Is Apple gunning for Exchange Server with the new iCal beta?
Well, our good friends over at The Cat Convention think so. According to the site, new evidence in the MobileMe beta is pointing towards Apple trying to get CalDAV, its preferred calendaring implementation, not only into the hands of MobileMe users, but Microsoft Outlook users as well.
Since CalDAV is the calendaring format of choice for Apple’s Snow Leopard Server, TCC is hypothesizing that this could be the first step toward Apple pushing its calendar into the enterprise workspace.
As a side note, this is what MY calendar currently looks like.
That’s right, nothing but DVD releases. How sad. But I’m sure some of you busier folks stuck in corporate America using Outlook might be excited by this rumor, so there you go.
Um, iCal already works just fine with Exchange 2007. My iCal calendar is chock full of Exchange goodness/badness. And the same is true for iOS devices.
Well, it took about 4 years for Exchange to behave well with Macs, and that was all done by Apple, no MS (who ever got Entourage to work as a reliable client?). But this isn’t about Apple working with Exchange, it’s about everybody to work WITHOUT Exchange.
I’m pretty sure Apple doesn’t want to handle email systems for Ford or GE (yet), but they do want to start picking off all the small shops they can with a plug-and-play alternative to Exchange or to paying someone else to manage you on their Exchange server. Getting CalDAV as standard is a big step, and getting it on those giant Exchange servers is a huge leap.
I wonder if Apple would add a ‘light weight” email section to their Apple Server, enabling you to set up your own home email. Then you just pay 5 bucks a year for an IP address – or maybe even through MobileMe?