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Google's New Calendar CL2

Posted by CowboyNeal on Fri Mar 10, 2006 01:11 AM
from the ajax-in-action dept.
pvt_medic writes "Google is apparently working on its own calendar (CL2) program to integrate with Gmail. The closed beta is ongoing with about 200 participants - people involved are not allowed to invite outsiders to see the calendar and are under strict rules not to share any details with outsiders. Here are some leaked photos of the CL2."
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  • Wild Guess (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Kickboy12 (913888) on Friday March 10 2006, @01:12AM (#14888880)
    (http://www.cacrew.com/)
    I'm guessing this will be one, of posssibly many, new things Google will be releasing April 1st. Knowing Google's history for releasing things on this date, it seems logical.
    • Re:Wild Guess by beoswulf (Score:1) Friday March 10 2006, @02:44AM
    • The original host is down, so I have taken my life and bandwidth allowance in my hands and stuck a mirror up. http://jaduncan.net/google-calendar-cl2-leaked-pic tures [jaduncan.net]
      [ Parent ]
    • Re:Wild Guess by theunknwnbstrd (Score:1) Friday March 10 2006, @10:57AM
    • Re:Too much stuff (Score:5, Insightful)

      by Anonymous Coward on Friday March 10 2006, @01:40AM (#14888960)
      Yeah, those Google mail and map sites didn't really pan out, did they.

      What web site do you use for search, by the way?
      [ Parent ]
    • Re:Too much stuff (Score:5, Interesting)

      by NitsujTPU (19263) on Friday March 10 2006, @01:47AM (#14888983)
      Actually, I'd say that they have always been a company focused on a few things. They've hired a good number of good scientists.

      Some of this stuff requires fairly complicated techniques from the realm of research.

      Need an example. Get the calendar to sufficiently put a short summary of everything that's going on in its cells by extracting that data from your email.
      [ Parent ]
    • Re:Too much stuff by slonkak (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @08:26AM
      • Re:Too much stuff by PierceLabs (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @08:36AM
        • Re:Too much stuff by SWroclawski (Score:3) Friday March 10 2006, @10:05AM
        • Re:Too much stuff (Score:5, Informative)

          by Korgan (101803) on Friday March 10 2006, @10:12AM (#14890659)
          (http://stevesramblings.com/)

          Google Talk is a full Jabber app, but with voice added as well. XMPP alone should increase its rankings as a good app.

          The interface is clean, simple, uncluttered and very straight forward and easy to use. The integration with Gmail is far and away the best Web conversion I have ever seen of any IM client. MSN Webmessenger and the web version of Yahoo! Messenger are no where near close to being as good as the Gmail Chat version of Google Talk.

          Then consider that any Jabber network can chat with people using Google Talk. If you are connected via jabber.org (or any other Jabber network) you can chat with gtalk users just by adding them to your list. Don't need to use any extra protocols or plugins.

          Then consider the future proofing of using XMPP over creating yet another IM protocol. XMPP is exceptionally modular and the clients talk to the servers in exactly the same language that the servers talk to each other in. So adding new services/features on the server side won't always require a client upgrade. Not to mention that XMPP is unburdened by patent issues and the license is pretty damn good by most people's opinion.

          Also consider connecting with the other networks. Google will be able to easily implement the shared connection with AOL simply because all thats required is a plugin on the server side. The client wouldn't need to be upgraded. If in future MSN and Yahoo! decide to stop trying to hedge their share of the IM pie, communication with their networks would also be exceptionally easy.

          Jabber has a huge following in the corporate environment. Businesses like it because they can control it to meet their own policies. This is also especially true of financial organisations. Now those organisations can extend their network to chat with Google Talk connected clients/partners/associates without having to give up that control internally.

          Google Talk is a fantastic step in the right direction and the fact that Google even donated libjingle to the Jabber community as a whole means that everyone has gotten something beneficial out of it. I don't doubt Google will offer more in the future too.

          And none of this mentions the fact that even though Google is very much an advertising company, there is no advertising at all in the Google Talk client. Not even Microsoft, AOL or Yahoo! can make that claim. They're not even primarily advertising companies in the way Google is.

          Google Talk is more than just a simple or bland client. I gave up using all others when it was released simply because of how clean the interface is. I don't need graphical smilies or useless animations in my chats. They don't convey anything I cant achieve with old school text emoticons in the first place.

          I logged in to MSN Messenger the other day for the first time in a long while. I wanted to send a message to my cousin in a different city who doesn't use Gmail. I was absolutely taken back by how cluttered the interface is. So many features of no value at all. Many of which can't even be turned off. Not to mention how bulky the interface just 'felt'. It was like going from a sports car back to a family sedan.

          No thanks. I'll take Google Talk over any other vendor client on the market today. I even prefer it over the old favourites like GAIM and its like.

          [ Parent ]
        • Re:Too much stuff by yurnotsoeviltwin (Score:1) Friday March 10 2006, @11:44AM
        • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
      • Re:Too much stuff by Fahrenheit 450 (Score:3) Friday March 10 2006, @10:17AM
    • Re:Too much stuff by ajs (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @09:05AM
    • Re:Too much stuff by Geoffreyerffoeg (Score:2) Tuesday March 21 2006, @09:41PM
    • 4 replies beneath your current threshold.
  • Security? We've heard of it... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by KiwiRed (598427) on Friday March 10 2006, @01:13AM (#14888883)
    Well, with only 200 participants it does make finding the source of the leak noticably easier...
  • How long? (Score:5, Funny)

    How long until law enforcement uses the Google Calendar to solve crimes? Say the local QuikEMart is knocked off, they just have to Google it: Knock off QuikEMart at 10PM brings up one hit: Snake.
  • Why? (Score:3, Interesting)

    by Pranjal (624521) on Friday March 10 2006, @01:17AM (#14888892)
    Does anyone even use an online calendar? Why not use the one on your phone, PDA, laptop? What benefit does one get from using an online one?
    • Re:Why? by Nosklo (Score:3) Friday March 10 2006, @01:20AM
      • Re:Why? by Anpheus (Score:1) Friday March 10 2006, @07:57AM
    • Re:Why? (Score:5, Funny)

      by Adult film producer (866485) <van@i2pmail.org> on Friday March 10 2006, @01:21AM (#14888905)
      Because GooCal will obsolete all other calendars!
      [ Parent ]
    • Re:Why? (Score:5, Informative)

      by SillySnake (727102) on Friday March 10 2006, @01:21AM (#14888906)
      Access to it anywhere you have an internet connection. Not everyone has a laptop or pda. Typing events on a cell phone is slow. The other time we've used one is when we share a calendar at work.. say if one of us is covering interviews for another, we'll use an online calender to prevent overlaps.
      [ Parent ]
      • Re:Why? by prell (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @10:02AM
      • Re:Why? by jc42 (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @09:40PM
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:Why? (Score:5, Informative)

      The same reason people use groupware. They want to be able to easily schedule events with others.
      [ Parent ]
      • Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)

        by timeOday (582209) on Friday March 10 2006, @01:38AM (#14888957)
        The next question is how to synchronize your google calendar information with the cellphone, pda, or latop.

        In a perfect (or even reasonably sane) world, all platforms and programs would freely exchange XML calendar records. But who am I kidding? That would be too easy. In my world, a PocketPC can't even reliably synchronize calendar information with Outlook.

        [ Parent ]
        • Re:Why? (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Jussi K. Kojootti (646145) on Friday March 10 2006, @02:35AM (#14889096)
          Amen. Calendar interoperability and network access is appallingly poor.

          Finally there is (at least in theory) an answer: CalDAV [webdav.org]. It's big and complex, but there seems to be some real progress in implementing it, just take a look at the interoperability testing events/reports.

          Then again, you mentioned Outlook... Just forget everything I said.

          [ Parent ]
        • Re:Why? (Score:4, Interesting)

          by wfWebber (715881) <webber@wfg a m i n g . com> on Friday March 10 2006, @02:42AM (#14889109)
          Well, if we're lucky they'll throw their efforts into OpenSync [opensync.org], a very good effort to make a standard for exchanging data between (among other things) calendars and pda's.

          And you can always "upgrade" your pda to Linux ;)
          [ Parent ]
        • Re:Why? by westyvw (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @03:03AM
          • Re:Why? by Ruphuz (Score:1) Friday March 10 2006, @04:41AM
        • Re:Why? (Score:4, Insightful)

          by jlarocco (851450) on Friday March 10 2006, @03:31AM (#14889215)
          (http://jlarocco.com/)

          Why XML? vCal is already a standardized calendar format that works with Outlook, Mozilla Sunfire, and many others. It's not a buzzword like XML, but other than that, it usually works well.

          [ Parent ]
          • Re:Why? by Dasch (Score:1) Friday March 10 2006, @04:06AM
          • Correct me if I'm wrong.. by sean.peters (Score:3) Friday March 10 2006, @09:48AM
          • Re:Why? by generic-man (Score:3) Friday March 10 2006, @11:36AM
            • Re:Why? by jlarocco (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @01:30PM
              • Re:Why? by generic-man (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @02:18PM
        • Synchronization the wrong direction by Mostly a lurker (Score:3) Friday March 10 2006, @03:34AM
        • Re:Why? by owlstead (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @12:50PM
        • Re:Why? by mc1 (Score:1) Sunday March 12 2006, @05:57AM
        • Re:Why? by fufubag (Score:1) Thursday March 16 2006, @01:28PM
        • 2 replies beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:Why? by neoform (Score:1) Friday March 10 2006, @01:26AM
    • Re:Why? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by Chris Pimlott (16212) on Friday March 10 2006, @01:28AM (#14888930)
      How about dynamic calendar subscriptions?

      Select your classes from a schedule and have each period from now until the end of the year added for you. If the Prof gets sick, your calendar is updated automatically. Subscribe to your local concert club's schedule and see who's coming. Mark a show you're interested on and get automated notice when it's postponed.

      Add some classification and filtering (which GMail is already well known for) and now you can just click the "Entertainment" tab and see all the movies, concerts, shows, book signings, lectures, plays, etc going on in the upcoming week.

      This could be really cool.
      [ Parent ]
      • Re:Why? by empaler (Score:1) Friday March 10 2006, @03:12AM
      • Re:Why? by modecx (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @04:07AM
      • Re:Why? by jthayden (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @05:01AM
      • Re:Why? by l3v1 (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @06:09AM
        • Re:Why? by kaizendojo (Score:1) Friday March 10 2006, @04:43PM
      • Re:Why? by coffeechica (Score:1) Friday March 10 2006, @07:23AM
      • Re:Why? by generic-man (Score:1) Friday March 10 2006, @11:42AM
        • Re:Why? by ldspartan (Score:1) Friday March 10 2006, @12:04PM
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:Why? by Bitter and Cynical (Score:1) Friday March 10 2006, @01:30AM
      • Re:Why? by KronicD (Score:3) Friday March 10 2006, @02:33AM
        • Re:Why? by owlstead (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @12:54PM
    • Re:Why? by Penguin Programmer (Score:1) Friday March 10 2006, @01:46AM
    • Re:Why? (Score:5, Interesting)

      by gmuslera (3436) <(gmuslera) (at) (gmail.com)> on Friday March 10 2006, @02:26AM (#14889077)
      (Last Journal: Tuesday April 12 2005, @11:12PM)
      One word: integration. A good standalone calendar is ok. But if you can get the map where you have an appointment, the exact text of the email that triggered it, a fast search to find anything remotely related to the topic, instant chatting with the people in the meeting if you need to ask something, etc as pale examples of what all combined could be used, you have far more. Of course, google based means that you must access internet to access all of this. A portable pda could be superior if you are on the run and without that access. But now even cellphones have access to gmail and related sites, so in many places access to that information can be done in several ways, and for all will be the same.
      [ Parent ]
    • Re:Why? (Score:4, Funny)

      by el_womble (779715) on Friday March 10 2006, @03:16AM (#14889185)
      (http://marshonsmacs.blogspot.com/)
      The same reason I use gmail. I have three computers, and don't want three email addresses. For that reason its easier for me to sync if I have a central, 24/7 server I can get my mail from.

      The same with a calender. I don't use .Macs calander web frontend, but I do sync with they're server so that no matter where I am I have the latest version, and, if I want to, it's trivial for me to share that information with others.

      I do use my phone's calander, but more as a viewer than, data entry (if god had meant us to use a phone for data entry he would have given us 9 thumbs). If I do have to create an entry whilst I'm out, being able to use a web interface to polish it makes a lot of sense.
      [ Parent ]
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:Why? by rtb61 (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @04:10AM
    • Data skimming by backwardMechanic (Score:1) Friday March 10 2006, @04:21AM
    • Re:Why? by cyfer2000 (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @04:35AM
    • Re:Why? by supersnail (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @09:16AM
    • Re:Why? by hswerdfe (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @10:10AM
    • Re:Why? by blaksaga (Score:1) Saturday March 11 2006, @01:55AM
  • Why I love the internet. (Score:5, Funny)

    by loconet (415875) on Friday March 10 2006, @01:21AM (#14888907)
    (http://www.loconet.ca/)
    I dont know about anyone else but I had a good chuckle from this:

    "people involved are not allowed to invite outsiders to see the calendar and are under strict rules not to share any details with outsiders. Here are some leaked photos of the CL2."

    I love the internet.
  • The great mysteries of Google. (Score:5, Interesting)

    by keilinw (663210) * on Friday March 10 2006, @01:31AM (#14888936)
    (http://www.themindofmatthew.com/ | Last Journal: Friday March 10 2006, @06:16PM)
    Google never ceases to impress me. It seems that they always have something new up their sleeves. Earlier today I was reading about a program called, "Wrightly" (also posted on /.) that is supposed to be the killer Google Word Processor App that everyone's been talking about.

    Anyway, what I really find amazing is Google's ability to find and promote those technologies that we would never have heard of. For example, Picasa and Google Earth. I played with Google' Earths previous self (KH) but I didn't want to pay $30 or whatever they were charging... and I would have passed Picasa off as yet another cheap knock-off.

    I'm not saying that these are great programs in anyway, but they sure are great for free stuff... and that really amazes me -- Google really does have an aptitude for providing quality "free" software.

    Matt Wong

    http://www.themindofmatthew.com [themindofmatthew.com]
  • Could be handy (Score:5, Interesting)

    by svunt (916464) on Friday March 10 2006, @01:31AM (#14888937)
    (http://not.a.valid.url.com/ | Last Journal: Monday October 02 2006, @07:51PM)
    I'm a student who uses campus computers at times, I work in an office, and I divide the little time that remains between my own home and my partner's. Between all of these points, any sort of synchronisation with a diary app is extremely unlikely, and with assignments, work events & a social life (yeah, right) all slipping randomly from my mind, I can see the value in this. Sure, an actual diary might be an idea, but I'm used to logging on to my gmail account every time I sit at a desk, whereas over the past few years I've tried half a dozen times to get into the habit of using a proper diary, and I fail miserably, usually after writing and promptly forgetting to check a single entry.
  • Execute Only? (Score:5, Interesting)

    Will Google let people use their application logic without requiring we store our personal data on their servers (subject to cracking, government requisition, backup tapes "lost in the mail", etc)? For that matter, how easy is it now to connect our own Jabber networks to Google's version?
  • Mirror (Score:5, Informative)

    by Shimdaddy (898354) on Friday March 10 2006, @01:34AM (#14888947)
    (http://www.skorchedearth.com/)
    I found the page was a little slow, so before it goes down completely, here are the screenshots. Also works for the lazy. 1 [imageshack.us] 2 [imageshack.us] 3 [imageshack.us] 4 [imageshack.us] 5 [imageshack.us] 6 [imageshack.us] 7 [imageshack.us] 8 [imageshack.us] 9 [imageshack.us] 10 [imageshack.us]
  • Groupware BAD, Calendars USEFUL (Score:5, Informative)

    by Chris Pimlott (16212) on Friday March 10 2006, @01:40AM (#14888961)
    This reminds me a interesting article JMZ wrote on the subject of groupware [jwz.org]. It's worth reading just for the quote "How will this software get my users laid", but it's got some good points that are relevant here. I daresay Google's been reading it too.

    With their talents and GMail's strengths, it looks like they're ready to come out with just what JMZ is proposing. Which may make Hula [hula-project.org] dead in the water, but we'll just have to wait and see...
  • Personal Security (Score:5, Insightful)

    by TubeSteak (669689) on Friday March 10 2006, @02:02AM (#14889021)
    (Last Journal: Saturday February 25 2006, @11:02PM)
    Everyone is saying "the point is so that you can access your calendar from anywhere."

    Whatever happened to the popular Slashdot meme: Don't access [Online Service that requires a password] from public places?

    About the only places I would consider 'secure' are home, work, or a friend's house. And I wouldn't be so sure about the friend's house, because some of my friends are sneaky bastards like that.

    Taking the Calendar away from a fixed computer, or appt. book or laptop/pda seems like it'll encourage people to check their schedule everywhere. Because, if the point is not to check it anywhere, then why not keep your schedule with you? Home ---> work doesn't seem very troublesome to me.
    • Re:Personal Security by cluke (Score:3) Friday March 10 2006, @06:56AM
    • Re:Personal Security by flappinbooger (Score:1) Friday March 10 2006, @07:24AM
    • Re:Personal Security by sckeener (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @08:52AM
      • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
    • Re:Personal Security (Score:4, Interesting)

      by sabNetwork (416076) on Friday March 10 2006, @09:00AM (#14890189)
      I wouldn't mind getting a list of one-time use passwords for places that aren't secure enough to enter my real password. It would be possible to implement this so that you could use either your standard password or a one-time use password. This wouldn't complicate things for users who don't wish to use this security feature; they just enter their normal password.

      Google, are you listening?
      [ Parent ]
    • Re:Personal Security by Abattoir (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @11:57AM
    • Re:Personal Security by Duncan3 (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @12:47PM
    • Re:Personal Security by jc42 (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @09:28PM
  • BlackBerry (Score:4, Interesting)

    by SecretAsianMan (45389) on Friday March 10 2006, @02:06AM (#14889034)
    (http://www.jeffreysharp.org/)

    Anyone else here think that Google should throw some cash at RIM to get CL2 and GMail doing full wireless sync with BlackBerries? I would gladly pay money for that feature.

    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Offtopic (but not...) (Score:4, Informative)

    by IANAAC (692242) on Friday March 10 2006, @02:44AM (#14889115)
    Has anybody tried Caledarhub (http://www.calendarhub.com [calendarhub.com]? What sets Google apart from this? I was a pretty staunch Yahoo calendar user until I found Caldarhub.
  • Why a new calendar? (Score:5, Funny)

    by NeuroManson (214835) on Friday March 10 2006, @02:49AM (#14889129)
    (http://slashdot.org/)
    Before we went to the Julian calendar, a lunar calendar more than sufficed. Just add a leap second for every 1200 years or so, to compensate for lunar drift.

    Ironically, we wouldn't have had to deal with all of these end time religious types (who decided to ignore the difference between the two) today, since their end of the world prophecies would have been scheduled for at least a few hundred years from now, rather than based on the year 2000.

    Missing Mars due to a glitch in converting imperial to metric is one thing, destroying the Earth to speed up various religious prophecies due to a glitch in calendar systems is another.
  • cool (Score:5, Insightful)

    by l3v1 (787564) on Friday March 10 2006, @02:53AM (#14889139)
    I will really like this. Mail, chat and calendar all in one place, with a nice interface and enough storage. I usually do work from 3 different places, from 4 computers, and accessing everything from Gmail will be a fine indeed, easier than always synch.ing calendars, and sometimes forgetting to do so. What we could spend quite an amount of time talking about would be privacy and security related issues, but I'm willing to lower some bars if this thing will be as functional as I expect it to be.
     
    • Fry, origami by Anonymous Coward (Score:1) Friday March 10 2006, @03:17AM
    • Re:cool by rtconner (Score:1) Friday March 10 2006, @11:12AM
  • URL (Score:5, Informative)

    by degraeve (780907) on Friday March 10 2006, @02:59AM (#14889152)
    (http://www.degraeve.com/)
    http://www.google.com/cl2 [google.com] yields a login prompt that says:
    "Sign in to Google CL2 with your Google Account"
  • Awesome! (Score:5, Funny)

    by Godji (957148) on Friday March 10 2006, @03:00AM (#14889157)
    (http://www.metapenguin.org/)
    So now that Google already knows what we're searching for and can read our e-mail, it will also be able to know what we're doing at any given time? I'm definitely signing up!! What's next, Google Personal Diary? Google Thought Recorder?

    Remember the quote, "We're moving to a Google that knows more about you" ? You'd better.
  • Sweet (Score:3, Informative)

    by pato101 (851725) on Friday March 10 2006, @03:26AM (#14889206)
    (Last Journal: Tuesday June 27 2006, @03:46AM)
    Now we need to find out how to share/copy/integrate/syncronize this calendar with Evolution.

    Wow, too late, seems that they are offering ICAL format :-))

  • manage myself? (Score:2, Funny)

    by dartarrow (930250) on Friday March 10 2006, @03:40AM (#14889234)
    Hmm.... I suppose something like this could help me better manage my social life...


    ..oh wait...


  • Hmm... (Score:2, Insightful)

    It's really getting fairly old 'leaking' screenshots etc to raise some easy hype :D But anyway, this calandar program looks neat! Maybe if they stopped adding new features every week gmail could come out of "Beta" (ie, if it stuffs up don't bitch to us) sometime this century.
  • What AJAX library does Google use? (Score:3, Informative)

    by wysiwia (932559) on Friday March 10 2006, @03:53AM (#14889261)
    (http://wyoguide.sf.net/)
    What I'd like to know is what AJAX library they use. Does Google build its own library and do they plan to release it to the public (OpenSource) or do they use another? I guess they don't use Yahoo's library and probably also not Zimbra's, so what else?

    I'm starting to use the Dojo toolkit (http://dojotoolkit.org/ [dojotoolkit.org]) which might become the top free AJAX library. See my first easy samples "tree?.html" at (http://wyoguide.sf.net/test/ [sf.net].

    O. Wyss
  • What If... (Score:1)

    by All Your Name Are Be (931301) on Friday March 10 2006, @04:08AM (#14889297)
    ... CL2 doesn't stand for CaLendar2 but CL2. What if this is the begining of Client releases for google? Each version number introducing a new network oriented utility. What if this is just wishful thinking?
  • On the up (Score:5, Funny)

    by prjames (813849) on Friday March 10 2006, @05:00AM (#14889435)
    Google - It just gets Beta and Beta
    • Re:On the up by frankm_slashdot (Score:1) Friday March 10 2006, @08:17AM
  • FINALLY! (Score:1)

    by Bushido Hacks (788211) on Friday March 10 2006, @05:51AM (#14889587)
    (http://www.bushidohacks.com/ | Last Journal: Friday November 02, @02:44PM)
    Next question: where are the screenshots?
  • by dalutong (260603) <[djtansey] [at] [gmail.com]> on Friday March 10 2006, @07:21AM (#14889810)
    What I have always wanted is a web calendar that I can sync with my desktop calendaring app (preferably via an open standard.) It'd be especially nice if it was acccessible via my cellphone, too. But what I'd really like it to do is this:

    - show my schedule to the public
    - allow me to choose which calendar events I have posted are (in)visible, and with or without description (since I don't - necessarily want everyone to know _what I'm doing then. just that i'm busy.)
    - allow people to select a time range from the calendar and "apply" for that range of my time
    - have me emailed/IMd/otherwise contacted when such an application occurs so I can confirm/reject it
    - then have them notified of the acceptance/rejection.

    I have a pretty busy and variable schedule. It would be nice for me to have my calendar available to me at all times. And to let people figure out what time suits both of us without having to trust that neither of us are forgetting anything.

    Does such a calendar exist?

    *Note: feel free to steal this idea. i know i'm not going to develop it...
  • Screenshots? (Score:1)

    by krod77 (953703) on Friday March 10 2006, @07:25AM (#14889823)
    (http://phoenix-network.org/ | Last Journal: Friday March 10 2006, @07:38AM)
    Where are the screen shots? Taken down by the google secret police?
    • Re:Screenshots? by born_to_live_forever (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @07:43AM
  • It's about time (Score:4, Insightful)

    by kopo (890010) on Friday March 10 2006, @07:41AM (#14889865)
    It's amazing - just a day or two ago, I was thinking how convenient it would be to have a calendar in Gmail, rather than have my schedule sitting in Outlook on my home desktop and doing nothing.
    And now it turns out they're working on it.

    And just a few months ago, I was hoping that Google would make an Israel version of Google News - and that came out on Tuesday, and looks great.

    How often does it happen that a company consistently puts out programs and services that you'd wanted to use before they made them?
  • SyncML please!!! (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Xenna (37238) on Friday March 10 2006, @07:58AM (#14889925)
    I don't think many people are aware of it but a 'new' standard is finally emerging that allows mobile devices to synchronize over the internet. A great number of mobile phones and smartphones (like my Nokia 9300) support this. See the website below for a list of devices that support SyncML. So does the Mozilla Sunbird Calendar...

    List of devices: https://www.mobical.net/mobical/phonesetup/ [mobical.net]

    What use is an online calendar if it doesn't support online synchronisation?

    I know that Gmail has ignored the wonderful imap standard, so I'm not entirely cnvinced they won't ignore this one.

    So: Please Google, don't be evil, and use the open SyncML standard ;)

    X.

  • Discussion (Score:2, Interesting)

    by u16084 (832406) on Friday March 10 2006, @08:31AM (#14890049)
    There has been ALOT of discussion on Calendars, and EXCHANGE. There was a comment made that EXCHANGE is the clear choice (and something only choice) for corporate informational exchange. Well, the company I worked for refused Exchange. What they are using is OpenXchange. http://mirror.open-xchange.org/ox/EN/community// [open-xchange.org] Which is a open sourced version of novells Version http://www.novell.com/products/openexchange/screen shots.html/ [novell.com] For those who need a "Calendar" or "Email" Server without sticking your stuff into google.

    The Open Sourced version is a little hectic to setup as it does not contain an administrative backend, so most of of the work is done through the command line... which is a small price to pay if you compare what is costs for MS Exchange. A Demo could be located here http://www.openexchange.com/EN/product/onlinedemo. html/ [openexchange.com] and here http://mirror.open-xchange.org/ox/EN/community/onl ine.htm/ [open-xchange.org]
    Plugins for OUTLOOK are available, seamless intergration.
  • Google + Federal Gubbermint (Score:3, Interesting)

    by hacker (14635) <anonymous@nonpublic.info> on Friday March 10 2006, @09:10AM (#14890250)
    (http://www.plkr.org/)

    Does this mean that now, when Google is forced to bend to the pressure of the Current Administration through some laws that will no-doubt be passed to ensure compliance, that the Gubbermint will now be able to see where every person is at any given time, as well as what email they're sending, to whom, and what web searches they're using?

    Oh wait, don't use Google, use Yahoo! to search, or AOL, or MSN... Riiiight, the .gov will just aggregate those search results (that they've already secured access to) through a real-time query and figure out exactly WHERE you sent that email or did that search from, then cross-reference that with your calendar, and figure out exactly what you were doing at the time.

    "It looked like he was at home, because his calendar said he was 'Feeding the cat', but his web search came from an IP outside of the town he lives in. But he has a meeting in an hour at the dentist's office, and he just did a web search for driving directions. We can be sure he'll be there for an hour, and then we can raid his house and search his computers while he's gone. Nobody will ever know!"

    As long as there are ridiculous draconian laws that allow .gov to demand logs and other details from providers, there can be no anonymity. At least so far, my provider is Pro-Privacy, and "Gets It(tm)". It pays to go with one of the little guys sometimes.

  • Sweet!! (Score:1)

    by arrgster (951348) on Friday March 10 2006, @09:18AM (#14890296)
    I've been waiting for this
  • by helix_r (134185) on Friday March 10 2006, @10:16AM (#14890681)

    I really like some of the new online calendar projects out there. They have a nice slick interfaces and allow you to share events with others, create personal rss-feeds, and there are hacks for convienent bookmarklets on browser for event entry.

    The one I am using now is new and is called 30boxes.com. Very nice interface, very good features. However, if google implememented something similar, I would switch to google. They are more likely to continue to exist in the forseeable future and that helps me to put more trust investment into a calendar run by them.
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • Gmail
    Gdrive
    Gcalendar
    Gdesktop
    Gword (word processor)
    Gsheet (spreadsheet)
    Gbase
    Gthis
    Gthat

    Brings us to the online version of the majorty of business and home desktops. Only now online and available wherever you are.

    Scary Cool!
  • WordPress database error: [MySQL server has gone away]
  • by Flamesplash (469287) on Friday March 10 2006, @12:15PM (#14891588)
    (http://shanem.net/ | Last Journal: Thursday July 05, @09:12PM)
    I'm really glad to see this. caledar/email support is by far the nicest feature in Outlook, but the main issue is that enough people had to use outlook in some sort of networked fashion to make it really work. Gmail is much more pervasive in usage outside of the corporate world and has the network setup since it's webmail. I really hope they get the usability of this right.
  • Social Networking (Score:1)

    by RyanMuldoon (69574) on Friday March 10 2006, @12:18PM (#14891621)
    (http://www.illuminagraphic.com)
    What I find interesting is that Google is developing products that are the building blocks for something larger. Orkut seems like it was a test run, and Google doesn't care about it anymore. Myspace and Facebook are the fads these days, but they still aren't very good. But Google has blogging, shared calendars, maps, chat, classifieds and email. Add in a few more mechanisms to figure out what you like and where you live (which someone like Amazon has, through your purchasing habits), then Google can auto-generate a large portion of a profile for you, and further make some pretty good guesses about who you might like to be friends with. But most importantly, it can tie it in to actual, real-world events. You like band X, Google can tell you when that band is coming, how to get there, and who might be interested in joining you. Then it can put it into your calendar for you. Want to go to dinner? Google can give you information on the restaurants in your area. Social Networking isn't that useful unless it connects to your real-world life. Google is building the pieces to do that. And no doubt it can make plenty of ad dollars off of being your social life's facilitator.
  • Looks cool. Calendar is really the only thing I still use over at Yahoo.
  • My prophecy! (Score:1)

    by DemonWeeping (849974) on Friday March 10 2006, @01:32PM (#14892332)
    (http://thoughtfix.com/)
    One step closer!

    Google Life [blogspot.com]

    It's going to happen. I'm interested in WHEN.
  • leaked my a$$ (Score:2)

    by /dev/trash (182850) on Friday March 10 2006, @07:36PM (#14895611)
    (http://s87365085.onlinehome.us/ | Last Journal: Tuesday October 28 2003, @04:22PM)
    Under strict rules to not share, but wait some leaked photos get out.
  • Very exciting! (Score:1)

    by cranbers (960448) <cranbers@gmail.com> on Sunday March 12 2006, @04:59AM (#14901684)
    I am not just excited to see a calender to go with my cranbers@gmail.com account but I am thanking google for the days I won't have to use yahoo's crap anymore. The thing that is great about google is that, they are not the first to do these things, but I have no doubt they will be the first to do it right. Their office offering is going to be great as well I have no doubt!
  • Re:yippeee (Score:1, Interesting)

    by nicolas.kassis (875270) on Friday March 10 2006, @01:46AM (#14888980)

    yep and with the aquisition of that Web Office compagny the are going to buid one hell of a office suite.(Can't remeber the name right now) This looks like a all out assault at Microsoft. I like it. Google has the power to fight Microsoft on this one. Only thing is I don't know how I would like all my personal and work stuff to be hosted on a remote machine. I guess Google servers a little more secure than my personal computer. But hey I really wonder how long it will take before corporate espionage stories come out of this.

    Nic
    ======
    Homepage [nickassis.net]
    blog [nickassis.net]
    [ Parent ]
    • Re:yippeee by B3ryllium (Score:1) Friday March 10 2006, @02:29AM
    • Re:yippeee by thrillseeker (Score:2) Friday March 10 2006, @10:45AM
      • Re:yippeee by larry bagina (Score:1) Friday March 10 2006, @03:23PM
    • 1 reply beneath your current threshold.
  • yet you still read slashdot?
    [ Parent ]
  • And yet (Score:4, Informative)

    by WindBourne (631190) on Friday March 10 2006, @09:27AM (#14890353)
    (Last Journal: Friday December 01 2006, @10:51AM)
    everything that they have released (excluding gtalk), has beat all the others.
    • Their search engine is superior.
    • gmail was the first with Gig storage; It also has the superior interface.
    • Maps is killing mapquest and microsoft's stuff. Mapquest has been dieing for a bit, but over the last couple of years it has been put into the ground.
    • Gtalk is so so. Nothing inovative, other than using jabber (the first that talks to all the others).
    And now they bought Writely.

    Dollar for Dollar, I would expect good things from their calendar.
    [ Parent ]
  • Re:mmm sleepy about google (Score:2, Funny)

    by waif69 (322360) on Friday March 10 2006, @09:45AM (#14890487)
    (Last Journal: Thursday January 05 2006, @11:02AM)
    Eating dead babies is better than eating living ones.
    [ Parent ]
  • 10 replies beneath your current threshold.