Need alternative to calendars.office.microsoft.com

[stick1977]

I have a client who has 14 laptops spread throughout the US. They use POP email and, up until today, were successfully sharing calendars at calendars.office.microsoft.com

Apparently Microsoft has cancelled this service. Does anyone know how to publish a calendar from the Outlook program to Outlook.com or somewhere else where others can sign up and view??

See screen shot for what I see when I try to publish a calendar. "Share calendar" is greyed out and "Publish Online" only has options for Office.com (which we know doesn't work any longer) and Publish to WebDAV server which isn't an option.

To be honest I don't know the diff between publish and share calendars. Share is greyed out for me after I load a test POP account however it isn't greyed out when I load my Exchange acct.

thanks

 

[DCGPX]

Can't you just use a google calendar? I use one to keep a shared calendar between my laptop/desktop and phone so principle same and its worked extremely well for past year.

Added it to wife's laptop so she doesn't plan something and I have to say cant, she's used to checking it first!

It's quite easy to setup and use plus does integrate well in office2007 to 13 as I've progressed through them

 

[stick1977]

Yes but will that work in Outlook, how? Any calendar is fine as long as we can do it all in Outlook 2007 or 2010. I'm just not sure how you put a google calendar in Outlook. thanks.

 

[rjframe]

You could do hosted Exchange. It will cost a little money but will get them what they need.

 

[AndyM]

I'll second the Hosted Exchange option. Not sure of the US prices - think it should be around $5 per user per month.

Added advantage - once setup on your desktop/laptop/smartphone/tablet, everything is in sync, so if you send an email from one device, you'll be able to see the sent email on the other devices. If you add a new contact on your tablet, it'll be automatically added to the address book on the other devices.

Microsoft also offer a 99% uptime, that is backed with financial compensation should they fail.

Andy

 

[seedubya]

I'll offer up moving them to Google Apps - email and calendar and sharing etc. + 5GB of Google Drive per user. All works seamlessly with Outlook - although I don't think 2013 is supported yet

 

[stick1977]

This situation is a little ridiculous. I want to offer hosted exchange but we resell AppRiver so I'd have to offer that. We pay $9 per user per month and sell for $12, that makes it too expensive. I'd love to offer MS hosted exchange for $4 but God forbid we do something that doesn't make us money. My higher ups don't realize how much time I've spent working with stupid PSTs over the past couple years with this client. So unless we get some brain transplants in my co, hosted exchange isn't an option.

Google Apps is what I should offer but need to look into pricing and see HOW it works with Outlook. I have no clue.

 

[AndyM]

One thing with both Office 365 and Google Apps, is that there is little margin in the products for you. But.... it is regular income - set it up once, and the money just trickles in. I usually charge for time to set it up on their desktop, smart phone, tablet or whatever, as I also give them a bit of basic training. Also, with both products, if you manage it for them, then you can charge for those services as well, like adding new users.

Andy

 

[seedubya]

One thing with both Office 365 and Google Apps, is that there is little margin in the products for you. But.... it is regular income - set it up once, and the money just trickles in. I usually charge for time to set it up on their desktop, smart phone, tablet or whatever, as I also give them a bit of basic training. Also, with both products, if you manage it for them, then you can charge for those services as well, like adding new users.

Andy

There's 20% recurring on Google Apps as long as you're a reseller.