Good organisation software for OS X?

September 21, 2005 4:20 PM

Help me replace iCal.

I'm using iCal but it is not a perfect fit: Yes, I'm picky, but a number of things -- no recurring tasks, for example; and slow response even without tons of data -- has me looking for a replacement. Any suggestions? What's out there for OS X? Are any of the Ajax-thingies mature enough yet?

posted by docgonzo to computers & internet (12 comments total)

Recurring tasks, like on certain days of the week for x number of weeks (or infinity)?
posted by fionab at 4:39 PM on September 21, 2005

You haven't said a whole lot about what you're looking for in a calendar, so I'll assume you're open to unconventional options. If you'll permit a self-link, you might have a look at Wyrd. It makes use of Remind, which offers all the power you could ever hope for in a calendar (including any sort of recurrence settings you can imagine), and you'll be hard pressed to find any similar calendar application with better performance.

And yes, it runs on OS X. I think someone's uploading it to Fink within a few days.
posted by Galvatron at 4:39 PM on September 21, 2005

You can freely download and run Palm Desktop without a Palm Pilot.
posted by Rothko at 4:41 PM on September 21, 2005

Have you tried the mozilla calendar, sunbird?
posted by olecranon at 5:05 PM on September 21, 2005

If by "ajaxy" you mean you are willing to consider web-based options, you might take a look at Trumba. It is not free ($40/yr) but I think it is worth it to have a central calendar I can access from work/home/road. It plays well with iCal (as well as Outlook) for import/export (and maybe publish to iCal?). Recently emerged from beta, and they are still adding features and improving things. There is a 60-day trial.

Only drawback (for me) is that it is hosted. And has no real public API. and messy URLs. but maybe that's just me.

There are a bunch of free ajax-y calendars, but none feel as polished. (planzo, Zimbra, k5n, Hula, Kiko )

I have played with sunbird on a couple of occasions, but it was not polished enough yet for daily use for my taste.
posted by misterbrandt at 5:31 PM on September 21, 2005

< tangent> Sorry, Rothko, I would not recommend Palm Desktop for anything -- I have to use an older version due to the age of my handheld, but it crashes on exit every time. I've migrated to and have been very happy with iCal.< / tangent>
posted by omnidrew at 6:22 PM on September 21, 2005

What exactly do you mean by recurring tasks... iCal does have repeating tasks, with a fair bit of configurability.
posted by I Love Tacos at 6:29 PM on September 21, 2005

iCal does have repeating tasks

iCal does has repeating events, but as far as I know* tasks are much more limited. No recurring, no alarms.

* through iCal 1.5.5, but maybe the Tiger version is vastly improved

It would help a lot if you explained what features you do and don't need. If, for instance, recurring tasks were your only concern, Life Balance might work. But it has no alarm support, and the calendar sucks ass.

All depends on your priorities.
posted by nakedcodemonkey at 10:00 PM on September 21, 2005

Sorry, Rothko, I would not recommend Palm Desktop for anything -- I have to use an older version due to the age of my handheld, but it crashes on exit every time. I've migrated to and have been very happy with iCal.

The latest version of Palm Desktop is quite stable, works under Mac OS X 10.4, is a fully featured standalone calendar, and is free. It does not require a Palm handheld device to operate. I'm afraid I have to respectfully disagree insofar as answering the poster's question.
posted by Rothko at 10:06 PM on September 21, 2005

You should probably look around 43 Folders, which is written by a Mac user who is devoted to David Allen's Getting Things Done. Check there before you go purchase anything.
posted by lambchop1 at 11:26 PM on September 21, 2005

iCal does has repeating events, but as far as I know* tasks are much more limited. No recurring, no alarms.

You're right, my mistake. It's not in Tiger either.
posted by I Love Tacos at 3:59 PM on September 22, 2005

For a web-based calendar, I've been happy with the free TaskToy.

The most impressive and highly configurable desktop-based calendar program I've seen has been LifeBalance.
posted by yankeefog at 7:39 AM on September 29, 2005