Since the appearance of MobileMe, there has been a lot of talk about synchronization and the various ways to keep important data in sync across multiple computers.  While I do subscribe to MobileMe, and despite its recent troubles, I have been very happy with it.  Although one thing it doesn’t do, and it’s a big letdown for me, is that it does not sync with Google Calendar.  You can obviously subscribe to your calendars on Google, but it still doesn’t write to them which is one of the most important part.

That left me looking for another solution.  I have always heard good things about BusySync, so this was the perfect opportunity to check it out.  BusySync allows you to sync iCal with Google Calendar, and even sync iCal across your LAN.  Installing is simple as BusySync is added to the System Preferences and from there you can configure it as you need it.  BusySync also displays an icon in the menu bar showing the sync status, and a few more options.

The first thing I wanted to do is get certain calendars in iCal to sync with my Google Calendar.  The main purpose of this is so others can subscribe to my Google Calendar.  BusyMac has posted an extensive guide on setting up BusySync with Google in order to get the most out of MobileMe.  I took the simplest route and selected the calendars I want synced to Google Calendar, and that was pretty much it.  Setting it up to work with Google Calendar couldn’t be any easier, just enter your username/password, select the times to check for updates, and a few various other settings and it’s done.

Syncing iCal to Google Calendar was flawless, and most importantly, it was completely seamless.  For the most part I forgot BusySync was even there, which is a good thing as I didn’t want to have to be on top of it all the time.  I have been going on and on about syncing with Google Calendar, but that is not all BusySync can do.  BusySync will also allow you to share calendars via LAN without the need or expense of a dedicated server.  Setting this up was once again just clicking a few buttons and entering some basic settings like a password.  You can set it so that users can have full read/write access if you wish, and if changes are made to the calender while offline, the changes will reflect the next time access is made.  Just remember that each computer will need a separate license for BusySync.

Some reading this might think it was odd to bring up MobileMe so much here, probably because some might see it as a competitor to BusySync.  Well I don’t see it as a competitor, I see it as a perfect match for anyone who needs complete synchronization.  Whether you need to sync iCal with Google Calendar, or across your own LAN, BusySync will not let you down.  At $25 it’s a bargain for the features it offers, and the ease of use that goes along with it.