iCal
- For the standard file format for addresses and calendar entries, see iCalendar.
iCal is a personal calendar application made by Apple Inc. that runs on the Mac OS X operating system. iCal was the first calendar application for Mac OS X to offer support for multiple calendars and the ability to publish/subscribe calendars to WebDAV server.
Originally released as a free download for Mac OS X v10.2 on September 10, 2002, with the release of Mac OS X v10.3 it was bundled with the operating system as iCal 1.5. Version 2 of iCal was released as part of Mac OS X v10.4, Version 3 as part of Mac OS X v10.5, Version 4 as part of Mac OS X v10.6, and Version 5 as part of Mac OS X v10.7.
Apple licensed the iCal name from Brown Bear Software, who have used it for their iCal application since 1997.[1]
iCal development is quite different from other Apple software because it was designed independently by a small French team working "secretly" in Paris, led by Jean-Marie Hullot, a friend of Steve Jobs. iCal's development has since been transferred to Apple US headquarters in Cupertino.[2]
Features
- It tracks events and appointments, allows multiple calendar views (such as calendars for "home", "work", and other calendars you create) to quickly identify conflicts and free time.
- It is integrated with MobileMe, so calendars can be shared and synced with other devices, such as PCs, iPhones, and iPod touch, over the Internet. You can also share calendars via the WebDAV protocol. Google now supports WebDAV for Google Calendar making iCal easily configurable with Google Sync.
- Users can subscribe to other calendars so they can keep up with friends and colleagues, and other things such as athletic schedules and television programs.
- iCal allows notification of upcoming events either on screen, by e-mail, SMS, or Pager.
- iCal integrates Apple Sync Services to sync its data with MobileMe, devices such as PDA, iPod, iPhone or other mobile phones via iSync and third party software.
- iCal supports the use of the iCalendar format [VERSION:2.0]. It does not support the older vCalendar 1.0 format. [VERSION:1.0]
New in Version 3
- Setting to let iCal set auto-alarms for each event created.
- Redesigned user interface
- Inline event editing
- Ability to turn off alarms for all events
- Use a CalDAV(WebDAV) account to store and keep calendars in sync on a CalDAV server.
- The date on the icon in the Dock displays the current date all the time. (Until version 3, iCal's icon displayed July 17—the date iCal premiered in 2002 at the Macworld Expo—by default until the program was run.[3])
New in Version 4
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 support [4]
- Refined user interface (particularly for multiple events management)
- Automatic setup for Yahoo/Google Mail/Gmail calendars. Events are synced and downloaded from your account.
New in Version 5
- Microsoft Exchange Server 2010 support [5]
- New skin similar to iCal for iPad.[6]
- Full-screen support [7]
- Day view [8]
- Quick Add for adding events [9]
- Heat map for displaying the amount of activities per day [10]
Lost functionality in Version 5
- No calendar pane on the left hand side
- No details pane on the right hand side
- No mini month view on the left hand side
- Cursor keys no longer allow navigation of days in month view
- Animated page turn results in key press loss if wanting to jump more than one day/week/month forwards
Overall many more clicks are required to access iCal's features than in Version 4, reducing efficiency and productivity for users of Lion, which will not run iCal version 4 and earlier.
Bugs
It has been reported that some users of iCal who have their calendar on a CalDAV server can't view or add events to their calendar. This issue is specific to Google Calendar users.[11]
iCal supports times zones, i.e.: if the function is enabled, and the computer’s time zone changes, all the events in iCal are shifted to compensate for the time zone difference. The bug is that this problem also occurs when the time zone function is disabled, therefore whenever the computer’s time zone changes, all the events in iCal shift as well. As of today, there is still no fix for this bug and this bug has carried over through Mac OS 10.4 (Tiger), 10.5 (Leopard), 10.6 (Snow Leopard) and 10.7 (Lion).[12]
See also
External links
References
- ^ http://www.brownbearsw.com/ical/icalfaq.html#thename
- ^ McLean, Prince (17 October 2007). "Road to Mac OS X Leopard: iCal 3.0". AppleInsider. http://www.appleinsider.com/articles/07/10/17/road_to_mac_os_x_leopard_ical_3_0.html&page=2. Retrieved 2007-11-02.
- ^ Fun Fact Time: iCal's Birthday is Today
- ^ Mac OS X - What is Mac OS X - Mail, iCal, Address Book
- ^ http://www.apple.com/macosx/whats-new/features.html#mail
- ^ http://www.macrumors.com/2011/03/31/mac-os-x-lion-developer-preview-2-brings-new-look-for-ical/
- ^ http://www.apple.com/macosx/whats-new/features.html#ical
- ^ http://www.apple.com/macosx/whats-new/features.html#ical
- ^ http://www.apple.com/macosx/whats-new/features.html#ical
- ^ http://www.apple.com/macosx/whats-new/features.html#ical
- ^ http://www.google.com/support/calendar/bin/answer.py?answer=99360
- ^ http://www.macintouch.com/readerreports/ical/topic4854.html
|
|
|
| Versions |
|
|
| Applications |
|
|
| Utilities |
|
|
Technology and
user interface |
|
|