BusyMac announces BusyCal

BusyMac, makers of the awesome BusySync, has just announced its newest offering: BusyCal. BusySync is a great way to share and sync calendars across a LAN and sync with Google Calendar. BusyCal is a calendar application with the BusySync technology baked in.

The screenshots have BusyCal looking very iCal-esque (BusyMac's website even says to think of BusyCal as "iCal Pro"), but with some additional features:

• Display graphics, icons and themes

• Add sticky notes to your calendar and share them across your network

• Live weather feeds within the calendar

• Rich text support

• Multi-user editing/offline editing

• Sync with the iPhone via iTunes and Mobile Me

• Sync with Google Calendar

• Sync with other Macs on your network with Bonjour

So the inevitable question is, "Why not just use BusySync or Google's Calaboration utility?" Because iCal's To Do lists don't work with Google Calendar. Specifically, you can't create a To Do for a calendar that is set to sync with Google Calendar. So if you are like me, that means you have to maintain separate calendars (often an identical calendar) just to keep a To Do list or have a calendar integrated with a GTD app.

The beauty of BusyCal is that you can add more stuff to your desktop calendar without losing support for MobileMe or Google Calendar or Sync Services.

BusyCal will require OS X 10.5 Leopard and will debut this Spring. Pricing is $40 US, but if you use BusySync already or buy it before BusyCal is released, the upgrade will be just $10 US.

BusyMac is at Macworld 2009 and we'll be sure to stop by the booth and take a closer look.