Tomas Chlebek BusyCal already suggests in its name that it is intended for those for whom the options of the default Mac calendar are not enough iCal. Does the investment make sense? Is it worth reading if I find the basic calendar sufficient? Certainly.
Let's start with what iCal can do and see if BusyCal can do the same thing more effectively:
Display:
With both applications, it is possible to display the day, week and month. In the case of iCal, we can choose to display a calendar with birthdays, set how much of the day to display at once, when the day starts and when it ends... and that's all I can do with iCal. In addition, BusyCal allows you to set the start of the week, wrap the text in the monthly view and hide weekends. With the monthly preview, you can scroll by months or weeks, as well as with the weekly preview, you can also scroll by one day. Added to the daily, weekly and monthly preview List View showing all events in one list. The list is identical to the one in iTunes, we can display different items, adjust the size of the columns and their position.
Creating a new event and editing it
This operation is almost identical for both applications, the differences are mainly in the user environment.
After double-clicking, only more detailed information about the event is displayed in iCal, which can be seen in BusyCal after just one click in the lower right corner of the window (if "To Dos" is displayed), we can edit the event directly there. After double-clicking, a small window (info panel) pops up with the immediate possibility to edit the event (in iCal we have a button for this Edit, but it is possible to set the editing window to open after double-clicking). For both, it is possible to add more reminders with the option of different reminder methods (message, message with sound, email), invite people from the Address Book (this sends an email with information after the event is completed and every time it is edited). With BusyCal, there is an "i" button on the Info panel in the upper right corner that rotates the window displaying other items that we can assign to each event individually. In the case of subscribed calendars with the possibility of editing, it is possible to assign your own reminder.
In the top bar, we also have a bell icon, which hides a list of all events and tasks for the current day.
To Do
The way of creating and arranging tasks are the same for both applications, but with BusyCal, the tasks are displayed directly for the given day, without having the task panel displayed, and they are also automatically organized into completed and unfinished groups. Furthermore, we can set moving the task from day to day as long as we mark it as completed and in the settings we also see the option of a daily task (it will then be displayed for each day). Thanks to sorting into groups, everything is more clear compared to iCal's small icons.
Synchronization with Google Calendar
You can download a calendar from a Google account with both programs, with iCal it's Preferences → Accounts → add our Google account, with BusyCal you can do the same directly from the menu Calendar → Connect to Google Calendar. It is worse with the synchronization of our calendars from iCal with a Google account. The calendar can be exported, later imported into a Google account and then set up again to subscribe to the Google calendar in iCal. Simply publishing the calendar to Google has not worked for me, and I have also been unsuccessful in searching for instructions. With BusyCal, it couldn't be more simple. We simply right-click on the calendar and select the "publish to google account id" option. Of course, events can then be edited both from the application and from the Google account, but overwriting in the program can be disabled.
Synchronization with portable devices:
Both BusyCal and iCal can be synchronized with iOS (via iTunes), Symbian (iSync), Android i Blackberry.
Where iCal falls short
- weather - One of the first things you'll notice when comparing the look of the two programs is BusyCal's weather forecast. It is always displayed for five days (current + four following), it can be displayed over the entire field or only in miniature, and the phase of the moon can also be attached to it. In the daily and weekly view, slightly darker areas indicate the times of sunrise and sunset.
- Fonts – For each event (Banner, Sticky Note, etc.) we can separately set the font type and its size (the color can be changed due to the coloring of the calendars themselves, but it is not visible).
- Sharing – BusyCal allows you to share calendars not only on the Internet, but also within your home network with other computers. It goes without saying that a password is set for read or edit access. Calendars are accessible to other users, even if the "home" one has the program turned off.
- Banners – Banners are used to mark a certain period (e.g. holidays, vacation, exam period, business trip, etc.).
- Sticky Notes – Sticky Notes are simple notes that we can "stick" to the day.
- Diaries – A diary is exactly what the word means. BusyCal allows you to write down what we don't want to forget for each day.
After the first quick comparison, BusyCal already proves that it will offer users more than the default Mac calendar. It is clearer, more user-friendly, simplifies a lot and adds a lot. You don't have to be a heavily loaded person at all to take advantage of its benefits. If you are one of those people who are very busy with their time, BusyCal will make every busy day much clearer for you.
BusyCal - $49,99
