Remember Calgoo? It's that quirky windows calendar application that fully synchronizes with Google Calendar. We reviewed them here at Download Squad back when they released their "First Draft" version (they're avoiding the 'b' word like the plague), and we're pleased to report that it appears they took our comments to heart while working on this version.
Calgoo Second Draft is a very nice update to what was already a useful, but somewhat difficult to use application. For example, the out of the box experience is much better in the new version. The application immediately loads your calendar once configured, as you might expect. And the look-and-feel of the application, while not strictly my taste, has improved immensely between the previous version and this one.
A number of features have been added as well: full support for recurring appointments, dragging and dropping appointments including changing the duration by dragging just the start or end of an appointment, proxy support, and the already mentioned user interface overhaul.
While Calgoo dislike using the term beta for their software, as a second draft, that's basically what you're looking at. I'm excited about the improvements they've made, but I'd be remiss if I didn't mention that I also saw some instability with respect to the way the screen paints - in other words, I find myself with a completely blank window occasionally. The application has never crashed on me, but there is obviously still some work to be done ironing out some of the screen rendering issues.
All in all, if you're looking for a way to ensure that your Google Calendar information stays with you even when you're not online, check out Calgoo. I just wish they'd take the expertise they've gained with 2-way Google Calendar synchronization, and tackle the problem of getting Google Calendar and Microsoft Outlook to synchronize. But until they do, I'll have 3 calendar apps - Outlook, Google Calendar, and Calgoo.
