Same approach for iCal?

[timklein]

I'm a Mac lover and a software developer, but strangely I've never developed Mac software, so your ability to make iTunes' user interface appear on a different computer seems like black magic to me!

Anyway, whatever you're using, could it be used with other applications, such as iCal? And could it be made to work over the Internet rather than just locally?

A huge limitation of iCal is that replication is only one-way. I have iCal running on my Mac at home, and calendar entries get replicated to my laptop (via the www.icalx.com service). But inserts and edits must be made on the home machine. This is a huge inconvenience -- if I set up a new appointment while I'm out of the house, I want to be able to enter it in iCal on my laptop! If you could find a way to make my home iCal installation's window appear on my laptop via the Internet, I'd surely open my wallet, and I'll bet a lot of other folks would too.

Tim Klein
Dallas, Texas

[dnanian]

Well, sure -- there's nothing that prevents me from doing this for iCal save for the relative lack of market for that kind of solution.

Why not use .Mac, Tim? It'll replicate, two way, iCal entries and sync them between as many machines as you've got. It's a much, much better solution than using something like netCal!

[timklein]

At $100 per year, .Mac is way too expensive for my iCal needs, and I wouldn't use any of its other features. But I'd pay, say, $39.95 for "netCal" if it worked over the Internet, and I'll bet I'm far from being the only person who would.

By the way, my current solution is to use Timbuktu. But that's for sharing the entire remote desktop, and the refresh rate is agonizing even with high-speed connections at both ends. I guess what I need is a form of Timbuktu that would work for a single application rather than for the entire desktop.

My immediate need is for that application to be iCal, but of course the ideal thing would be for it to work for any application I choose. For example, the wonderful application called Consistency (www.sciral.com) would be another prime candidate for remote-ification.

Anyway, those are just my thoughts. You seem to have developed some skill with this cool interface-sharing technology that I've never seen used anywhere else, and assuming it can be made to work over the Internet rather than just locally, then I think you've only scratched the surface of its potential.

Tim

[dnanian]

Well, you get get it for about $69/yr by shopping around, but I understand your point.

If you're already using Timbuktu, they're taking a similar approach to sending the UI across the wire. If you've found it's too slow, it's likely that any sort of netCal would be too slow as well... but, if I get enough requests for this kind of thing, I'd certainly consider putting in the engineering time (not inconsiderable).

Thanks, again, for the suggestion.

[timklein]

OK, thank you for your consideration! And congratulations again on netTunes (usin' it and lovin' it as I write this...)

Tim

[dnanian]

Happy to hear it!