For many Apple Mac OS X users, using a Windows system can be an even more disappointing than the usual experience. Many happy OS X users live in a world where Apple iCal calendars are retrieved and synchronized automatically – connecting family calendars, groups, and even a home Mac with a system used at work. However, Microsoft Windows users relying on Microsoft Outlook have no such luck. Microsoft Outlook or Exchange 2003 lack the ability to subscribe to iCalendar files, not to mention publishing them. Searching with Google for a solution, those that are hopeful and diligent seem to often find the Remote Calendars project. However, by many accounts (including my own), Remote Calendars fails to work, or even worse, creates an unstable Outlook environment.
By chance, Alex King’s quest for iCal-Outlook harmony brings some hope. One of the last comments on his request for assistance points to iCalendar Add-in for MS Outlook from Kerner-Price. iCalendar Add-in for MS Outlook is commercial software and allows Outlook users to subscribe to iCalendar files. While it does not support two-way synchronization or even publishing, it is a big step forward.