BusyMac announces BusySync 2.0: Sync iCal with Google Calendar

Macworld Expo, San Francisco, CA - January 14, 2008 - BusyMac today announced BusySync 2.0, a free upgrade to its calendar sharing utility for iCal. In addition to its existing ability to sync iCal calendars over a LAN or the internet, BusySync 2.0 now enables users to synchronize iCal with Google Calendar, providing web based access to calendars from anywhere.

BusySync is a Mac OS X System Preference Pane that adds peer-to-peer calendar sharing and synchronization capabilities to iCal. Designed for families and small workgroups, BusySync allows users to easily and cost-effectively share iCal calendars on a local area network and over the internet without the need for a dedicated server. Shared calendars can be viewed and edited by multiple users and changes are instantly synchronized between users. And now, with BusySync 2.0, users can perform bidirectional synchronization between iCal and Google Calendar.

Key Features of Google Calendar synchronization in BusySync 2.0:

• View and edit calendars online -- Calendar events can be created/edited in both iCal and Google Calendar and automatically synchronized between the two.
• Sync calendars between home and work -- Users can sync their home and office computers with Google Calendar (as an alternative to syncing calendars with .Mac).
• Share calendars remotely -- Users in remote locations can share calendars with each other by syncing with Google Calendar, even while traveling.

Pricing and Availability
BusySync 2.0 will be released in February 2008 for $24.95 per computer. BusyMac will demonstrate BusySync 2.0 at Macworld Expo (booth #S1338), January 15-18, 2008. A public beta will soon be available at http://www.busymac.com/busysync2.html. BusySync 1.5 is currently available for $19.95 per computer. Registered users of BusySync 1.5 will receive a free upgrade to BusySync 2.0 when it is released.

System Requirements

• Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) or
• Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)

Supported Languages
English, French, German, Japanese

About BusyMac
Based in Seattle, Washington, BusyMac is a privately-held company founded in 2007 by Dave Riggle and John Chaffee. Dave and John have a long history of developing great software together, dating back to the early 90's when they created Now Up-to-Date, a revolutionary network calendar for Mac OS 7.

Comments

[Craig John]

Hi John (& Dave)

That's amazing news!!! I'll finally have an easy iCal solution to network sync AND Google cal sync in 1 app.

Roll on the address book sync next. ;)

I have one little query though...
It is a great app but isn't $24.95 per computer a high price for 'family' use? This is what initially put me off buying BusySync until MacZot had a special offer on it.

It's the 'per computer' charge that I have an issue with really - I think it may make it more appealing if there was a certain fee for a location/group (like $20 for instance) and then you could buy individual user/computer licenses (for $5 each).

I like 1password's licence structure - it's one licence per user (not computer) so you can use 1password on your laptop AND your desktop Mac as it's still the same user.

(I'm glad I have two 1.5 licences already though) :)

Keep up the good work!

[John]

This is awesome and what I was waiting for, Spanning sync has the over priced app that only syncs with Gcal. I can't wait until 2.0 is out in the wild.

[MacMarc]

What's the advantage of BusySync vs. publishing my iCal events to Google Calendar???

Just the bidirectional updating? (Don't get me wrong. That might be enough.)

Currently, I use Google Calendar (without iCal) because I LOVE getting SMS reminders and the ability to add an event to G Cal via text message.

However, I was thinking of switching to Apple iCal as my main calendar app so that I could add new events via my iPod touch -- while publishing iCal events to G Cal so that I still get my text message reminders. The downfall of this setup is that I would lose the ability to add new events via text message.

[Peter]

I've been googling around trying to find a better price ever since learning about BusyMac a few days ago. Unfortunately, I missed the MacZot pricing referred to above.

All the new features sound great for those who need them, but I am interested only in syncing iCal across a LAN. It's mostly for my wife and me, but I'd also like to include the surplus laptop I use when sitting around the house. It would also be nice to put it on my kids' computer, for read-only purposes.

Saw in some old Google group comments that you were considering a $50 LAN license. Wish you had implemented something like that. Right now, it would be $80 for my purposes (soon to be $100). Good as your product sounds, that won't fit in our budget.

[William Neuhauser]

Question: Can I sync with multiple Google Calendars? For example, sync all for sharing with family, but also sync just one of my calendars with an interest group (Soccer club, ...) in a different google calendar and account?

[MacMarc]

Craig, Peter, and William,
Your questions are answered in the FAQ here:
http://www.busymac.com/faqs.html

[Robert 'Groby' Blum]

This is *awesome* news, guys!

Rock on, and whenever you're ready to move your syncing experience to, say, iTunes, I'll be ready to buy again!

(I'd buy more BusySyncs, too, but I only have two machines ;)

[Charles]

To the person complaining about the price - come on, how cheap are you?? Are these guys who've written this obliged to live on dust?

Secondly - have you considered using Google Calendar at your second machine via the browser, and then syncing back to iCal on the original machine? Only one licence required. (Durr.)

To be honest this actually sounds *inexpensive* for what it does.

[Stephen Fleming]

Hey, I wish them luck. But, for what it's worth, I'm really happy with SpanningSync. (And I don't think they're overpriced!) Excellent communication with the developers when Leopard broke some sync stuff, and great responsiveness as I was pushing the envelope. But now I have Gcal (for my secretary on Windows) to iCal to my handheld Palm Treo running where I can create appointments in any of the three environments and have them propagate to the other two.

I don't mind spending money when I get support like that. I hope BusySync is planning the same level of support... competition is good!

[sam]

I'm currently using Plaxo and i have to say that's it had a very poor reliability.
I'll be willing to pay for your app if reliability is good !

Simple case : if edit ONE recurrent event in iCal, will it correctly update that one event in GCal ?

Please say yes, I want to beta test, I want to uninstall Plaxo, I want to buy your Busysync !

[Roland J Young]

Hello I am make a quick enquiry about idea behind version 2.0

How does sync with Google work, Spanning Sync have server and subscription model which I do not like.

The payment is a one off cost, and are you syncing directly with google.

Regards
Roland

[John]

BusySync is sold as a one-time fee, there is no subscription fee, and it syncs directly with Google Calendar.

[BeeGee]

My main problem with Spanning Sync is that it doesn't preserve event alarms/notifications between iCal and GCal. Does the 2.0 support this? ie, if I create a Gcal event with an alarm, will that alarm still appear in iCal (and vice-versa)?

Yes, BusySync 2.0 supports syncing alarms with Google Calendar. You'll be able to check out the public beta soon. And you can let us know if it works as desired.

[Joshua Rudd]

Is there the chance that a future feature could be extending BusySync to include Address Book synching via Bonjour and Google much the way iCal/gCal is supported?

[John]

Yes, we plan to offer Address Book syncing via Bonjour and with Google Contacts in the future.

[Lionel]

Happy user of BusySync, I'd love to know if there's anything new regarding Address Book syncing so far?

[ChristianL]

Address Book sync would rock!

[John]

> Yes, we plan to offer Address Book syncing
> with Google Contacts in the future.

Great! Look forward to this!