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Q: How do we share calendars between Windows XP and Mac OS X? ( No Answer,   2 Comments )
Question  
Subject: How do we share calendars between Windows XP and Mac OS X?
Category: Computers
Asked by: dobermananswers-ga
List Price: $20.00
Posted: 08 Feb 2006 04:56 PST
Expires: 10 Mar 2006 04:56 PST
Question ID: 443042
How do we share calendars between Windows XP and Mac OS X?
Today our environment contains 30 computers, 15 Windows XP and 15 Mac OS X.

General Demands.
1. We primarily want to use iCal and Outlook to manage the calendars.
2. We do not want to use an ASP (Application service provider)
3. The data exchange should work between Microsoft Outlook 2003 and Apple's iCal v2
4. The shared calendars should update in real time.
5. No Microsoft Exchange solution.

Wishes for the Calendar.
1. There must be a way to easily watch all the users' calendars.
2. There should be a way to preliminary book time in other users' calendars.
3. An additional web interface is a bonus.

We can set up an additional Windows/Linux server if the solution demands it.
Answer  
There is no answer at this time.

Comments  
Subject: Re: How do we share calendars between Windows XP and Mac OS X?
From: neo_cortex-ga on 08 Feb 2006 08:33 PST
 
Hi there,

Bad news is that your best bet is Exchange. Outlook doesn't like
connecting to other Groupware servers (I've tried Groupwise and Notes
with amusing consequences). iCal can connect to Exchange with a plug
in. Of course, on the plus side Exchange does come with Outlook Web
Access which is great for remote use.

If you are on a budget the best open source solution is probably
OpenGroupware.org.  It will work fine with iCal as it suport WebDAV,
but as far as I know to connect to Outlook you need the ZideLook
Outlook Connector which will set you back 150 Euros.

Hope this helps
Subject: Re: How do we share calendars between Windows XP and Mac OS X?
From: robertfranz-ga on 11 Feb 2006 14:51 PST
 
Neo's OpenGroupware suggestion is viable, but the last time I checked
it out a few months ago it wasn't quite ready for prime time.

This is a RAPIDLY evolving segment and the answer to your question
will likely change from week to week.

For a Mac/PC environment I would advise taking a look at Kerio Mail Server.

It provides groupware functionality to both Win and Mac clients -
Outlook requires the plugin provided by Kerio - Entourage is supported
natively.
It also has a web client.
Free/busy is supported - though I am not sure if it supports reserving
time - didn't get around to trying that feature when I ran the demo.

The server can run on Mac/Wintel/Linux platforms - so you have some options there.

The base product plus an addon to support a total of 40 clients would
run you about $900 USD. There is a version that has AV built in to it
- but I feel the additional cost isn't justified unless you have no AV
solution currently.

I understand how important the calendaring is - I just installed an
Exchange server for a 30 node network that only needed the groupware
functionality. It was a pricey implementation - but their workforce
moves very quickly and they still save money via increased
productivity. Still, I would have gone with Kerio if I had been aware
of it at the time.

Hopefully, we will see more products coming to market this year
driving the prices down.

Kerio's website:

http://www.kerio.com/kms_collaboration.html

Cheers

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