caldav support for google

[Michael S]

So, given the new caldav support, is there any thought of modifying
spanning sync?

[Todd Mundt]

Speaking of CalDAV, have there been any reports of issues with
Spanning Sync, after setting up a CalDAV account in iCal?

I imported my main GCal calendar to iCal last night... and immediately
thereafter, SS stopped working properly. It wouldn't sync properly and
rapidly ate up more than a gig of memory.

The CalDAV calendar on iCal isn't a calendar I'm asking SS to work
with, but of course, it is referencing GCal on the other end.
Potentially a clash of two different syncs? SS worked without trouble
until I set up the CalDAV account.

-- Todd

[Bastian Wölfle]

Speaking of calDAV too, what advantages do I get from Spanningsync
now, as it is possible to set up all my calendars as caldav calendars
and modify them from different remote places?

[buldir]

Spanning Sync lets you select which calendars you want paired up and
synced. Meaning, I could sync a gCal calendar called "Tasks" with an
iCal calendar named ToDo, for example. In addition, Spanning Sync also
syncs your address book and gMail contacts.

[Frederic M]

And you can't add event in iphone for caldav calendar so in this case,
spanning sync is still a better solution.

[Rehingd]

I can't find any real benefit to using SpanningSync over CalDav. In
fact, for users like me, using an iPhone without MobleMe, CalDav may
be better:

Can add calendar events from iPhone, iCal, or GCal on multiple
computers
SS: Yes
CalDav: Yes
Advantage: Tie

Adding events from iPhone requires a plug-in sync to update iCal and
GCal
SS: Yes
CalDav: Yes
Advantage: Tie

Sync of Address Book and Google Contacts
SS: Planned for version 2.0 (Apparently it works. I haven't used it
yet.)
CalDav: Yes. Not part of CalDav directly, but Address Book will Sync
with Google Contacts every time you plug in your iPhone, which I do
daily anyway as it's required for iPhone sync whether using SS or
CalDav.
Advantage: Currently a Tie. SS will have advantage when 2.0 is
released since it won't require an iPhone plug-in sync. For me this
advantage won't be a deal maker or breaker.

Sync of event alarms
SS: Not really. Can apply a default alarm to all events, but that's
all.
CalDav: Yes
Advantage: CalDav

Timing of Sync
SS: Every 10 minutes is fastest option for send and receive
CalDav: Every 1 minute is fastest refresh option for receive; send
is near instantaneous.
Advantage: CalDav

I have no problems with Spanning Sync, just not finding a reason to
pay for it now. Can anyone give me a reason? Are there new features
coming that will give SS the edge?

[cwood]

Rehingd-

First, Google explicitly states that their CalDAV support is a
"developer release" which they "strongly suggest you restrict to test
accounts only". Beyond that, here's a quick run-down of some of the
problems our users have found with Google's CalDAV solution, and how
Spanning Sync compares:

1. iPhone incompatibility
Calendars synchronized using CalDAV become read-only on iPhone. One of
our biggest customers is in the process of rolling out 700 iPhones and
200 iPod touches. This lack of iPhone compatibility makes Google's
CalDAV solution a non-starter for them, and for anyone else looking
for bidirectional sync between iPhone and Google Calendar.

Calendars synchronized with Spanning Sync are editable on Google
Calendar, iCal, and the iPhone calendar, and changes made in any of
those places will show up on all three (after syncing your iPhone
using iTunes).

2. Lack of customer support
Sync is inherently complex, but most problems can be solved quickly
with just a little customer support. Unfortunately, Google doesn't
provide any. They've even said publicly that it's "not feasible" for
them to respond to individual requests for support.

At Spanning Sync, we provide support our customers have called
"tremendous", "excellent", and "stellar", regardless of whose software
is causing the problem: Google's, Apple's, or ours.

3. More Complex configuration
Configuring iCal to use Google Calendar as a CalDAV server is not for
the faint of heart, and to make matters worse, the process is
different for primary vs secondary calendars.

Setting up Spanning Sync is essentially self-explanatory.

4. Lack of international support
Google CalDAV doesn't support international character sets, so
calendars in Japanese, Hebrew, Russian, and other languages are turned
into gibberish.
Spanning Sync has full UTF-8 support for non-English languages, and
has been used by people in 58 countries around the world.

There are a number of other issues too (e.g., see
http://groups.google.com/group/google-calendar-help-bugs/browse_thread/thread/bd6157f3cf414a81/)
, but these are the ones that have jumped out at us from our users'
early feedback.

Regards,
Charlie

[Rehingd]

Charlie, thanks. I recently bumped into the problem of not being able
to edit a calendar on my iPhone, but hadn't tied the problem to CalDAV
yet. That, alone, may keep me using Spanning Sync. The other issues
(difficult to set up, lack of support) are not much of an issue for
me.

Thanks for the response. I hope I've posed a questions that will keep
lots of your customers using Spanning Sync.

> There are a number of other issues too (e.g., seehttp://groups.google.com/group/google-calendar-help-bugs/browse_threa...)

[cwood]

Thanks--and thanks for continuing to support Spanning Sync!

Regards,
Charlie

[buldir]

I just like giving the Spanning Sync guys business because they're not
Google! ;-) Seriously, the customer support, ease of use (even with
the 2.0 beta), and multi-Mac support are worth $0.07/day ($25/yr for
those who are mathematically challenged).

[N L]

I've tried using CalDav, and it's ok, but I'm a MobileMe person, and
the lack of sync is kind of a deal-breaker.
There's also an issue of the CalDav service randomly failing. I prefer
the reliability of Spanning Sync. It's not perfect, but it's the best
I've found.

[drakonblayde]

No offense Charlie, but numbers 2 and 3 feel like they're kind of
reaching. As long as you're not an idiot, they're pretty much a wash.

#1 is an issue for iPhone folks for sure, but as I'm a Blackberry
user, getting my google calendars synched to the phone was one of the
easiest things I've ever done. #4 is also a wash for me, since I don't
read or speak anything other than English.

So none of the four listed reasons really apply to me in the question
of spanning sync vs. google's caldav.

My spanning sync trial just expired, so I am now forced to make a
decision to buy Spanning Sync or stick with Google's CalDAV. Right
now, I see no reason not to use CalDAV, as it accomplishes the same
thing as Spanning Sync.

But I'll ask you one question that may change my mind -

Have you fixed SpanningSync's issue with Entourage? The FAQ page still
specifically says don't use Entourage with SpanningSync. If you guys
can solve that problem, then to me at least, SpanningSync has a very
large advantage.

On Aug 7, 10:53 am, cwood <charlie.w...@gmail.com> wrote:

> There are a number of other issues too (e.g., seehttp://groups.google.com/group/google-calendar-help-bugs/browse_threa...)

[cwood]

Unfortunately the problem with Entourage is a Microsoft bug. Several
Entourage updates (one major and several minor) have been released
since we last got a report of the problem, so it may be fixed.

Thanks,
Charlie