VUG Media

Summary: Google Calendar synchronization via CalDav is now online. Google's official CalDav setup and usage instructions for iCal (Leopard only) will help you get started and will answer common questions.

Finding the Feature

Today I made a Google search for an old article hinting at Google Calendar's upcoming support for CalDav. Surprisingly, the first search result was a Google's own support page for using CalDav with iCal 3.0. Knowing that 2-way iCal syncing is a popular feature request (ask the 20,000 paid Spanning Sync subscribers...) I was surprised to have not heard about the feature being added via Digg, Delicious or TechCrunch et. al. After further sleuthing, I could find no mention of CalDav working on any site, official or unofficial. With the page added to Google's search index on July 25th, it was now clear that I stumbled upon the anticipated feature being added before any official release. What is less clear at this point is what Google's timetable for an official launch is. The main sync support page has yet to be updated to link to CalDav as an additional option. The page may be edited shortly or it could be that the CalDav support pages were added and/or indexed prematurely. Either way, I can report that the service is operational and is presently working for me. Read on for first impressions...

First Impressions

After following the "Get Started" instructions I had CalDav up and running in iCal within 2 minutes. The very first thing that I tried was creating and editing events to see the 2 way sync in action. I can report that it works beautifully: after editing an appointment in iCal, syncing is triggered and within seconds a refreshing Google Calendar reflects the change. Testing both sides shows no lag at all. This is exactly what I had been waited for.

However, further usage started to uncover a number of small issues, all of which contributed to a poor overall user experience. The largest issue that I had is that I needed to create a new CalDav server account for every calendar in Google Calendar. Not only did this make further setup cumbersome, it degraded the iCal UI as a 1-1 relationship between each folder (server) and calendar is created. Normal re-ordering and organization of calendars does not work with this setup so be careful with the order you enter your calendars. This multiple server setup also removed the ability to move events between different calendars within iCal.

Another quirk is that performing a prohibited action such as adding an event to a read-only calendar results in an error message that is unclear for non-technical users, asking them if they want to "Go Offline" or "Revert to Server" (I'd suggest "Revert to Server"). This could be made user friendly, with the system realizing when a calendar was simply read-only rather than un-available. Trying to create a to-do item triggers exactly the same error, which is obviously because tasks are not part in Google Calendar. There have been hints of Google adding tasks to Calendar for over 2 years now. In October 2007 the development team was going to "have more to talk about soon"... I can't think of a better time to start talking about this than now. iCal makes the the absence of tasks just that much more painful.

When adding attendees to events names no longer auto-complete from Address Book. Strangely, Address Book group autocompletion is still available. Once attendees are added, a link to the auto-scheduling feature appears. This is a problem as iCal does not know any of the attendees' schedules. I can see users being confused by this, thinking that colleagues' schedules are essentially wide open. Along the same line, all locations are now pre-fixed with an warning exclamation mark symbol. I suspect that this is due to CalDav's support for resource and location scheduling. Since there is no support for this feature built into Google Calendar every location is pre-fixed with an exclamation mark for being unknown to the system.

One bright spot in my test drive is support for color synchronization. All colors within Google Calendar are carried over, which is a pleasant surprise. You will notice that the shades are more muted than iCal's defaults, which I personally prefer. Color changes in iCal are accepted but do not carry back to Google Calendar. My guess is that this is due to Google's limited amount of available colors.

Conclusions

Application native iCal and Google Calendar synchronization is here and works wonderfully - all using open standards. However, a multitude of quirks put a damper on what otherwise would be an excellent experience. Being a technical user, I will be using the service and will hope for further refinements down the road. Until refinements come I do not see myself recommending a CalDav setup to non-technical users.

What is needed here from both Apple and Google is further collaboration. Between CalDav support in Calendar, IMAP and Address Book synchronization in Gmail and XMPP support in iChat Google has a suite of free web applications that play well with OS X. If Apple was to make configuring all of these systems as simple as entering your Google account information in a single location I suspect that we'd see a lot more uptake outside of technical circles. However, with Apple focusing its energy on MobileMe I'm not expecting them to under-cut there own initiatives anytime soon.

Further Questions to Be Answered

I suspect that over the coming days more information about CalDav support will become available. There could easily be things that I'm missing here that will improve the situation. I have a number of questions that I'd like answered myself:

• What is the experience like with iPhone or iPod Touch calendar synchronization? Do changes need to wait until desktop synchronization to be picked up or is there native CalDav support?
• CalDav is an open standard. What is the experience like in other clients?
• I'm curious to see if/how the Spanning Sync team responds. I've heard great things about their applications but between this and contact syncing Google is beginning to solve the synchronization problem themselves.
• Does Google Apps have any of its own specific features? Using CalDav in this group environment seems like a no-brainer for features such as meeting scheduling. Hopefully Google is on this.
• Exactly when is this actually going to be officially announced?

Cloud Computing has been a popular buzzword in high tech as of late. The actual meaning of the term is murky; for background on the its meaning see Infoworld's fantastic overview. For myself, Cloud Computing is primarily about developer access to cheap utility computing (as great as that is!). Rather, it is about consumer's transition to software as a service (SaaS) and the shift towards storing data "in the cloud".

To keep up with developments in Cloud Computing I've become a reader of Elastic Vapor, the blog of Reuven Cohen, co-Founder & CTO of Toronto based Enomaly. Last week Reuven posted about the offline cloud, which I think of the "airplane problem" due to a memorable rant by 37signals. Reuven's approach to offline access is less opinionated, ending with a simple question of how the access problem will evolve:

My question is; are we moving toward a future where the desktop is nothing more then a local cache? Or will we soon reach a point where technologies like Wi-max, 3G and wifi on planes make the internet a ubiquitous part of our everyday life where local storage isn't needed at all?

To respond to Reuven's question directly, I think that we will see increasing use of caching even as connectivity increases. This combination (more caching, even if it isn't needed as badly) will eventually make most connectivity issues moot. To separately comment on web applications in general, I do not think that the traditional desktop application will be completely replaced by the web applications over the next 20 years, just as TV has not eliminated radio (I know, the comparison is weak at best). However, I do believe that the new paradigm (web applications and online storage) will eventually become dominant. Browsers will become more powerful, gaining traditionally desktop features through technologies such as Gears caching content locally and web browsers develop site specific features.

Beyond browsers themselves, open standards such as WebDav, CalDAV, IMAP, SyncML and even LDAP are already allowing various desktop applications to push, pull and cache data from the cloud. WiFi is increasingly ubiquitous and quick, decreasing reliance on stale cached data. The end result is a quicker, more powerful, (almost) always on online experience.

Despite all of its problems, the recent launch of Apple's Mobile Me is a clear signal of where Cloud Computing is trending. For the most part, the service is a actually a re-packaging of existing .Mac services, with the marketing message being the largest change. .Mac was known for keeping multiple Macs in sync through the web via IMAP, App Syncing and iDisk. The marketing focus was on the Mac Desktop experience. With Me.com the emphasis is clearly on the cloud itself, with access through any type of device you may have. The paradigm has shifted: online data, not the desktop, is now the master copy. What was called Desktop synchronization is now labeled as pushing and pulling from the cloud.

Besides Apple, Google is the other prominent example of a hybrid desktop/web application model with centralized online storage. Google's apps all started life accessible through the browser only based but have become less dependent in the past year. Gmail now supports IMAP and has an API for your contact system, including automatic synchronization with Apple Address Book, if you're lucky enough to use an iPod Touch or iPhone. Besides launching Outlook support, Google Calendar has added CalDav integration so that iCal syncs perfectly with Google Calendar, with the Cloud once again being the master copy.

I've already been witnessing this trend with my own computing habits in both personal and professional realms. For our business, almost all of the applications used live on the web if there is a suitable solution. However, in cases where we have a choice between accessing these through a traditional desktop application or via a web browser we tend to favor desktop access. Expect more on our own cloud based systems in another post.

I'm typing here at the Northern Voice 2008 Blogging Conference. I figure that is reason enough to finally put something up - the first post in over half a year! Since I started keeping a blog in about 2003 I've had a few such unplanned "sabbaticals". I think that this conference might just be enough to jolt me back into action!

I'll report through the day if anything comes up.

PS - I have to mention that I have big news to share that deserves some proper attention...

Slides for my "Achieving Awesome Drupal Design" presentation have been saved as a PDF document and are available for download. The PDF export did not work correctly for slides with lots of animation such as the design examples. Half of the design examples were from my workplace Image X Media so you can always visit our portfolio there to see many of the examples again. The presentation was taped and I'm sure that it will be online soon.

Connecting with fans is what makes some bands stand out as great live bands. The Arcade Fire is one such band as goes farther than any other to bridge the gap between the band and their audience. They actually get rid of this barrier. Here's the proof:

This video gives me chills as I was lucky enough to witness a similar performance the last time I saw the band in Vancouver. Perfect memories. I just got wind that Neon Bible (the band's next album) has leaked to the P2P networks. Of course I'm going to be buying the album on release day to make up for my sins. The wait for new material is finally over.

rain rain rain rain rain rain rain

Originally uploaded by David Watanabe.

I love Vancouver but this rainy season really gets to me sometimes. I can't wait for the summer when everything is warm, sunny and green.

PS - I've been on an unofficial (and unintended) blogging hiatus since I've returned from South America. Consider the hiatus over!

I've been delayed in uploading all of my Bolivian photos yet again so what I will leave you with is just a bunch of "odds and sods". Photos of Bolivia that are just a bit off kilter, just like the country itself. First up is the strange list of house rules for Randy´s "flat", which I at least found to be hilarious. Judge them for yourself, if you can make out the writing:
[editors note: "Catu" is a selfish pet cat]




The rest of these photos are on or around the Salt Flats in Uyuni. I hope that the smart ass commentary doesn't get old too quickly.



This is supposed to be me jumping out of a massive roll of toilet paper. How large of a failure this is depends on the eye of the beholder. Personally, I think the pink adds a nice feminine touch to compliment the beard.

Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil.

I really hope that someone online can see the large breasted woman in this photo. If not, I've taken one to many psychology class!

This guy on the bike is making his way across South America on his bike. Jeremy may think this is inspiring... I call it insane. The worlds largest salt flat followed by the Atacama desert? Sounds like a bitch to me! (Oma, I am sorry for throwing in the explicative...)


Mortal Kombat!


Hacky sack on the flats


The salt flats are where caucuses come to die.

The pose is for GQ, the body for Lana...

Aaron goes for his own GQ shot

We've decided the "the cleaved hooves" would be an excellent band name.

Lamas: the cows of Bolivia

Geyser smoke = dramatic photos

Skulls also = drama

Dead flamencos, on the other hand, are more gross than dramatic.

This jump cost Jeremy and I all of our remaining Bolivianos (pesos). Also of note is that the entire hotel in the background is made completely out of salt. Crazy!

Me and the Japanese flag, my favorite as there wasn't a Canadian flag representing.

For whatever reason this random running photo is my favorite photo of Bolivia on Flickr ("an excellent minimalist image). My guess is that the whole thing is because of the simple rule of thirds.

I forget the entire story but apparently this is a tribute to some sort of goddess of lactation. I just really don't get this one.

Myself staring at "Edwarda scissorhands" in Uyuni. For a better shot of her, hu-hum, "assets" check out this other shot.

Everything on the salt flats is made out of salt...

...everything!

I like this photo of the train graveyard because "¡Urgente!" is written on the wheels of the train. I wonder what was wrong with it?

Bolivian love

Yup, that´s right - I´m taking a vacation from traveling. I know what you´re all thinking "a vacation? are you not already on vacation?"... contrary to popular opinion, traveling can actually be a lot of hard work: climbing mountains, getting sun burns, trying to find a hostel at 2am, 31 hour bus rides through the Andes, 7 day without showers and even 41 days (and counting!) without shaving.

All of these inconveniences slowly take their toll, which made me almost cheer at the sight of the beautiful paved roads as we crossed over the Bolivian boarder into Chile. From there I´ve traveled a ways North to find the amazing beach town Iquique waiting. I really didn´t expect things to be so nice here. Palm trees are everywhere, the beach is full of white sand, surfers infest the water, the sun is hot and the city´archetecture spectacular. It all reminds me a lot of Maui although with a more Spanish and only a sprinkling of gringos lurking about.

With the beach across the street from my hostel, I´ve taken to waking up late, reading Harry Potter and even working on my tan. There hasn´t been much progress on the tan (I´m still as white as the Salt Flats!) but I am pretty relaxed right now. For the first time I truly feel like I´m on vacation. I´ve even involuntarily taken a break from posting photos due to lack of speedy computers here. However, I´ve found a few good shots from other photographers to post so you have a feel for where I am.

You may have noticed that I didn´t just say "where we are", which correctly implies that I´m by my lonesome for the week. The whole story about why I´m not with the other two Amigos is fairly long, so I won´t take the time to retell everything here. Lets just say that I have a nack for loosing important things, like say... a credit card, in Bolivia. To shorten the story considerably, I´ll jump to the part where I quickly needed to find a town in Chile to send my emergency replacement card to. The Lonely Planet description of Iquique looked great and was in the North near Bolivia. I quickly got the card sent off in the mail and everything seemed perfect. That is until we got to Uyuni and realized that we´d be crossing into Chile at San Pedro De Atacama, a good 7 - 9 hours South of Iquique.

Our planned destination in Chile is the capital Santiago. Jeremy and Aaron weren´t too keen on adding a couple of day detour onto 30 hours of busing down the coast so we decided to go our separate ways temporarily. While they are out hiking (more) mountains in the Southern Lake District, I´m sitting here relaxing on the warm, sandy beach. After a few more days sitting around here I´m scheduled for more sitting around, this time on the brutally long bus ride to catch up to my tavel-mates in Santiago. Just the thought of the ride is making me want to head back to the beach! Ciao for now...

Iquique Photo by gere_55.

Chile, Iquique: Off to work Photo by kool_skatkat.