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Why Is Calendar So Hard?

Started by manalang · 9 months ago

My recent move to Ubuntu over the long weekend has reminded me of a pet rant of mine, calendars. You’d think something so basic for every cross-section of users, from personal to every size business, would have an easy solution.

But no.

I’m a long time Palm Desktop user, long meaning I had one of the second [...] ... Continue reading »

15 comments

  • megalow

    12 months ago

    You can try importing the ics into Zimbra. Not the desktop app, but into the server. Once there it's standardized... you might have better luck, and imports aren't limited on most of the higher-end Zimbra hosting providers like 01.com, which I mention because they have 30 day free trials and instant activation. I have signed up a few times just to test the state of that groupware, one of the only serious enterprise email/calendar/contacts solutions that runs on *nix and Mac servers. While I don't need all the features (no Blackberry or iPhone for me), a have a few clients that have moved successfully and seem to find the weather nice, and btw, imported ics files from google, or sync'd using the Zimbra iSync connector to get data up from apple os x.
    reply
  • Jake

    12 months ago

    Nice, thanks for the tip. I see the suite is available for 6.06 (Drake), but will the OSE run on Heron too?

    If so, cool. I'll have to give that a try. I've heard good things about Zimbra, so I was a bit disappointed when I couldn't give a test drive.
    reply
  • megalow

    12 months ago

    http://www.brianmathis.net/2008/05/02/howto-ins...

    Have not tried this, but it's a claim of a heron install.
    reply
  • Jake

    12 months ago

    Good looking out, thanks. Will find time for that, Evolution is bugging me.
    reply
  • chet

    12 months ago

    why not just hack the file? you might be able to find a spec for it out there in the wild.

    A simple java application (even better, put it in the database!) could easily parse it once you know the delimiters (it HAS to have them right?).
    reply
  • Jake

    12 months ago

    Hey, how's the new job?

    So, I could hack the file, and I did take a look at both the ics and csv versions. Frankly, I'm annoyed that I even have to consider that though, which is why I blogged it. Should be easier than that, since my requirements aren't that crazy. Are there?
    reply
  • chet

    12 months ago

    can't be any harder than an x12 820 file (don't ask):
    http://www.oraclenerd.com/2008/04/validating-pr...
    reply
  • Drew

    12 months ago

    This is probably a dumb question, but have you tried Oracle Calendar? I don't particularly love it but it has a 'nix client and will read ics files. Supposedly the latest server will work with other clients too...
    reply
  • Jake

    12 months ago

    We run OCal internally, but again, it's not local, which is my preference. Plus, since it's inside the firewall, I wouldn't have the same flexibility that I would with GCal.

    I haven't tried importing through the client, which I haven't even spent time installing on Ubunutu yet.

    First I've heard of a client for parsing ics files, will check on that. Thanks.
    reply
  • badgerworks

    12 months ago

    I've got no great ideas here, but I can sympathize. I stopped trying to do anything cool and stick with Outlook (for work and school only because everyone else uses it) with a one way sync into Google calendar (which I share with no one except my wife). If it gets to Google calendar I'll probably show up, or at least claim I did. I actually write all of my appointments in my hipsterPDA/moleskine thing that is always on my person, though. That is sad and old school, I know, but if it is really important and I need to show up, it goes in there.

    That is not to say that there should not be a standard solution -- there should be. I work with enterprise systems and getting our scheduling system (R25) to integrate fully with our ERP (Oracle PeopleSoft) is easier than figuring out a bulletproof way to get events onto users' various calendars. Anytime ERP integration is EASIER than something, that something needs some serious help.
    reply
  • Jake

    12 months ago

    I hear you; my desk is littered with Post-its b/c whenever I need a fool-proof way to remember something, nothing does that better than a little sticky note, in assorted colors.

    I want to try stuff like Jott and Sandy, but I really don't trust them. Just like I don't really trust GCal. I'm totally stewed that I may need to trim my calendar to fit a "modern" app. Even that's easier said than done, since the export doesn't support date ranges.

    Shouldn't be this hard.
    reply
  • Tom

    12 months ago

    The new Ubuntu - "Intrepid Ibex" is supposed to add a bunch of things for Mobile devices. It wont be out for 4-5 months though : )
    reply
  • Jake

    12 months ago

    Interesting. It would be nice to have iPhone integration, but like I said, iCal was a mess for me. Plus, I'd have to do 3-way sync btw all the calendars (Macbook-iPhone-Ubuntu).

    All I want is a good desktop calendar. Evolution is OK, so I guess it's the winner.
    reply
  • Chris

    12 months ago

    Did you try Yahoo! as well? I actually like a lot of their features better than Google, though I have to admit I've never tried to import anything. looking forward to a good solution because I know eventually I'm going to have to make this journey as well. People ask me why I have a Treo 680 phone, and the answer is that it syncs easily with my Palm desktop. What a way to choose a phone.
    reply
  • Jake

    12 months ago

    Haven't tried Yahoo's online calendar yet. I think if Zimbra doesn't work out, I'll stick with Evolution, since it's working with my full ics file. I'm just not in love with it.
    reply

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