ICal is not a product that lives to Apple's standard

Question

Hello,
I am an Apple fan and have been so since 1984. I define my self as a difficult user to satisfy an happily most of Apple's products satisfies me very much. iCal's is a rare exception that I find limited and short of featuresand. I find that this product does not live to Apple's usual standards. Since PalmDesktop is a good product that has existed for many years, I don't understand that iCal does not integrate more of it's features.
I have been using PalmDesktop for 5 years and feel this product is great. For sure there is probably some more customising that Apple could do to fit it's need, but I feel 95% of this product is great, simple and customisable.
iCal is short of great features and does not integrate the features we need when we have to organize our daily life. iCal is missing (short list of thiese missings, and I could add more if I thought that it could change something):
• a real task management module like PD's one
• a fast memo module that would be syncronized automatically with my PDA
• a upgrade path from the most used PDA, the PALM device (task from PD software cannot be exported to iCal's limited task module, there is no memo module)
• an adress book display that you can customize by department ...
... and the list could continue.
To my point of view iCal is limited and is not a great product ... But as I love what Apple does, and the look and feel of there product, I have tired hard to find a workaround to all my problems, without success. A simple post concerning the possibility to export my task from PD was never answered, and no ressources where found on the net to help.
Am I the only Apple fan to feel this way about iCal ??? Most of Apple's work is simply genious, but iCal's not.
Robert Lespérance

Answer 1

Hi Robert,
I think most of us agree that iCal is not as good as it should be, and like you, I used and loved PD even before it was PD; I actually paid for it when it was Claris Organizer and I'd pay again if it was updated (you do know that it was owned by Apple at one time, right?).
I am waiting for Chronos SOHO Organizer, the successor to Chronos Personal/Group Organizer, a product close to PD in functionality. And it will have group features. Alternatively, I expect iCal 3 to be a big improvement, but I'm not waiting if SOHO proves worthwhile (they say they'll integrate iCal, Address Book, etc.). I still use PD as nothing can replace it yet.
re Tasks from PD to iCal: I suspect folks didn't have an answer, but a reply saying that is helpful so at least you know someone is listening. I don't have an answer either as you can see iCal only imports vcal, vcard, and Entourage data, and PD doesn't export To Do's in those formats. A workaround would be to sync PD with a Palm, then sync the Palm with iCal. I don't know how well this works typically but I'm sure some folks here could tell you, or you could ask at the iSync discussion.