STRYKERACE  Review of BusyMacs' BusyCal

The Background:

My family switched to Apple in Feb 2008 leaving "blue screens" of death on two year old Vista machines. The two were a well known brand and should have been very fast, not with Vista. XP was not available or we probably wouldn't have two 24" iMacs in our home office network; thanks Vista.

Since our office was networked, the move using OSX 10.5 was very easy. All of our hardware worked except for 2 pieces which I quickly determined was not needed since there were better options when using Macs. The learning curve was seamless and so easy I was amazed. The only thing hard with learning the new OS was that it was so easy; it should have been harder. lol

Now, BusyMac:

Immediately we needed to sync our iCals and found the solution to be with BusyMac's BusySync. It worked flawlessly with ease. Now this year, 2009, when we became aware of BusyCal we were excited and immediately signed up for notification of the beta release. I installed it on my iMac initially without problems. I then found a problem with BusyCal and iCal not syncing. I sent an email to BusyMac. They answered in short order and showed me how to send in trouble reports (the LOG files). After some very helpful emails back and forth, it was determined I was using different sounds than the default one supplied with Apple's OS. At the same time I started to use a program called "Dates to iCal" by a UK Company called Bits and Bobs. It basically syncs the dates that are in Address Book with iCal (BusyCal) (birthday's, anniversaries, etc.) allowing you to set alarms.

Thanks John, at BusyMac for his patience with me.

Just Like Synchronized Gears:

Once realizing the settings had to be the same between the two Apps including iCal everything worked correctly. Things synced instantly on our home network, to Mobile Me, and to our iPhones. Yes, we have iPhones, a Macbook, and a MacMini for our Media server to our Apple TV. I have been known for jumping in with both feet. We love our Apple products and don't miss the MS world.

The Many Calendars of BusyCal:

The reason iCal and now BusyCal are so handy is the different calendars we have set up. We have the usual His and Hers, Birthday, and Anniversary Calendars. In addition, we also have a Medical, Prescription, Money, Breakfast, Lunch, Dinner, and Sports Calendar. Oh, I forgot the ToDo List Calendars. The menu calendars are handy since we have been on a diet since 1 January 2009. My wife has put together many different meals that can be moved easily around the calendar. One look and she knows what to shop for as well as what to pull out of the freezer ( this is another story by itself).

BusyCal's many attributes will now make it much easier to manage our many calendars.

Pros:

1) Great customer support 6 out of 5 stars.

2) Beautiful looking Calendar having the ability to show the weather, moon phases, and sunrise and sunset.

3) Easy to use interface with features not in iCal such as the handy "Info" window for the event parameters.

4) Versatile with the ability to have all day events called Banners, ToDos dated and non-dated, Sticky Notes, Journals, and much more.

5) Flexible with the ability to use WebDAV calendars

6) Works with iCal

7) More features to come in future releases.

Cons:

I couldn't really think of any.

Rating:

6 of 5 ******

Written using "ShoveBox" by Wonder Warp Software  
(Version 1.0b10)

STRYKERACE  The App works great. Tried it with iCal and Busy Cal's beta. It will solve my dupe problems on my home network.   
(Version 2.1)

STRYKERACE  > No window resize

> When an items are added to lists you have to clear search terms for them to show up

> You cannot use the list for much of anything useful. The items in the list should be able to give you a total of calories, fat, etc.; like in a meal.

> The printed item show only the fields you select.

It is a useless piece of software.

The price is highway robbery. It should be free. Worst piece of software I have seen since I switched to Mac.   
(Version 1.0)