In San Diego, where the Daily Drill has attracted a group of users, the Boozer Club uses its calendar to schedule regular visits to area happy hours. Some calendars stress other features conventionally associated with paper or electronic day planners. After all, many calendar users couldn't much care about event listings and view the services primarily as business tools. The utility of a Web-based address book was driven home for Dietzen when he recently changed jobs. Standards needed Still other services treat the Web as a virtual desktop, by including features such as free online file storage, which is available at MagicalDesk and Visto.
Industry analysts predict a bright future for such services.
Down the road, he said, such services may even replace many of the desktop software products that consumers rely upon today. But before Web calendars replace anything, a new set of industrywide standards will need to be deployed. Without common communication standards, consumers who use one company's calendar won't be able to integrate their schedules with people using other systems. Since interoperability depends upon such standards, consumers would be well advised to consider the issue before choosing a calendar platform, observers agree. The first step toward standardization is synchronization with popular desktop organizers such as Outlook, Sidekick, Organizer and Act, and devices such as the Palm Pilot and the Sharp Wizard.