iCal!?!?!

Among Apple’s many announcements today, was the announcement of iCal, the latest app in the “i” family. A desktop personal calendar application, that can publish to the web via WebDAV. Someone should perhaps notifiy Apple that there are several popular applications already named iCal, and an important standard. However Apple’s iCal does seem to support some very interesting features: the ability to subscribe to others calendars, and see a unified view was something of a holy grail at Anyday; “send standards-based email event invitations” (the real iCal?); and publishing via WebDAV is just plain neat, Apple is certainly pushing the WebDAV envelope. (as they did for USB, IEEE 1394 aka FireWire, and 802.11, and zeroconf)

iSync

Apple’s iCal gets particularily interesting when added to iSync (and the new address book)
Sync is hard, multi-device n-way sync is really hard. If Apple can pull it off, they’ll make obsolete companies like fusionOne, and Extended Systems (who really should be obsolete, horrid, horrid, technology), and they’ll continue to push Palm towards obsolences. I wonder how open iSync will be? Or how flexible the WebDAV publishing is? I wonder if it will would be possible to have the data publish into a 3rd party calendaring system? Like the Horde’s Kronolith, the calendar piece of their web PIM or Protest.net.

Rendevous

Redevous is so cool. zeroconf has definitely been one of those languishing technologies waiting for someone to push it into greatness. I want an iBook! (on a related note Matts asks, “Does anyone not want an ibook?”) But whats with the Rendezous icon? Am I the only one seeing the similiarities here?
Apple's Rendezous IconInternational Symbol for BiohazardInternational Symbol for Radiation

[updated: 21 jul 02] I just had this horrible idea. In 500 years, when people are re-exploring Nevada, they’ll stumble upon Yucca Mountain, and instead of being scared off by the warnings emblazoned on the door, they’ll think that their printers “will just work.” Apple is going to have a lot to answer for.

And speaking of icons, and OS X, Symbolizing Accessibility, proving Apple can get it right it it wants to.