BusyMac announces BusyCal

iCal replacement provides integrated calendar sharing and Google Calendar synchronization

Macworld Expo, San Francisco, CA - January 5, 2009 - BusyMac today announced BusyCal, a new Mac OS X desktop calendar application designed for sharing calendars on a LAN and syncing with Google Calendar. BusyCal combines the calendar sharing and synchronization technology from its award winning BusySync, with a beautiful desktop calendar interface that is instantly recognizable to iCal users — all in one easy to use integrated application.

BusyCal is a desktop calendar application that provides integrated calendar sharing and Google Calendar synchronization. Designed for families and small workgroups, BusyCal allows users to easily and cost-effectively share calendars on a local area network and over the internet without the need for a dedicated server, and to sync with Google Calendar. Shared calendars can be viewed and edited by multiple users and changes are instantly synchronized between users.

In addition to calendar sharing and synchronization, BusyCal provides the ability to display graphics, sticky notes, and live weather feeds; create ToDos, including recurring ToDos, that display in the calendar view and auto-forward until completed; view events in a customizable List View; and apply custom fonts, styles and colors to events. These unique features are available in BusyCal, while maintaining compatibility with other apps and services including BusySync, Google Calendar, Sync Services, iCal, MobileMe and the iPhone.

Pricing and Availability
BusyCal will be released in Spring 2009 for $40 per computer. BusyMac will demonstrate BusyCal at Macworld Expo (booth #3526-I), January 6-9, 2009. For more information or to sign up for the public beta, go to http://www.busymac.com/busycal.

BusyMac’s award winning BusySync, which adds calendar sharing and syncing capabilities to iCal, is currently available for $25 per computer. Customers who purchase BusySync prior to the release of BusyCal can upgrade to BusyCal for $10.

System Requirements

• BusyCal requires Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
• BusySync is compatible with Mac OS X 10.4 (Tiger) and Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
• BusyCal and BusySync are compatible with each other, allowing users to share calendars on a LAN between BusyCal users and BusySync/iCal users.

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

[Simon Pride]

Is the syncing to iPhone the same as iCal's?

[John]

BusyCal will sync to the iPhone the same way that iCal does, via iTunes or MobileMe. The main difference is that BusyCal will sync WebDAV subscriptions to the iPhone, so you won't have to go through the extra steps described here:

http://blog.busymac.com/blog/2008/09/how-to-sync-cal.html

[Peter321]

Will it replace busysync or is that still being developed?

I remember you mentioning addressbook syncing to Gmail earlier but this function has still not been announced.

personally I'm very happy with my iCal/BusySync/GoogleCal/iPhone combo :-)

[Jay Fienberg]

We love BusySync and now are definitely looking forward to BusyCal. A calendar program that is better than iCal with BusySync features built-in is much needed!

(And, if you ever felt like getting into AddressBook, we need to sync our address books the way we can now sync our calendars!)

[Tim Bishop]

Is it likely to restore the functionality of iCal Tiger's "get info" window on Leopard? Will it show calendars in day view in a straight row rather than all jumbled together? I hope so!

[Eric Diamond]

will it sync todos?

[Jesper - Copenhagen]

I'm ecstatic to finally find out about BusyCal by coincidence. I've been looking for a product like this for a long time to releave our companys old NUD-license. This looks SO promising! :-D Do you have any place/forum for documentation and discussions about the specs and design of BusyCal. It looks a little safe and unambitious to direct it to the SOHO+ market. But I guess that comes from leaning towards the iCal-standard. I know the beta is not yet out, but we really need something that will make up for the lost Category Sets in NUD when we switch to BusyCal. Especially the ability to easily swap views. Would it be possible to have some kind of calendar groups or sets - just on the surface/GUI-level?
Well, being the original NUD-creators (respect!), no doubt you know exactly what you're doing - and when to do it. I just hope it will be in time before our NUD-server breaks down again.

[John]

We do have plans to provide a Category Sets like feature in BusyCal, which we call Smart Groups. You can sign up to be notified when the public beta is available at http://www.busymac.com/beta. And we have a forum at http://groups.google.com/group/busymac.

[Peter Wincott]

Well done guys! About time somebody took the Mac calendar requirement by the scruff of the neck and released something wothwhile. You are onto a winner here. Reasonably priced too. NUD (otherwise known as Nighthawk) is too long in the tooth and Nighthawk, it's replacement has been slated for imminent release for far too long. By the time they come out with final release, you guys, with BusyCal, will have grabbed the Mac SME market. Now, start working on plans to improve Address Book. It needs improvement. We use BusySync in our home office on 5 Macs. Really great solution. Will switch over to BusyCal when we move all Macs over to Leopard (currently all Tiger).