my  block

where uzairs roam

Web calendars are the social software of choice right now, it seems. There’s a nice round-up of the choices, including the more standard ones like AOL and Yahoo!, here.

I finally got a login for CalendarHub, so I spent a few minutes this morning checking it out. Like Kiko, it’s a Ruby-on-Rails app. Kiko has a more desktop-app-like feel to it, with context menus, but CalendarHub has a cleaner and more intuitive interface. Kiko is more feature-complete, allowing organisers to consult the free/busy times of attendees while creating events. CalendarHub does implement calendar-sharing, but with a subscription model that means organisers have to check attendees’ calendars directly before creating an event.

I do want to mention that I don’t think Kiko’s attempt to emulate a desktop app should be given any extra credit: web apps are fundamentally different creatures that don’t automatically lend themselves to the design paradigm that desktop apps have come to embody. There are important constraints that must be given due importance: - web apps typically have substantially less real estate to work with — no one I know runs browsers in full-screen mode by default - on a related note, while web apps are increasingly using sub-windows to partition the display of information, resizing/minimising them is nowhere near as smooth as on the desktop - although AJAX helps blur the distinction, the network-dependent nature of web apps leads to automatic constraints. For example, I tried to break CalendarHub’s AJAX functionality by adding 3 events in rapid succession, and I think I succeeded: halfway through entering the third event, the new-event window suddenly disappeared and the calendar grid updated with the second event. And yes, the new-event window was empty when I opened it again. Kiko gets around this by simply not letting you open a new-event window until the calendar grid has updated (which kinda defeats the purpose of AJAX…). - comparing common web programming platforms to their desktop counterparts, other artificial limits are quickly highlighted. For example, both Kiko and CalendarHub only allow 1 new-event window at a time. I think this is because of the way RoR creates its CRUD forms, and surmise it wouldn’t be too hard to work around it. With ASP.NET, each page can only contain a single <form> element (though this doesn’t lead to exactly the same constraint as I’m pointing to above).

Anyway, my point was that I think web apps don’t necessarily need to pretend to be desktop apps just to follow the Web 2.0 trend. I think CalendarHub’s optional desktop client is a much better idea. I just wish they’d done a quick C# app and maybe used ClickOnce, instead of writing a Java app. Also BTW, I’m not sure how healthy Kiko is right now — their front-page hasn’t been updated in a while and PG isn’t pimping them quite as aggressively any more…

Planzo has been around longer than both Kiko and CalendarHub. Their website notes that they’ve recently upgraded “to Web2.0″ :) Smirking aside, they’ve got a very solid feature-set, including the all-important API. They do things like SMS reminders and things too, so it’s quite nice.

The single most important thing Planzo provides, in my opinion, is a demo account. Given the massive number of calendars available, all of which need thorough appraisal before I hitch my cart to one, I really don’t have the patience to go setting up accounts for each one. Planzo’s demo account lets me check out their service quickly and easily, with minimal aggravation and maximum attention. It’s all in the details, seriously…makes me wish Passport were more popular.

AirSet is the nicest of the lot, as far as I’m concerned. Importantly, they’re the only ones who’re really leveraging the social aspect of calendaring software as I would expect. They’ve got a blog tie-in, and apparently Skype too now. Good stuff.

What remains to be seen is which of these sites will offer the best service. Feature-rich tools are great, but underestimating the importance of quality of service is a cardinal sin, especially when the service is network-based: when the problem, err, software, resides on the user’s desktop, there’s a sense of ownership that leads users to be more forgiving of the product’s shortcomings. On the other hand, a 404 will aggravate anyone enough to make them think seriously about taking their business to your competitor. (Actually, one shouldn’t underestimate the lock-in that installing a desktop app creates. Creating accounts to switch services is mind-numbing, but ultimately less of a drag.)

I’m very curious whether any of these firms have a business plan beyond plain-vanilla advertising and corporate pricing plans. AirSet, with its vision to expand into other social-networking areas (or combine with existing services, as it has done with Skype) seems the most mature. Unless one becomes dominant quickly, I could see this market quickly become more crowded: calendar apps don’t require too much effort, and any college student with access to VS.NET could pick up one of the excellent ASP.NET calendar controls publicly available and bring up a service over a few weekends.