sync ical to M$ exchange server?
the university i'm at is migrating to M$ Exchange Server for e-mail, calendar, etc. "officially" they are supporting only M$ Entourage as of now. 
I'm not really keen on using Entourage - have used it before & think it's way too bloated and messy for what it's supposed to do.
Apple Mail does a pretty decent job by itself as far as mails are concerned - & that's a good argument against Entourage.
Problem comes with the calendar - apparently iCal doesn't agree with the exchange server. There is an option for me to access the university calendar via the intranet, but that doesn't allow sync-ing! There are some third party options, e.g., GroupCal by Snerdware, but the current version of GroupCal doesn't support the current version of the Exchange Server at the university!
Does anyone know of other third party applications / homegrown scripts that would help to link iCal directly to the calendar on the exchange server?
anyone know if Apple working on anything on these lines?
I'm not really keen on using Entourage - have used it before & think it's way too bloated and messy for what it's supposed to do.Apple Mail does a pretty decent job by itself as far as mails are concerned - & that's a good argument against Entourage.
Problem comes with the calendar - apparently iCal doesn't agree with the exchange server. There is an option for me to access the university calendar via the intranet, but that doesn't allow sync-ing! There are some third party options, e.g., GroupCal by Snerdware, but the current version of GroupCal doesn't support the current version of the Exchange Server at the university!
Does anyone know of other third party applications / homegrown scripts that would help to link iCal directly to the calendar on the exchange server?
anyone know if Apple working on anything on these lines?
Comments
Apple provides support for Exchange in Mail, iCal, Address Book, and in the necessary system utilities. Every installation of Exchange server is different. It is up to your IT staff to allow the MacOS X apps and utilities to work with Exchange. Even though Entourage will probably work with your Exchange installation, this is by no means a guarantee.
oh, ok! thanks for the clarification! lemme check back with the IT services guys!
oh, ok! thanks for the clarification! lemme check back with the IT services guys!
Your school is not switching to Exchange to make life easier for Mac users like you. I recommend that you first get access to a Windows computer with a working installation of Outlook. Go through Outlook to find all of its settings. Write them down. Then try to reproduce them in the corresponding MacOS X apps. If they work, then you're done. If they don't, then contact IT.
Your school is not switching to Exchange to make life easier for Mac users like you. I recommend that you first get access to a Windows computer with a working installation of Outlook. Go through Outlook to find all of its settings. Write them down. Then try to reproduce them in the corresponding MacOS X apps. If they work, then you're done. If they don't, then contact IT.
thanks for the reply.
It's not an issue about just my department - it's the whole University that's switching to Exchange. so life is getting complicated for most mac users!
the IT guys I spoke to, advised me to wait until Snerdware updated GroupCal so that I could sync iCal. I guess they're even considering a group-wide license to GroupCal for all the mac users.
Until then, I could always take the longer way out (like you've described) & try to get the job done at my end!
...
It's not an issue about just my department - it's the whole University that's switching to Exchange. so life is getting complicated for most mac users!
...
You misunderstood. I neither said nor did I mean that the issue is isolated to your department. And yes, all Mac users in your school with have to deal with the change.
As for Snerdware, I don't see where they are offering anything that you don't already have in the communications apps included in MacOS X. I would go ahead and see if I can access Exchange using Mail, Address Book, and iCal. You have nothing to lose. If it doesn't work, then your IT will provide Snerdware's stuff and support it.