Outlook calendar sharing without Exchange

[dZeus]

I'm extensively using my outlook calendar/contacts/tasks functions now that I have a cellphone that is easy to use as calendar (Nokia 3109) that happily syncs with the outlook on my PC. However, I've run into the following limitations, seemingly because I don't have access to an exchange server:

- I can't view the calendar of other users on the same PC (who are logged in at the same time most of the time)
- I can't sync my calendar with other computers over the net
- I can't find a way to sync my outlook calendar with the OWA (outlook web access) of my uni account

does anyone know ways to solve above limitations? I've done some googling and found for example OfficeCalendar to potentially solve the first 2 issues, but it costs 99 USD per license (cheaper than exchange of course). Seems like MS didn't think home users would like some of the functionality that exchange offers without the corporate pricetag?

[Claymonkey]

Yeah...I don't know. Syncing with multiple calendards is generally doesn't work well. My phone use to be able ot handle more than one outlook but with newer activesync and phone software that just... stopped working. They make you choose one and only one calendar to work with. For me that might be an exchange limitation (which I use).

Free alternatives you have: http://funambol.com/ which I haven't tried

Money alts we have:
http://www.postpath.com/ and http://justanothermobilemonday.com/W...sh-activesync/

Also haven't used those. I actually broke down and built and exchange server at home. Mostly to 'learn' the tech start to finish. I know there are other online alts though. I'm actually annoyed how painful this kind of tech can be and it really shouldn't be.

[Dilitante1]

At work I host this http://www.softalkltd.com/products/workgroupshare/ as it is integrated with my Imail server. Slick client install and no issues, I rolled this out as they didnt like the pricetag for Exchange for 500+ users 8D

[dZeus]

@Claymonkey: hmm I think I didn't word my post very well, as my mobile-to-pc syncing is working great. It's the synching of outlook calendar/tasks/notes/etc between different PCs that only works with exchange out of the box (which I don't have access to). In fact, you can't even overlay calendars of other users on the same PC in outlook (while they are logged in as well and have outlook running)!

@Dillitante: interesting software Al, thanks! I presume this means that any option to sync calenders between just 2 PCs will cost $$$ (at least this one is cheaper than the previous one I considered buying).

[Dilitante1]

we use it to reserve conference rooms, conference bridges at all the offices, plus certain people share thier weekly calendar for what office they'll be at....once hosted (can be XP or Win server product) it is slick to setup and manage.....auto updates by default are 20 mins but is configurable to whatever you want......I'd grab the demo and show chain of command what is possible....

***only issue I have seen is if Outlook is closed while the sync is in progress, Outlook will bark about not being closed properly on next start....no real damage, just Outlook complaining...8D


You might be able to get better unit pricing at www.ipswitch.com rather than thru www.softalkltd.com ........... if you want to hear more, PM me K?

[Claymonkey]

dZues.... sorry man I shouldn't try to 'help' at midnight... and here i am writing again at 5am before going to bed... yeah I'll read this one again in the morning.

[UtwigMU]

If there are no other options, some offer hosted Exchange or you can get cheap 2003 SBS licence (312€+VAT) and host your own exchange. For about 600€ you can get lowend server with SBS 2003 licence. You can then use it as file, print server, have domain, roaming profiles...

[dZeus]

If there are no other options, some offer hosted Exchange or you can get cheap 2003 SBS licence (312€+VAT) and host your own exchange. For about 600€ you can get lowend server with SBS 2003 licence.

yeah I've seen those options mentioned too. But isn't that taking it a bit too the extreme, for just home/private use? It would have been very nice if MS had included sharing between just 2 or 3 PCs max in the default outlook client, without the need for exchange (for non-corporate use).

[UtwigMU]

Yeah, Outlook is really shines with Exchange backend and there are few other ways. You could go with some sort of opensource mail/Outlook backend (look into Kolab, it has pay for Outlook plugin but works free with Kolab).

There is also free OSS universal PC phone suite that supports editing contacts, SMSs, etc... on most phones over most connections (IrDA, bluetooth, USB) whose name escapes ATM. AFAIK it also only syncs contacts with Outlook though. Idea would be to replace outlook and use something else that is free and can sync contacts between PCs and sync phone with that either with Nokia PC Suite or some sort of universal suite.

Unfortunately few things come close to Outlook/Exchange for functionality. Kolab has pay for Outlook plugin, Mozilla Sunbird is "It will eat your data" beta and has no native primary backend. There are few other things such as Zimbra in FOSS. Then there's IBM LotusNotes and Novell Groupwise, but they're not cheap/free and I don't know if any phones sync with them.

Outlook/Exchange is probably Microsoft's biggest asset in their grip on servers and desktops. Outlook is the ONLY application that would prevent me from switching my work machine to Linux. I could do everything else purely with Linux. For Outlook I'd have to virtualize Winodws+Outlook or use IE owa on wine. Evolution doesn't support Exchange 2007.

[Jammrock]

If the uni has the full HTTPS stuff setup for Outlook it won't be a problem... you need to setup Outlook using "Outlook Anywhere", which once was RPC over HTTPS. Once that is setup you can use Outlook from any internet connection just like you were on the school network.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HP101024441033.aspx

This functionality includes the ability to share calendars and whatnot. The Uni need Exchange 2007 SP1 to enable the all the OWA stuff you want (at least I think it's available in SP1).

[dZeus]

If the uni has the full HTTPS stuff setup for Outlook it won't be a problem... you need to setup Outlook using "Outlook Anywhere", which once was RPC over HTTPS. Once that is setup you can use Outlook from any internet connection just like you were on the school network.

http://office.microsoft.com/en-us/outlook/HP101024441033.aspx

This functionality includes the ability to share calendars and whatnot. The Uni need Exchange 2007 SP1 to enable the all the OWA stuff you want (at least I think it's available in SP1).

they've got Exchange 2003, which does support RPC-over-HTTPS, but it's not enabled (don't ask me why though)

[Jammrock]

I bet it is and they just don't allow students rights to access it. Without RPC over HTTPS you're going to have a tough time synchronizing off the University network.