I have the MobileMe family pack and I'm not sure how to supply logins for the rest of my family. The other issue is I'm the only one with a Mac. Will there be any value to the others in my family to use it?
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MobileMe Family Pack
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As to the hijack, the answer is no. There is no facility to share calendars between accounts (family or otherwise) on MobileMe and have them available for sync to devices like iPhone or be read/write for the shared users. You can share calendars, but it is limited to read only and does not sync.
As to the original thread ... the usefulness of MM for non-Mac will depend on what your non-Mac users use for e-mail/calendar. Currently, the MM Preferences control panel applet for Windows will only work with the "real" version of Outlook that comes with MS Office. If your users use Outlook Express or a Non-MS e-mail client, then they would only web interface to MM.
I have MobileMe family pack and find the benefits great because of two things 1) I have multiple mac computers 2) my wife and I both have iPhones.
However, originally I had an individual account and liked the features it offered between computers and access via the web.
However, originally I had an individual account and liked the features it offered between computers and access via the web.
I am confused about your answer. You say "no" you can't share calendars and then you say "You can share calendars but it is lmited to read only". Read Only would be fine for me. Don't want my wife to change my calendar and me change hers. But I don't see any way to Share a Calendar at all in MobileMe. Does it show up when you get the Family Pack? I am still on the Trial but plan to get the Family Pack after the trial if they have the features I need. This is one that is on my list.
I personally have another option by sharing my Outlook Calendar. Since we both use Outlook we can share the Outlook calendar a could of ways. However, I would prefer sharing my MobileMe Calendar since it is the "Master" Copy.
I'm fine with read-only too ^^ but how do the multiple logons work for email accounts. i.e. I might not want the wife reading emails from my girlfriends.
The OP has the Family Pack and wanted to share calendars between multiple logins. If you have the Family Pack it is like you have completely separate accounts (maybe called sub-accounts). Each Account has it's own set of mail, calendar, contacts, idisk, etc. So no problem with your girlfriends email being private.
As the main account holder, you would set up the subaccounts originally under your account settings on the web (I think it's options?), so you need to ask them their choices of usernames. You supply the password, birthdate, and security questions, but then they can sign in and change them. After that, you have the power to cancel their accounts (but they could transfer to an individual account), but have no ability to get into their accounts without the proper password or the security question/birthday combination.
You can "subscribe" to another calendar in iCal and it will load the read-only content of the calendar into the local iCal calendar. MobileMe will NOT sync the subscribed calendar data to the cloud calendar. The MobileMe web calendar application does not currently have a way to enter calendar subscriptions. Additionally, if you purchase a MobileMe family pack, there is no synergy between the accounts of the "family". The closest you can come is to use a single MobileMe account and sync all devices to the same calendar. The problem with that solution is that it will propagate all calendars to all synced clients. My wife does not want to see my work calendar, nor I hers.
So, basically, MobileMe does not support calendar subscriptions.
Outside of MM, I think the only way to set up a shared calendar would be if everyone were using iCal and used "subscribe". If you wanted to sync with a device (like iPhone), then you would have to sync to the local Mac and not to MobileMe.
I have pondered setting up a Google Calendar and sharing that with everyone, but that means shifting to a web client to edit the "common" calendar. My wife has resisted the extra complexity and instead opts for a paper calendar on a door in the kitchen. Unfortunately, that does me no good when I am sitting in a meeting with my Boss who is asking if I can travel next week.
Currently, I find this the biggest disappointment with MobileMe (aside from the slowness and instability) and with the other possible calender hosts. What I want is a family calendar that anyone in the family can update and it will be pushed to everyones, Mac, PC, iPhone, etc. I think this would be a killer feature for very busy families like mine, but no one is even close. I would accept a non-push solution as long as I can force the downloading of an update when ever I want.
I use Outlook and it does have a Publish Calendar Feature. At this time I am Syncing my Outlook Calendar with Google Calendar and we share that way. However, I was hoping to eliminate all the "extra" Syncing and just MobileMe which I need to Sync with my iPhone.
I am totally bummed about MobileMe at this point ... it is almost 85% of what I want, but the extra missing 15% are deal breakers. I think Apple would have the killer "cloud" if it would just handle the calendar sharing, subscriptions and syncing the way that I think most family or small business users would want it.
I agree but not sure it is a "deal breaker".
Of similar importance to me is Server/Client Side Rules for Email. I would like to have all of my email organized and Pushed by folder (not just InBox).
The two above are my two most needed features. Others things fall pretty far below those two.
I read your post before you removed it and I think you were on the right track.
>>>>>
As to the original thread ... the usefulness of MM for non-Mac will depend on what your non-Mac users use for e-mail/calendar. Currently, the MM Preferences control panel applet for Windows will only work with the "real" version of Outlook that comes with MS Office. If your users use Outlook Express or a Non-MS e-mail client, then they would only web interface to MM.
>>>>>
The MM Preferences for Windows is ONLY for Contacts and Calendar (maybe that is what the post is referring too). Outlook is not required for Mail (Outlook or other IMAP Mail Clients) and Contacts (Outlook, Windows Contacts, Yahoo Address Book), only Calendar (Outlook). For the Calendar without Outlook then they have to use MM Web Client or the iPhone.
I was the source of the mis-information. You are correct, for e-mail, you could use any client that could connect to the MM mail server, but calendar, contacts, etc. are limited to MS Office Outlook.
Sorry about that ...
Actually just the Calendar is limited to MS Office Outlook. Multple choices for Contacts.
I totally agree with you on the calendar. That was my main purpose in establishing a trial account, with a son no win college, my wife working, and me in graduate school, a way to do a family calendar (easily) that syncs between iPod Touch, laptops, desktops, etc. would be great. Can we get that for Christmas Apple?
Add me to the request list here as well. This was EASILY the biggest disappointment I have with MobileMe and it seems like a glaring omission in something called a Family Pack.
...all I want for Christmas...!
APPLE, PLEASE HELP MY FAMILY SHARE OUR CALENDARS!!!!!!!!
Sharing ical on mobile me
I am new to macs, but this is what I'm doing to share a calendar. We use the SAME mobile me account. On my imac account, I sync everything with my other computer & touch. On hubby's account, he just syncs the calendar. He didn't care about syncing anything else, and this way we can share a calendar.
I am new to macs, but this is what I'm doing to share a calendar. We use the SAME mobile me account. On my imac account, I sync everything with my other computer & touch. On hubby's account, he just syncs the calendar. He didn't care about syncing anything else, and this way we can share a calendar.
This works as long as you don't mind sharing all your calendar with your husband. What we are looking for is a feature that lets you specify a "family" shared calendar that is visible and update-able by any family member, but all of your other calendars are private to you. It would be nice is you could make other calendars selectively visible but not change-able, so that another family member could check to see if you were busy before scheduling a family event.
n this way you can sync ONLY one account on each Mac, not more.
So it's totally unuseful ... at least for me
I came to this thread because I was searching for a way to share (read only) my iCal calendar with my wife. I have a MobileMe account, but it has only been active for a couple of months. Prior to that I had shared my calendar via box.net as they provided a webdav server. Basically, my calendar published to box.net, and my wife subscribed to the calendar there.
Anyway, the calendar had stopped updating. I checked the settings, and found that the calendar, of course, was now syncing to my MobileMe account. I changed the location back to the box.net details, and got her updated.
I then changed back to MobileMe and noticed something interesting. Once the publish to MobileMe completed, a message popped up informing me that the upload had completed succesfully. What it also did was give me the webdav address to the calendar on the me.com server.
So, I subscribed my wife to the MobileMe calendar, updated, and it works perfectly. No need to change any details or use box.net anymore.
Hope this helps out.
Anyway, the calendar had stopped updating. I checked the settings, and found that the calendar, of course, was now syncing to my MobileMe account. I changed the location back to the box.net details, and got her updated.
I then changed back to MobileMe and noticed something interesting. Once the publish to MobileMe completed, a message popped up informing me that the upload had completed succesfully. What it also did was give me the webdav address to the calendar on the me.com server.
So, I subscribed my wife to the MobileMe calendar, updated, and it works perfectly. No need to change any details or use box.net anymore.
Hope this helps out.
BusyCal
Has anyone tried BusyCal as a solution to the problem of MobileMe not providing a family calendar that a) everyone in the family can update and b) will be pushed to everyone's Mac, PC, iPhone, etc?
I just discovered BusyCal and am about to set it up and test it on several Macs.
- BusyCal requires that your Macs be left on so they can sync to MobileMe and pass on the changes to the Macs and iPhones of your family members
- its currently available as a Public Beta; when it ships it will cost $40 per user
Until Apple updates MobileMe with support for the sort of family calendar described above, BusyCal looks to be a possible workaround. Its not a proper solution since how it pushes updates requires that your Mac be left on:
- calendar items sync from Mac to Mac on your home LAN
- those Macs sync with MobileMe
- MobileMe pushes the calendar items to iPhone
- and vice versa
BusyCal
http://www.busymac.com
Apple could offer a proper solution rather than the BusyCal workaround anytime. However, is it a sufficiently significant update to warrant waiting to announce it at a special event? They no longer do MacWorld appearances, at which such an announcement would historically make sense, so the next regularly 'scheduled' event is WWDC 2010.
A special event for MobileMe updates doesn't seem likely - such updates would make more sense as part of a larger event - a new product introduction or an existing product's update (eg: AppleTV).
Therefore, BusyCal (or a similar product) is one of very few possible interim workarounds. As is so often the case, we're at Apple's mercy. Given how long we've been waiting for a similarly useful feature of Bootcamp (tap-to-click support for MacBook trackPads under Windows), I don't have high hopes for a family calendar solution in the near future.
Has anyone tried BusyCal as a solution to the problem of MobileMe not providing a family calendar that a) everyone in the family can update and b) will be pushed to everyone's Mac, PC, iPhone, etc?
I just discovered BusyCal and am about to set it up and test it on several Macs.
- BusyCal requires that your Macs be left on so they can sync to MobileMe and pass on the changes to the Macs and iPhones of your family members
- its currently available as a Public Beta; when it ships it will cost $40 per user
Until Apple updates MobileMe with support for the sort of family calendar described above, BusyCal looks to be a possible workaround. Its not a proper solution since how it pushes updates requires that your Mac be left on:
- calendar items sync from Mac to Mac on your home LAN
- those Macs sync with MobileMe
- MobileMe pushes the calendar items to iPhone
- and vice versa
BusyCal
http://www.busymac.com
Apple could offer a proper solution rather than the BusyCal workaround anytime. However, is it a sufficiently significant update to warrant waiting to announce it at a special event? They no longer do MacWorld appearances, at which such an announcement would historically make sense, so the next regularly 'scheduled' event is WWDC 2010.
A special event for MobileMe updates doesn't seem likely - such updates would make more sense as part of a larger event - a new product introduction or an existing product's update (eg: AppleTV).
Therefore, BusyCal (or a similar product) is one of very few possible interim workarounds. As is so often the case, we're at Apple's mercy. Given how long we've been waiting for a similarly useful feature of Bootcamp (tap-to-click support for MacBook trackPads under Windows), I don't have high hopes for a family calendar solution in the near future.
Found a solution
I have been researching this for the past several days.
This is what I have found that works so far....
Not thoroughly tested and doesn't have all alert/reminder features
My Requirements:
I need a collaborative calendar that can be edited by multiple users, with multiple devices:
Macs
PCs
iPhones
Blackberries
The best solution so far (and it's free)
Gcal, google's calendar app.
I think all users have to at least sign up for a gmail account, but I'm not certain. All my users already have one. You can add users and control read and write permissions in the Gcal settings.
In iCal you can set up a new account/calendar using CalDAV. This will be set up to sync with a Gcal. You can specify the sync timing (5,10,15 minutes etc...) in iCal. Also you can press command(apple)-R to refresh/sync events.
Setup iCal:
Preferences > Accounts > + button at the bottom
Description: Not sure how this affects it. The actual name that shows up in iCal is the name you give the calendar when logged into Gcal.
Username: yourgmailusername
Password: yourgmailpassword
Server Settings: https://www. google.com/calendar/dav/yourgmailusername@gmail.com/user
The iPhone can also be setup to use a Gcal (with CalDAV) in Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add account > Other > Add CalDav Account>
then add:
Server: google.com
User Name: yourgmailname
Password: yourgmailpassword
There are also some iPhone apps including Google Mobile App (edit:Google Mobile App just launches Mobile Safari to access the Gcal lame), and Google Web App (using Mobile Safari) to access the Gcal, but the directions above allow the synced calendar to show up in the iPhone Calendar app.
Google has a free download to set-up MS Outlook to work with the Gcal calendar. I haven't setup the PC, someone else is working on that.
Blackberry:
Google has a free sync app for Blackberry. I haven't seen it yet, but another team member set it up yesterday. It works, but he is not impressed with the interface.
The Blackberry can also use Google's Mobile Web App using the built in browser.
I'm still testing this stuff, but it works well, at least with the Macs and iPhones.
I still can't believe that MobileMe doesn't offer collaborative calendars....
They just lost $500+ from our workgroup.
Hope this helps someone else
I have been researching this for the past several days.
This is what I have found that works so far....
Not thoroughly tested and doesn't have all alert/reminder features
My Requirements:
I need a collaborative calendar that can be edited by multiple users, with multiple devices:
Macs
PCs
iPhones
Blackberries
The best solution so far (and it's free)
Gcal, google's calendar app.
I think all users have to at least sign up for a gmail account, but I'm not certain. All my users already have one. You can add users and control read and write permissions in the Gcal settings.
In iCal you can set up a new account/calendar using CalDAV. This will be set up to sync with a Gcal. You can specify the sync timing (5,10,15 minutes etc...) in iCal. Also you can press command(apple)-R to refresh/sync events.
Setup iCal:
Preferences > Accounts > + button at the bottom
Description: Not sure how this affects it. The actual name that shows up in iCal is the name you give the calendar when logged into Gcal.
Username: yourgmailusername
Password: yourgmailpassword
Server Settings: https://www. google.com/calendar/dav/yourgmailusername@gmail.com/user
The iPhone can also be setup to use a Gcal (with CalDAV) in Settings > Mail, Contacts, Calendars > Add account > Other > Add CalDav Account>
then add:
Server: google.com
User Name: yourgmailname
Password: yourgmailpassword
There are also some iPhone apps including Google Mobile App (edit:Google Mobile App just launches Mobile Safari to access the Gcal lame), and Google Web App (using Mobile Safari) to access the Gcal, but the directions above allow the synced calendar to show up in the iPhone Calendar app.
Google has a free download to set-up MS Outlook to work with the Gcal calendar. I haven't setup the PC, someone else is working on that.
Blackberry:
Google has a free sync app for Blackberry. I haven't seen it yet, but another team member set it up yesterday. It works, but he is not impressed with the interface.
The Blackberry can also use Google's Mobile Web App using the built in browser.
I'm still testing this stuff, but it works well, at least with the Macs and iPhones.
I still can't believe that MobileMe doesn't offer collaborative calendars....
They just lost $500+ from our workgroup.
Hope this helps someone else