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Have You Found the Perfect Sync?
DigitalWizard asks: "For me, the perfect sync is a platform independent sync. I have been looking for a website for sometime now; one that will support both SyncML for my mobile devices, and iCalendar for my laptop, with which I can keep events, tasks and contacts up to date on all. If I can use SyncML, I can synchronize just about any handheld device, PDA and phone alike. If the same server would also support iCalendar access, then I can use applications such as Mozilla Calendar, or even Rainlendar to access and edit my data from the laptop. This would be my perfect setup because then I am not stuck to using Palm Desktop or Outlook for my handhelds, and I'm free to try out different OS's on my system without losing all my PIM functionality. Plus, if it's web-based I can access it when I'm away from home. I have searched the web, and found quite a few candidates, but nothing quite fits the bill. I would really like to hear if anyone else has found a website which will do all of this. (Correction: I found one, but upon using it, the synchronization does not work very well.) I may publish my own list of finds in the future if feedback to this one is slow, but I'm interested in unbiased feedback for now. Web + SyncML + iCalendar — Is it out there?"
OpenSync (http://www.opensync.org/) does exactly what you are looking : "OpenSync is a synchronization framework that is platform and distribution independent." If you want to read your data from the Web you can sync whatever device or application you want with eGroupware (http://www.egroupware.org/) for example. I'm using it with different phones, PDAs, Evolution, eGroupware, etc. and it works quite well !
I think mobical migh have what you're looking for. I have been using it since 2002 on a wide range of devices and it has always been the best solution for me, and they are not afraid to listen to feedback and implement new cool features.
Google Calendar is awesome, but it really needs to add SyncML. Google already supports iCalendar, but using it in Sunbird seems to be read-only.
You're probably not going to like my version of perfect sync...
Exchange + Outlook + DirectPush
Any changes made via Outlook go to the server. Then they are sent to any active instances of Outlook, finally the phone (T-Mobile Dash) is updated with any new mail, calendar or contacts. Conversely, if I add items in the phone they are instantly available on the desktop. In some cases the phone receives notifications faster than the desktop.
There is also a nice web interface for Exchange that can be accessed securely. It has about 60% of the features of the thick client outlook.
Of course you have to pay for Exchange - but this solution is secure (SSL) and fairly easy to setup.
As an added bonus if I lose my phone I can have exchange blow away the contents of its memory remotely.
Finally real time sync that works!
I know that its a paid solution, but http://www.zimbra.com/ will do just that. They have an opensource solution, but this doesn't allow syncing to mobile devices. But their network edition supports syncing with Outlook, Mac Mail, iCal and Address book. Also has full sync with Palm OS, Windows Mobile, and Symbian OS devices. If you want blackberry support you will have to purchase a third party service.
Meh, iSync does the job with a minimum of fuss, and it worked with my old SonyEricsson P800, and it works now (after a little XML encouragment) with my Nokia E70. It does calendars, alarms, contacts, even contact pictures. Verynice.