Group task management and calendaring becomes easier. Think: CalDAV!

Support for the CalDAV Access protocol — an Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) standard — is spreading.

Chandler Desktop and Chandler Hub

Chandler Project members were instrumental in the development of CalDAV and related standards. 

I have followed the Project's progress since around 2001. The steadiness, sense and standards-orientation have been consistently impressive; and the vision — if you'll allow yourself to think beyond the age-old Microsoft Outlook way of doing things — is highly appealing.  

I used the Hub service for a few months, then in August 2008 Chandler 1.0 was released. I'm now: 

• leaving my To Do Items in iCal†
• migrating Events to Chandler Hub.

In its new situation: events information will be more useful to — and more manageable by — Freeman Centre colleagues.

(I'll continue to use my mobile phone, Chandler, iCal etc. — together — with ease; CalDAV makes possible this flexibility.)

Google Calendar

Google launched CalDAV support to their developers in July 2008. In November, their support became official.

Their open source Calaboration product simplifies the iCal configuration routine. 

iCal Server

CENTRIM might use its existing installation or await the next version of Mac OS X Server (maybe Q1 2009).

Outlook and Entourage (Microsoft Office 2007 and 2008)

A next version of Office might be released in 2009 or 2010. I guess that the University will roll it out, with support, around a year later. At present: I find no hint of support for CalDAV in future versions of Entourage or Outlook. However — since Google and others are steps ahead in their support for the standard — maybe Microsoft's position will change.

Support to CENTRIM and Freeman Centre colleagues

My support for CalDAV-compatible products and services will probably be limited to: 

• Apple iCal
• Apple iCal Server
• Chandler Desktop
• Chandler Hub
• Mozilla Sunbird
• Mozilla Lightning in Thunderbird.

For Microsoft Outlook, there's a Google product:

• Google Calendar Sync

Compatibility and migration

Microsoft Entourage lacks support for CalDAV.

SchoolTool service at Freeman Centre uses the iCalendar standard. CENTRIM's infrastructure allows easy migration to CalDAV-oriented products and services.

The future

As CalDAV-related standards develop — Membership of the Calendaring and Scheduling Consortium (CalConnect) is impressive — we can expect, amongst other things:

• easier scheduling of meetings
• more streamlined booking of rooms and other resources
• broader compatibility with web-based services and a range of mobile devices.

Known issues