We all use calendars, in one form or another. Whether we’re\r\ntracking a busy work schedule, school classes, our children’s activities, or\r\nsocial events, calendars help us keep up with our commitments. Most users tend\r\nto stick with what is known. That means Outlook, Google Calendar, or iCal. But what\r\nwould you say if I told you that countless other calendar tools are available —\r\nsome of which are even easier to use than the standard fare? Most would say, “Show\r\nme what you got!” That’s what I intend to do.
Understand that all calendars are not created equal. Some are better for working with other users,\r\nwhereas some work best as a stand-alone tool. But no matter your need, there\r\nare some obscure calendar apps that are worth checking out.
Note: This gallery is also available as an article.
If you already have a web server up and running, you can download and install Calcium and run it locally. Calcium\r\nfeatures include portability, dynamic calendar merging, calendar views and\r\nformatting, built-in email, plenty of customizations, templates, and RSS feeds.
Zoho Calendar also has an interface that anyone can quickly\r\nmaster. Creating an appointment is simple. And after you add an appointment, you\r\ncan easily drag it to different times and dates (within five-minute\r\nincrements). Because Zoho Calendar is tightly integrated with the Zoho\r\ngroupware suite, it seamlessly interacts with the various tools.
Cal easily syncs with your\r\nGoogle and your Exchange calendars (in real time). One of the more unusual\r\nfeatures of Cal is its social predictability. Cal attempts to predict who you\r\nneed to meet and suggests nearby meeting locations.
OrgCalendar Web comes from Org Business,\r\nwhich offers various cost-effective tools for your company. It has a number of\r\ntypes of calendar software (such as Salon, Restaurant, Repair Shop, Photo Lab,\r\nMedical, School, Rental, and Hotel), but OrgCalendar is a fully functional\r\ngeneric scheduling web application.
This hosted service runs $14.95/month or $145/year. The\r\nsoftware will run in nearly any web browser and can communicate with different\r\nscheduling applications across the web, including Apple iCal, Google Calendar,\r\nMicrosoft Exchange, Outlook 2007, and Novell GroupWise. Calendar management is\r\nbroken into two levels for security: Admin and Public.(Only administrators can manage all calendars.)\r\nOrgCalendar makes it easy to manage your resources, events, and meetings.
Jack Wallen is an award-winning writer for TechRepublic, The New Stack, and Linux New Media. He's covered a variety of topics for over twenty years and is an avid promoter of open source. For more news about Jack Wallen, visit his website jackwallen.com.
