifications. When this occurs, just turn your mobile device off and on a couple of times, and see if that makes a difference.

Why am I receiving a corrupted screen on Google Calendar?

If you’re receiving a corrupted screen while accessing Google Calendar, please clear your browser's cache, sign out of Google Calendar, close your browser, and restart your browser. In some cases, it may be necessary to clear your cache more than once.

Ok, ok, NO product is perfect, but turn your device off and on a couple of times, see if that makes a difference? Clear your cache more than once? Why don't they call it Voodoo Calendar? "Try sacrificing a chicken over your keyboard a couple of times. See if that makes a difference."

My favorite is "wait for five to ten minutes with your browser window open." (I assume standing with your d--k in your hands is optional...)

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

Brett Garvin — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 19:39:28 -0000

What about the upcoming Leopard Server with iCal Server? http://www.apple.com/server...
I like Apple iCal myself. You can buy The Missing Sync to sync to your PocketPC (http://www.markspace.com/).
I know it doesnt solve the immediate, but maybe something to look forward to? Just another way to do things.

Re: Richard tells me to explain my view on Google Calendar

Anonymous Insider — Fri, 18 Aug 2006 19:12:53 -0000

No one really has talked about security. But with outlook/exchange combo, my data is stored in my network.

What should ppl be worried about who has access to read my Gmail, Gtalk, Google Calendar, etc.

Google most likely has someone going over everyone's stuff, with their search tools, looking for anything that can give them a competitive edge.

They would never admit to it.

But what if someone internally at Google is a bad apple and does that, my point is your data isn't safe when it's on someone else’s server.

And if/when the gov't decides to get into that info, you have no way of stopping them.

-AI