Yes, sorry, we've been very busy and I've not been updating the Sync'Em Roadmap page as often as I should. I'll try to do better, in the future.

Actually, being strongly anti-spam, we don't send out regular announcements. In fact, 'though we do have an opt-in to receive information when you create an account, to date we've not sent any mass mailings to registered Users.

However, on the plus side, you can always press the "Check for Update" button on the About panel of the Sync'Em preferences to determine whether you have the latest release. Hmmm, maybe we should also put that one on the Menu Extra.   #;-)

I've created a development task for this. Not sure when it'll get done, but it's a reasonable idea. What we'll also do at some point is add the capability to track non-critical kinds of errors in a way that Sync'Em can eliminate them, when applicable — e.g., your temporary network error(s) could (OK, should) disappear when you next have a successful sync for a given information source. Again, we have limited resources and there are other items with higher priority, right now, so it'll be a while.

2009-06-24 : Sync'Em versions 1.32 an newer will have a "Mark Messages as Reviewed" entry to accomplish this.

This will be available when the Schedule concept is implemented, 'though it's a while away (see the Product Roadmap for more information.

I've also added a development task for this — 'though, given the recent addition of the "Next Sync" time, if you know the interval, you can determine the previous sync time.   #;-)

Please see the FAQ entry about restarting the Sync'Em Engine — and thanks for being the impetus to create it.   #;-)

As always, if that doesn't "do it," please create a support ticket so we can interact efficiently, include attachments, etc.

This sounds like a case where your OS X's Sync Services are corrupted and need to be reset.

Sync'Em itself consumes a relatively small amount of resources. One of our test systems is an ol' PowerMac 8500 with an upgraded 400 MHz G3 CPU and 512 MB of memory (6 MB of video memory!) running 10.4.9 and it syncs a pair of small Exchange/iCal calendars as well as a small Exchange/GMail/Address Book contacts list every 30 minutes.

The only phases of Sync'Em that take noticeable resources are those where it's using OS X's Sync Services interfaces. Given the number of events you have, I'd expect OS X's Sync Services to take some resources, even on a high performance system. FWIW, our Intel-based systems use far fewer resources than even beefy PowerPC-based systems, especially when Sync Services is "doing its thing."

However, from what you've indicated (including the log that I snip'd), I'd still suspect that you're having a Sync Services issue. See the Knowledgebase article on resetting your OS X's Sync Services.

As always, if that doesn't do it, please create a support ticket and we'll help.

2009-02-05: There's now a FAQ about syncing performance.

That depends upon whether they have shared access or truly delegated access.

Currently Sync'Em doesn't support delegated access.

For shared access, as long as you have shared access to each folder in the path to the calendar then Sync'Em should be able to sync it. There's more information this in the Knowledgebase article about syncing Exchange shared folders.

For this an other important operational information, you should read the small "Operating Sync'Em – The Sync'Em Menu Extra" and "Sync'Em Error Reporting" sections in the Sync'Em "ReadMe" document (available via the "Read Me..." button in the "About" tab on the Sync'Em preferences panel and/or via the installer/uninstaller disk image).

In this case, the "Yellow Circle with Dash" symbol means that a "normal" message has occurred. Messages of Normal urgency are those that are likely to indicate temporary/self-correcting issues, likely don't indicate a serious issue and often won't require any kind of corrective action (e.g., a temporary loss of a network connection)". Generally, yellow means "caution," green means "OK" and red means "problem/stop(ped)/incomplete."

We developed the status reporting and error-handling to enable Sync'Em to, once it's setup, operate quietly in background and not put up error dialogs (i.e., not intrude into your workflow) unless it's something that seems to be critical — and even then you can turn off the "Show Critical Error Messages Immediately" via the "Preferences" tab and it'll just show the critical error status in the Sync'Em menu extra (i.e., and won't put up a dialog). It's especially desirable to have such capabilities when Sync'Em is installed on a laptop since it's likely to get moved to a network that can't connect to one or more information source and/or can be off a network for a while, etc. Such conditions will generate "normal" messages that indicate a condition which will "go away" when you next connect. At some point, we'll add capabilities that will automatically set "normal" errors to the "reviewed" state the next time all sync setups are successfully sync'd. You can manually ignore and reset such an error status by selecting the "Mark Messages as Reviewed" entry in the Sync'Em menu extra.

Short answer: Yes! (you expected that, right?)

Proper answer:
Yes, this is exactly the kind of thing Sync'Em is designed to do. To ensure that iCal is only a "viewer," you would setup the syncing to be unidirectional "From" Exchange "To" iCal, thus prohibiting any changes being propagated from iCal.

Grab a Sync'Em download and trial license and give it a go.

If you run into any issues, please create a support ticket and let us know. You'll find us to be quite tenacious when it comes to identifying and fixing problems.

Normally people want to use the Apple Mail application to read all their email (including Exchange and Google) and aren't interested in "syncing" email. Usually the reason for syncing information sources is to have them available and usable via different systems and/or devices. Using the IMAP protocol (or a web-based interface) for email meets this goal. Modern email clients (such as Apple Mail) support multiple-server setups so you can deal with mail from/to your Exchange server, Google, etc. in an integrated fashion. Thus the requirement for syncing mail to have it available via multiple places is normally met by using MAPI and/or web-based mail.

However, another reason for syncing is to have a backup copy that can be used if the primary source is not available (e.g., the server is down due to a disaster in the area in which it's located). It appears to be relatively easy to add such syncing to Sync'Em for Exchange mail and we have plans to pursue that later next year. It's also likely possible to do this for any email server that supports the MAPI protocol but we've not given much thought to that, yet. In any event, Sync'Em is architected to enable us to add such capabilities in a modular way, in the future. Once we're done with the primary items that are currently on the Sync'Em Roadmap page, we will be adding to the list.

Yes, Sync'Em uses OS X's underlying network interfaces so any mechanism that also uses the standard interfaces will "play nicely" with Sync'Em (and other software). This includes VPN, SSH tunneling, etc.

In fact, our testing Exchange server is located in a different office and my office is connected to the other office via an IPsec VPN. In our case, it's a network-to-network tunnel running on an open source pfSense router that, when traveling, I also access remotely via IPSecuritas.

When fully implemented, Sync'Em will address the first 3 but not Palm (actually, it syncs with Exchange, not Entourage, but I'm assuming that's what you meant).

So would "Palm" syncing have to be done at "arm's length" ... would it be considered "under-handed" ... would it get a "thumbs up" and a "high five" ... would it be a "hands-down" winner ... etc., etc.?   [can't resist puns]

None of us use, or would use, a product that adds another server just to run the syncing. By comparison, Sync'Em will offer similar capabilities but without the need to use a foreign server to actually run the syncing. This has some security advantages and puts you more in control with fewer points of failure. However, having said that, I will also say that they have a good reputation so this is partly a personal choice.

Sync'Em will also offer additional capabilities in that it's not limited to syncing only with Google. The combination of being able to:

• set up multiple information sources to sync with each other
• sync what's been sync'd on one Mac with another Mac
• set up different collections of information sources that sync together
• specify unidirectional or bidirectional syncing on a per-information source basis
• use filters to sync subsets of information on a per-information source basis
• set up sync schedules on a per-information source basis

will be useful to many Users.

In addition, Sync'Em has been designed from the start to be very manageable. As a company, we have extensive experience in developing syncing applications and understand many of the subtleties not well understood without such experience.

For example, this is the reason we developed the sophisticated error-handling and reporting capabilities that are built into Sync'Em. Once set up, you want Sync'Em to quietly "do its thing" (reliably) in the background. You don't want it to interrupt your workflow just because there's a network error that won't be there the next time it tries to sync and, even if there is something serious going on, you want to be able to tell it to "go away, I'll deal with you later" if you're busy. Sync'Em has these capabilities.

In the final analysis, I'll return to the concept that you should "try before you buy" to ensure that Sync'Em does add value in your circumstances. 'Though revenue is always nice, we're really more interested in delivering useful software, not shelf-ware.   $;-)

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Note that not all capabilities mentioned here are yet available — see our Sync'Em Roadmap page for details.

Sync'Em works directly with an Exchange server when the information source is Exchange contacts, events, tasks and/or notes. If you're syncing other information sources, then Sync'Em works with the entity that holds those specific information sources (e.g., iCal for iCal-based events and tasks, Apple Address Book for Address Book-based contacts, the Google servers for Google-based contacts, etc.).

Ultimately Sync'Em will provide an aggregation features likely not delivered elsewhere, such as integrated meeting support, a consolidated "busy calendar" and, of course, support for those not using caldav. It's also unlikely that you'll be able to get the capabilities provided by per-information source filters that Sync'Em will provide (allowing people to share/sync subsets of their information sources).

Well, of course you should!   #;-)
[Did you really expect me to say anything else?]

Seriously, we expect our products to stand on their own merit/usefulness. We recommend that you "try before you buy" to verify that Sync'Em meets your needs. We offer free 21-day, 2-system Trial licenses (and that will continue, even after the Beta).

Fitting software into one's workflow is often non-trivial. It's nice to be able to actually "give it a try" to ensure that it'll do what you need it to do. In the case that it doesn't suit your requirements, the Sync'Em Uninstaller (on the download disk) will remove Sync'Em from your system(s). Of course, we'd also be interested to learn about any situation where Sync'Em didn't meet your requirements.

Note that not all information sources mentioned here are yet available — see our Sync'Em Roadmap page for details.