I am a syncing fiend

Here's an update on my "Why can't Microsoft play nice?" post. Ok, not really an update just a conclusion to how I got started on the post in the first place, trying to sync my phone and my computer:

I finally got my phone to sync with Mozilla's Lightning for Thunderbird (and if you just want the calendar and not Thunderbird you can always use the stand-alone version Sunbird). Its sort of a round-about-way of getting the job done, and its not perfect, but it will work for now. So for those of you who might want to do something similar or are just curious this is how I got the job done. And if you don't read this post...I'll be ok. I realize that I'm probably the only one out there that really cares this much about using the program I want.

Starting with my phone I have the calendar and contacts sync through Windows Mobile Device Center (Vista, Active Sync in XP) to Outlook 2007 (2003 should work as well). Then using a program put out by Google called Google Calendar Sync I sync my Outlook calendar to a Google calendar (available if you have a Google account). Then using a third-party plug-in for Thunderbird/Lightning called Provider for Google Calendar I can sync my Google calendar to Thunderbird/Lightning, Ta Dah!

There are a few good things about doing it this way other than I get to use the programs I like versus the programs the Microsoft forces me too (even though I'm still forced to). First, by going through Google Calendar you have a html, xml, and ical web address that you can use to publish your calendar. For me it works that Kelly can get my calendar on her computer and subsequently her phone so she knows my schedule or vice versa. Second, again by going through Google you can have your calendar on your iGoogle homepage and therefore see it anytime you open your web browser. This lets you be updated on what you've got going on without having to open up Thunderbird/Lightning/Sunbird. Finally, it's all free (except for paying for Outlook, but I had to do that anyway).

And of course, there are some drawbacks. Hopefully, these will get resolved with future releases of software but for now they are manageable. First, Google Calendar Sync only syncs the default or primary calendars in Google and Outlook, and second, Google Calendars doesn't support categories for events. So even though in Google Calendars you can have multiple calendars on one screen and see all your events in different colors, you can only put one of those calendars into Outlook. And even though you can have different categories, as well as calendars, in Outlook, only the default calendar will sync with Google and all the pretty colors you have to categorize your events won't show up in Google either. Finally, and this might just be my computer, even though you aren't actively using Outlook for anything other than a go between, you have to have it open in order to sync with the Google Calendar Sync. Every time I have Outlook closed the Google Calendar Sync programs freezes when it tries to sync. Then usually I have to open up the task manager (ctrl + alt + delete) to stop a few errant Outlook processes before Outlook will open.

There are other utilities out there that people have claimed will make there Google Calendar Sync with Outlook with multiple calendars etc. but this method worked the best for me. A program called KiGoo, looked promising until I read that it doesn't work with Vista. Another one called RemoteCalendars looked really good but for some reason it wouldn't sync correctly (ie; I delete an event in Outlook, or from my phone, and it never deletes it from Google. Also, recurring events never synced right). Jotlet, is another web-based calendar program like Google Calendars that used another program called Funambol to sync with Outlook but I couldn't get it to work right, plus it's another service you have to sign up for. Calgoo also looked very promising but it didn't find my outlook calendars in order to sync them. Probably the best program is one called OggSync but you have to pay for it, and I'm really cheap. I downloaded a trial version and it worked great except for the fact that in the trial it only syncs the past 3 days, today, and the future 3 days. Not enough if you need to schedule a doctor's appointment 3 months in advance, but in paying for the service you should be fine.

What about contacts you ask. So far I haven't found anything that will sync them and the calendar together that is free and works. So for now I'm just going to have to deal with every so often exporting and importing my contacts from Outlook to Thunderbird, since most of the new contacts I add are on my phone, and any e-mail contacts can just stay in Thunderbird since I don't use my phone for e-mail.

Well there you have it, entirely too much information on a subject that none of you probably care about...unless you spent the past few days figuring it all out like I did.