Now that I'm no longer at Microsoft, I missed sync-ing my Calendar on Exchange to Windows Mobile smartphone/PDA... ah fear not, for today every litle tool is replaceable by another (probably better) tool.
Enter Google Calendar. The thing I like is the SMS Reminder... Google is so rich that it can SMS anybody in the world about their upcoming appointments... I thought it won't work in Indonesia, turns out that it works timely (yes, really 5 minutes before my appointment) and perfectly (appointment details sent).
Go to http://calendar.google.com then click Settings | Mobile Setup
At first I was skeptical because if I click the "See Help Center for supported providers", for Indonesia only Indosat and XL are supported, but I'm using Telkomsel. Turns out that it also works for Telkomsel! Just type in your Phone Number and click Send Verification Code. When you receive the SMS from Google like below, go back to calendar.google.com and enter the verification code.
Then everytime you create an appointment, make sure you set the SMS reminder like below:
Next time you have meetings but forgot to sync your Windows Mobile with Google Calendar, fear not, Google will SMS you about it:
Notice the time! My appointment was at 4.30 , and Google sent me SMS at 4.25, really really 5 minutes before the appointment, just like how I set it up in Google Calendar... now that's timely.
Ok, Microsoft, can your Exchange and Windows Live Calendar (http://calendar.live.com) do the same? I checked out calendar.live.com and it totally sucks... *sigh, just like Def Leppard's song... Microsoft is always 2 steps behind Google... :)
Sync-ing on Windows Mobile
Download OggSync and install it in your Windows Mobile. Enjoy the free edition, unless you want to sync more than one Google Calendar (then you have to pay per year for the service). Whenever you have GPRS/Edge/UMTS/HSDPA connection, then manually sync it.
If you want Automatic Sync like ActiveSync Exchange, then you need to buy the Pro version of OggSync.
Sync-ing on iCal in Mac OS X
Go to iCal | Preferences | Accounts , and use these settings:
Username: username@gmail.com
Password: password for your username@gmail.com
Server: https://www.google.com/calendar/dav/username%40gmail.com/user
Remember to change the '@' symbol to '%40' in the server URL, else iCal won't subscribe to your gCal (Google Calendar).
Ah, now I have all my appointments in my MacBook Pro iCal, my Windows Mobile Calendar, and my SMS inbox... for a person who easily forgets when & where my next meeting is, Google Calendar is the answer :)
Oh, and I mean you, Mr. Risman Adnan, should use Google Calendar and have it SMS all your next meetings, so you won't be late for your next conference call or actually attending it and realized that it's actually Singapore timezone, not Indonesia timezone :)