iCal in Lion - I want my monthly calendars on the left side back

Exactly. What a disaster. I never thought Apple could top the clustercuss that was the MobileMe rollout failure, but apparently they have. They've taken a great, simple to use and flexible product and made it an advertisement for why people should switch to Google Calendar.

I wonder how long it will take them to backtrack — especially on the lack of visibility to ones calendars.

Just a disaster.

Clearly this is not a priority for Apple... I went to the "Genius" Bar and was told that I needed to "get with it" that Apple was a leader, and that in time... I would get used to this new look and see the benefits. My response almost got me thrown out of the store.

So my question is a simple one, in two parts.

1 - If there is no plan to make this right, just let us know.

2 - How do I revert back to Snow Leporrd, can I do this myself?

Thanks

Please this is no joke.... Those of us who run businesses with these things, need certain things a certain way. If the idea is to make our computers into "toys" like our phones and tablets, that's important to know, so we can go elewhere for our work tools.

ritchiefromfountain wrote:

1 - If there is no plan to make this right, just let us know.

No-one on here will know if Apple are even contemplating changing the look of the calendar.

2 - How do I revert back to Snow Leopard, can I do this myself?

Yes, but it involves erasing your entire hard disk and starting an install from scratch from the Snow Leopard install disks, then reinstating all your documents, applications and so on. Obviously this entails you making a comprehensive backup before you even start thinking about doing it (and a backup made using Time Machine in Lion won't do). Please see Kappy's post here: https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3217575

I don't know why a previous poster has taken against BusyCal. It's like an 'iCal Pro' (it looks very like the Snow Leopard version of iCal) with many more facilities, including setting font sizes and styles globally and individually, the ability to add images to entries, and a List View with searching and sorting. It uses the iCal database, so it will populate immediately, and syncs with MobileMe. It handles ToDos much better than iCal - they can repeat and can appear in the day display as well as the sidebar.

The only downside is that new events which have been entered on MobileMe or synced there from another device aren't pushed immediately as with iCal: BusyCal checks at 5 minute intervals (customizable) so there is that slight delay.

It's about £30 in the Mac App Store. There's a free trial available from the website. (Read the instructions about removing it before installing, in case you decide not to proceed.)

(I have no connection with this company.)

I too have no connection with BusyCal other than I bought it (not in response to Lion either, I bought back in the SL days)

It is excellent.

I have purchased BusyCal ... Because I had no choice. I have to say I really like

it and will stick with it. I am quite disappointed that suddenly BusyCal is the only way to solve this situation at a cost of 50 dollars. Seems pretty clear to me the strategy being applied here. So is business in the modern Computer era ...

Mark Biech wrote:

Seems pretty clear to me the strategy being applied here.

I really don't think Apple are crippling iCal in order to provide business for the makers of BusyCal, if that's what you're suggesting. I think it's more a case (at the risk of being accused of speculating on Apple's intentions, which we're strictly not supposed to do) that they want to bring OSX and its built-in programs somewhat more into line with iOS, so that Windows users who have iOS devices will find a switch to OSX less intimidating. It's unfortunate that iCal and Address book in particular in iOS are a tasteless disaster - surprising, given Apple's usual design elegance.

For BusyCal fans out there, any downsides beyond the ones Roger listed? Any issues with integration features (between Mail, AB, iCal, etc) that attracted us to MacOS in the first place? Also, I use a mix of local, MM, and google calendars for my business. All currently run inside iCal. Can I do that inside BusyCal as well?

I use Busycal with 1 main MM & 1 main Exchange calendar, I have 3 delegate MM calendars and 4 Google calendars. I have no issues with any of them, Busycal accepts invitations from Mail and put's them on the right calendar with no issues.

Completely agree, everyone! Remember when you only needed one click to edit an event? I don't understand why Apple continues to favor form over function with iCal, since it's first release. It continues to be more and more difficult to use.

Do you guys know if we use an alternative, if that will mean no syncing via mobileme/icloud? Seems that's where Apple has us cornered, if we rely on that.

I'm adding my 2 cents here mainly because I don't see why I should have to spend $50 for an alternative to a program that was absolutely perfect for my businesses' needs. Losing the sidebar is an inexcusable error on Apple's part - I typically work with a minimum of 6 calendars and the new ical is frustrating beyond words. I agree with the poster who said there's no way they could ever have consulted with a real business person before messing with what was previously such a clean, elegant program.

Does Apple ever read these forums???

For what it's worth, I sucked it up and bought BusyCal. It's been really great after ~4 weeks of use. Basically the old iCal and even better in some respects (eg, tighter integration with google calendar). Plus you get some features that are not world beaters (eg, fonts, daily weather, etc) but still nice. Best part, I have my calendar list and mini calendars back. I was (and still am) peeved at Apple, but I'm happy with Busy.

Thanks for the feedback! I'm trying to avoid that - quite frankly, I don't feel like I should have to pay for a 3rd party app when the snow leopard version of ical was so perfect. I want (and expect) to be able to use ical - I'm hopeful that Apple will fix this in a software update and will give it a little more time here before being completely pushed into a corner. I'm sure the BusyCal people are very happy with Apple for messing up iCal but I, as a dedicated and longtime user, am most definitely NOT.

Agreed. Apple PLEASE FIX!

Here is the fix for y'all :

http://stu-bot.com/2011/07/21/lion-annoyance-6-fix-for-the-fugly-new-ical-appear ance/#comment-125

Download iCal_fugly_fix.zip or iCal_fugly_fix_silver.zip depending on preference

Quit iCal if you have it open

Navigate to your Applications folder, Right click on iCal icon and select ‘Show Package Contents’

Navigate through to Contents -> Resources

(If you want to take a backup of the original ugly version take a backup of the ‘Resources’ folder first!)

Copy the files from the zip archive you just downloaded to this location. You’ll be prompted to replace the existing files, and enter your password.

Thanks! I did see this posted somewhere else - but does it bring the calendar view back to the sidebar and restore the missing functionality? Or does it just change the appearance?