[Saaby]

We just started using BusySync at work and it's been delightful. Seems to work reliably, and without fanfare. I was syncing with my bosses MobileMe before and it was an ok solution. BusySync works a lot better. We don't use the LAN portion of it at all, we sync everything between Google calendar. It's great because it lets you use the privacy/sharing/access level features of Google Calendar while retaining the ease of using iCal to view and schedule events. Also, iCal will work with CalDAV to Google Cal now, but it's still very "new" and BusySync still seems to work a lot better....seems to be well worth the $25.

Also, MobileMe won't publish calendars you subscribe to in iCal up to your iPhone, but using BusySync, subscribing to those calendars is like having them local. My boss runs his computer all the time, so he can call me and have me add something to his calendar...BusySync syncs my copy of his calendar with his copy of his calendar, and then MobileMe pushes the changes to his iPhone. Very slick.

For bonus points you could also setup Jott with a Google Calendar link. Then you wouldn't even need an assistant to put events on your Google Calendar via a phone call...only thing is the sync between gCal and MobileMe is dependent upon whatever Mac you have BusySync on, so if that's your MacBook Pro then the event isn't going to push up to MobileMe until you're using your notebook, with it connected to the internet.

Unfortunately I need access to his address book, so I'm still syncing with his MobileMe for that, but supposedly future version of BusySync will support contact sync as well.

[Lizard]

Definitely leave the W2000 server out of it if you've got a MobileMe account available for syncing OmniFocus.

Also note that a family pack (5 licenses) of OmniFocus is cheaper than 2 separate licenses.

[chrisblair]

Originally Posted by Lizard

Definitely leave the W2000 server out of it if you've got a MobileMe account available for syncing OmniFocus.

Also note that a family pack (5 licenses) of OmniFocus is cheaper than 2 separate licenses.

What happens when two or more of the 4 appliances (2 Macs plus 2 Iphones) connect to the MobileMe account and each start a sync, so the two syncs overlap in time?

Will the MobileMe account be smart enought to apply a file lock so the first sync can be completed before the second sync commences?

Will the second syncer get a message like "please wait - another file sync is in progress and must be completed before your sync starts" Or is there just an everspinning wheel with everincreasing levels of frustration and uncertainty?

Hope this user feedback is helpful - in the 80's I was involved in observing user interactions and "to see something that changed while computer was talking to itself" was very high on the list of an interface that inspired trust, versus an interface that FUDDED. On an Apple II I once waited 8 hours for a GL Program to do a bubble sort on 600 GL items, and all I saw was a flashing box saying "Please wait". So a bit of deju vu all over again.

Thanks to everyone for helping with what is obviously a common issue.

[Lizard]

An OmniFocus file is actually a package containing several .zip files and (if it's the server copy) .client files. When a client syncs, it is adding a new .zip file and a new .client file.

A client can also delete its own older .client files, but only ones that are more than an hour old and never its newest one, no matter how old it is.

A client can also coalesce (aka "smoosh") older .zip files into one bigger .zip file, but it will only do this for .zip files that are older than the oldest .client file. So the .client files kind of serve as the lock, but they don't keep other clients from getting and pushing new data, only from coalescing old data.
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On the other hand, OmniFocus has fairly coarse-grained conflict resolution. If I change the same task on two different machines, without syncing in between, when the syncs finally do happen, one of those changes will be thrown away.

[chrisblair]

More helpful advice on how OF works. Appending new records will not be a problem, but editing existing could potentially cause problems
We could set set up a new folder called UPDATES and make a quick note of the changes e. "Dr Zukor now 12 noon not 3 pm" then edit the existing entry time from 3 pm to 12 noon".

So we can ensure that any changes to an existing record are not unknowingly lost in the ether. If they are not updated then we can do it again until we get it right.

What do you think of this idea? Maybe a good idea in its own right as it will alert all users that a change has been made, as merely altering the time could go un noticed.

Makes OF on iPhone a bit like a mini bulletin board where the different users can communicate. In fact on our Terminal Server system with shared calenders staff in different offices are constantly putting in new entries to communicate with each other.
Thank you for your continued helpful responses.

[Lizard]

This feels to me like you may be pushing a square peg into a round hole and trying to make OmniFocus do something that another application can do better. I'm not sure what other application to recommend, and you're certainly welcome to see if OmniFocus can work for you. I'm just not sure it's the best fit.

[devn]

Originally Posted by Lizard

An OmniFocus file is actually a package containing
A client can also coalesce (aka "smoosh") older .zip files into one bigger .zip file, but it will only do this for .zip files that are older than the oldest .client file. So the .client files kind of serve as the lock, but they don't keep other clients from getting and pushing new data, only from coalescing old data.

Lizard,

So, if I'm creating a .client file and a contents.xml file, and then zipping the contents.xml file on the server, that would be enough to create a new task, yes?

I am trying to simply add inbox items server side because I will often have a bunch of tasks that are in emails and I would like to simply run a shell script on them and push them into my webdav OmniFocus.ofocus/. I may be going about this the wrong way. Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks,
D

[tah]

This our need too (and I suspect lots of other small companies). The need to have an application with quick entry and contexts, that you can push tasks to each other in workgroups, track task times, do basic time charting of tasks and timelines for scheduling (so you can plan).

This seems like a real need for lots of 2-10 person companies out there. But no software does it.

Apps like Daylite are mostly about managing contacts (and much of what it does is redundant with Addressbook/iCal/mail). And it task and project management is too basic to be useful.

Omnifocus isn't able to handle multiple users, and is too "heads down", based around only what I need to do now. It doesn't provide tools for "heads up" management, to see, track, and timeline what is coming down the pike.

Omniplan, is traditional gantt chart project management. Doesn't work well in the real world. Takes too much time to enter and edit projects. Too much entry overhead for lots of tasks, no contexts, no quick entry, no automatic gantting of task lists.

I don't see anyone making good software on the mac in this catagory. In my mind omnifocus and omniplan should be merged into another product for small workgroups. Take all of the features of OF, add the charting of Plan as a view type, use the sequential/parallel settings to automatically build gantt charts, add the "today", "this week" and time traking features of "The Hit List". Add the ability to share projects with others and push tasks to other people. Add 'person' tags in addition to context.