Database Users

My MDA and my Mac

Hey there,
This is my first post. I'm a mac user (no snide comments please). I just got the MDA a few weeks ago, and just can't figure out if it's worth it for me to keep this thing. It surfs the web like sh**. Slower than a snail. I'm on the T-Mobile GPRS system, which is supposed to be really fast.
I've been reading a lot about the ability to MOD my MDA. But if i can't sync the sucker to my Mac, how can i get the files necassary to MOD the MDA? Let me add that i have NO idea how to MOD the MDA. Things like changing the THEME, the font color, etc.
Thanks for reading this post.....
Whalien

There is no official support for the Mac on any Windows Mobile device, but there are third party tools out there. The Missing Sync (2.5 beta) will sync to Windows Mobile 5 devices. It works nicely and syncs with iCal, Address Book, Entourage, etc. The beta only syncs via Bluetooth, but if you get the USBSwitch tool and switch the mode to Serial, Activesync via USB will work as well.
If all you want to do is send files to your MDA, all you need is OS X's built in tools. Pair the MDA with your Mac and use the Bluetooth file transfer utility to send files. You can also install from CAB files this way; send them to your phone and run it there.
What Mac do you have? If you have an Intel one, you can install Parallels Desktop, which provides a virtualization environment for running Windows inside OS X. They have rudimentary USB Support, but it's getting better. You can also install Boot Camp and boot to Windows when you need to sync.

See there you are with alot of options, dont give up on the MDA yet

got O2 Atom as well as missing sync 2.5. MS froze during connection

I too love my Mac and... well, like my Wizard. But I'd have real reservations about keeping the Wizard if you don't at least have regular accesss to a Windows thing. (An Intel Mac dual-booting would work, of course; Virtual PC mostly works too.)
Here's how I coordinate the Mac and the Wizard:
1) You really do need to flash the ROM, and you need a PC to do it. (I didn't risk this on Virtual PC, but it might work.) I grabbed an old Windows 2000 laptop, put ActiveSync on it, and it works fine. Run LokiWiz or another program to CID and SIM-unlock the phone, then put the newest customized 2.21 USA T-Mobile ROM on it. It makes EVERYTHING better - I get 3 bars where I used to get 0, you get push e-mail support, etc. But if you don't have access to a PC, you can't do this, and you're stuck with the terrible ROM T-Mobile gives you.
You also need a PC to install some software that doesn't come in a .cab installer, though sometimes you can just launch the installer in Virtual PC and grab the .cab file it unpacks and hand-install that.
2) You can pair the Wizard with the Mac through Bluetooth and use it (a) as an EDGE modem and (b) to push files. Use Bluetooth File Exchange, always dismiss the warning that the type of file isn't supported, and the file will push to your Wizard. This is a good way to install programs that come in .CABs. The other way, of course, is to get an SD reader and mount your MiniSD card.
3) There's a great little shareware utility called SyncTunes that will sync an iTunes playlist and your podcasts to an SD card (or MiniSD, of course). I mount my SD card and use that to sync music fairly regularly. iPhoto can also pull photos and videos off the card. Of course. I mean, of course it Just Works.
4) Although it's not as smooth as an iPod with video, non-protected video files prepared for the iPod work pretty well. I use the free iSquint to convert, and play back with TCPMP (with the AAC plug-in).
5) Finally, syncing. I haven't bothered trying Missing Sync, and don't expect to, because you don't need to.
Just make sure you have an Exchange account. If you have one for your main e-mail account, great; if not, get one through mail2web.com. (You might need to get the $2/month rather than the free one for all of this to work.) I'll assume you also have Entourage (the Mac equivalent of Outlook in MS office). Make sure you install the latest Entourage service patch.
That patch allows Entourage to sync with Address Book and iCal. So use Entourage to sync your Exchange account with your Mac information. Then use ActiveSync over-the-air to push all that stuff onto your Wizard. (I.e., configure an ActiveSync server on your Wizard.) Magically, all your Address Book and iCal stuff is there! And, if you do it right, changes on the handheld should sync back to iCal eventually as well (albeit always in the Entourage category).
Hope that's helpful. I'll keep an eye on this thread if any of that didn't make sense, or my fellow Mac faithful are welcome to message me.

As much as I've used Missing Sync in the past for other devices, it just doesn't work well with the Wizard. Too many problems. I also us it with my Mac all the time and I have an account with 4martphone.com. The nice thing is you can stay in sync without actually having to connect and sync (which i'd forget to do all the time). I use Entourage to sync with that Exchange account, then I configured Entourage to sync with OS X's databases (address book, ical, etc). My only wish now is a simple app for my phone that will let me mount the card on my mac as if it were a USB drive.

more on my mac and my MDA
monkey_42 thanks for the DETAILED post. it's so good to finally get some response to my questions concerning the MDA and my MAC. so far, i've only been able to bluetooth some apps to the phone and they seems to be running fine, SPB weather and AGILE messanger. aside that, i'm scared to do the ROM update. read loads of bad reports and issues people have been having. but you're a mac guy so that sooths my concerns. but back to the main issue, how the heck to i get the stuff on the computer. we havea PC at work. i suppose i'll update the ROM the way you mention. thanks again.
T-Mobile claims that they're working on fixing the CHAT issues they're having with the MDA. So at this point, their OZ app doesn't work. They gave me 50 mins extra this month to compensate. Thanks for nothing. But AGILE does work.
sounds like Entourage is the only way to SYNC my Mac to the MDA. So does that mean MAIL is out? i've been using that app for years now. i'd hate to have to give it up. any idea if there are mac folk out there working on any of these issues? it's such a pain to have to deal with a PC.....i know i now own on....time to learn how to deal.
thanks for the reply's guys. l'm hoping this will start more dialog concerning the mac and the mda.
cheers,
whalien

card reader
dma....didnt' mean to leave you out in my last response. i too wish the mac would recognize the miniSD when i plug it in via USB cable. no luck either.
is there a mac forum we can contact about this? everyone on this is just PC. i have no idea what they're all talking about. wish i was more PC fluent.
cheers,
whalien

MDA Working as Modem on a Mac
I was wondering if anyone had a way to use tthe mda as a modem on a mac using bluetooth and or usb? Thanks

Re: card reader
whalien said:
i too wish the mac would recognize the miniSD when i plug it in via USB cable. no luck either.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I've used WM5torage to mount the miniSD on my G4 iMac. Works pretty well with OSX, but I had problems with OS 9. Search the forum or Google for a link.
*** LATEST ***
Seems I was mistaken and WM5torage doesn't in fact work on my Mac. I must have used my card reader (which is also oblong and silver) to mount the miniSD card. Sorry if I've misled anyone with this posting.
*************
There's also Softick CardExport II which does the same thing, although you have to pay for this. (They wouldn't let me migrate my Palm licence, so I'm not too happy with them.)
Both apps work by emulating the USB mass storage interface over USB, which is the same way that most modern external USB hard disks work.
HTH

sounds like Entourage is the only way to SYNC my Mac to the MDA. So does that mean MAIL is out? i've been using that app for years now. i'd hate to have to give it up. any idea if there are mac folk out there working on any of these issues? it's such a pain to have to deal with a PC.....i know i now own on....time to learn how to deal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I don't think I know what you mean by syncing mail with the OS X Mail.app. You sync mail with your server, not with your desktop mail client. What is your mail coming from? If it's coming from an Exchange server, you sync with that; ditto if it's coming from a POP server. Who's your mail account with - yahoo? gmail? your office? That determines how you check mail on the Wizard, not what program you use to check that same account on the Mac.
When I wrote about Entourage above, that was as a way of syncing tasks/contacts/calendar with an Exchange server. I assume that if that's working for you, you're just checing Exchange mail with Mail.app. If that's the case, just set up your Wizard to ActiveSync with the Exchange server and all will be well.
If that's not the situation, please explain better what you mean by syncing mail with Mail.app, and we'll see what we can do here.

I'm using Missing Sync 2.5 alpha 10 release. I have just found USBswitch which works great.
I can dual boot windows on my intel iMac, but syncing with outlook is not great - it seems to miss the last week or two's appointments.
I haven't tried my windows laptop for outlook - maybe that would work better.
I sync with iCal & Address Book. It won't sync with iCal, but if I enter all my appointments in iCal & let the Mac overwrite my MDA Vario, then all is ok.
Address book seems to sync properly.
Mounting the Vario works in 2.5a10, but unmounting seems to lock up the iMac every time, so it is a last resort.
I'm not upgrading to the US T mobile ROM. everything will be wrong for me in the UK.
I'm contemplating using the imate Rom 2.17 wwe version. What benefits will it give me over my 1.6.2.4 UK T mobile ROM?
And how will I get back all my T mobile stiings for the UK such as GPRS/voicemail/SMS/MMS etc.

syncing with the mac
hey Monkey_42
you wrote:
I don't think I know what you mean by syncing mail with the OS X Mail.app. You sync mail with your server, not with your desktop mail client. What is your mail coming from? If it's coming from an Exchange server, you sync with that; ditto if it's coming from a POP server. Who's your mail account with - yahoo? gmail? your office? That determines how you check mail on the Wizard, not what program you use to check that same account on the Mac.
i appologize for not being more specific. i do use my work email's server, and it pushes my emails to me no problem. the issue i'm having is that i'm trying to become a more appointment accurate indivdual. i figured the best way to do this was by enlisting a smartphone in my everyday routine. seeing that i am a MAC user, i was hoping to include my address book and my ical on my phone, and visa versa. i enter appointments and address directly to the phone most of the time, but sometimes that's tedious and then there's no way to get it on my MAC. when i had a PALM PILOT years ago, i could utilize the PALM software to sync the info to and from my old device, thus backing up any data i had just entered on my phone to my computer.
with the new MDA, there's no way for me to do this. i have seen the MISSING SYNC app out there. but is it worth it for me to buy it? just seems like there's got to be a way to get my phone and my computer on the same page. without spending another $80.00 i'm new to the organizing routine and i'd like to be sure i'm going about it the most efficient way so i can build on a good routine from MDA to MAC and MAC to MDA.
thanks again for the reply. might i ask if you've updated your ROM? and what other things have you modified on your device? i'd like to change my TODAY colors and layout. any suggestions?
cheers,
whalien

whalien -
to change the theme: start-settings-today to change the theme.
to change the way the soft buttons work in Today : start-settings-soft key
to change buttons: start-settings-buttons
to change the menu in today: start-settings-menu.
i.e explore your device!

ActiveSync 4.2 & Contacts?

Guys,
I've setup a partnership between my PC and Exec, when running syncronise though its not placing ALL of my Outlook contacts into my PocketPC, certain contacts (nothing special) just aren't put onto the phone.
Whats going on?
Also, I want to upgrade my roms etc, am I right in assuming that I will simply lose all programs/settings etc by doing this, and can only realistically restore my contacts afterwards via ActiveSync?

Yes you are correct, if you upgrade your ROM you start again from scratch, I had the same problem getting contacts back to my phone after upgrading, just wouldn't happen. Done a reboot on my laptop and then SYNC'ed the phone and all the contacts went in no problem.
It's a pain doing an upgrade but it does give you the chance to clear stuff out and get the phone performing better just a learning curve...

Many thanks, so once I've re-rommed I simply run Activesync, and it'll automatically put my Outlook Contacts onto my phone?
Guess I've then got to reinstall TomTom etc?
Also, with so many Roms on offer, which should I upgrade to? I've got an O2 XDA, for some reason the O2's Rom downloads pages seem to have disappeared? But if I can use a different manufacturers Rom, which one ought I to go with?
Appreciate your help!
Cheers, Ash

Hi Ashley!
Funny you mention this EXACT same scenario just a couple weeks after I posted about it here too !
No one really knows the answer to this so far and I understand how infuriating it is!
I had have a number of devices. My main machine was an Xda2i. Using Active Stink 3.8 all worked fine. Got myself an Exec, and upgraded AS to 4.1 (4.2 I think is still a beta) and when syncing, it says 88 contacts, does the sync, does the beeps and only 24 or so actually show up in my exec. No amount of 'show all' and 'all contacts' etc makes a difference.
Now if I sync on 4.1 with my Bro's Xda2s - all contacts appear. I tried on the Xda2i (currently a friend has it) and it updates fine.
I can only think there is some sort of conflict between Contacts in Outlook 2003, Active Stink 4.1 and Windows Mobile 5 ( I borrows a friends brand spanking new Xda Mini S and that did the same).
The only workaround I can conclude is for me to manually re-enter each contact in Outlook after deleting the original record whilst connected to my laptop. Then the newly input contact will show up. However, I've not had time to test this with each contact nor over a period of time.
My next test will be to install a fresh copy of outlook on a fresh install of Win XP pro on the spare hard drive for my laptop. If that 'works' then maybe it's a slightly corrupted Outlook data file - this is what I suspect it is the most.
Annoying...
Cheers for now! Dennis! West London UK!!

Well, infact I went ahead last night with the O2 Rom Upgrade, everything went through fine - after doing so I ran ActiveSync and it prompted me to reform the partnership, I did so and it continued to Sync,
After I checked my contacts and like magic, all my Outlook Contacts were back onto the XDA!! I'm amazed!!!
As for TomTom, all settings/favourtes etc were retained, it seems they're stored in the same directory as the map files...hence on my SD card!!
Beautiful!
The thing still runs a bit stupidly slowly, so frustrating!! When will someone product an app for the Exec thats sole purpose is to run all the reg hacks that ACTUALLY make any difference!

sync contact list without outlook

hi, i wish to sync my contact list to my computer without using outlook, im looking for a software look like palm desktop... any 1 have idea???

ahsin said:
hi, i wish to sync my contact list to my computer without using outlook, im looking for a software look like palm desktop... any 1 have idea???
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Because or requirements at my job, we don't use Outlook. We use SyncML to sync contacts and calendar events with our internal server. Really nice being able to sync without hooking ot a computer and anyplace you have GPRS / WiFi access.
Here's a post where I put some info and links about it:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showpost.php?p=1159992&postcount=4

i need an exactly same like palm desktop to sync my contact and calender when sync with usb cable

zzzzzzzzzzzz

any 1 have third party software that can sync contact to desktop to view and edit??
i have try uninstall outlook 2003 and activesync 4.5 many time, and the result remain the same

I have had the ActiveSync problem since 10/2006 and have not found a resolution yet. I have posted on this forum, tried all suggestions and tried everything except a Hard Reset. I still cannot get my Desktop or Laptop to recognize my MDA via ActiveSync even though my Desktop and Laptop recognize my MDA. I have asked for 3rd party software to update my Outlook address book and calendar and have not found anything. I have even asked if there is software to update/change the MDA PIM.VOL file via a desktop or laptop. Still no luck. I have researched this out and checked all possible sites. NO LUCK. I still have not given up. I continue to look daily for a solution other than a Hard Reset.
So, you are not alone. There are many of us out there. ActiveSync is a very poor application. Maybe someday we will find something to use instead of AS. The only think that is missing in the AS is the last 'S'.

Hey friends,
I dont know if this reply is useful for you. I am so new to this forum. I am using a Motorola Mpx220, but gonna get my Cingular 8125 within a couple of days. Anyways, when I was syncing my Mpx, I had the same problem. The solution I found out was(after a long research), while the phone is still connected to the computer, go to Start -> Accessories -> Modem link. In that "USB" connection, make it active and then deactivate. As soon as you do this your active sync will detect the phone and it will sync smoothly.
I have no idea why is it happening like this nor I dont know if it works with MDA coz my Mpx220 is running on WM 2003 SE. I can only check WM 5 after I get my 8125. If this reply help you guys in anyways, please let me know.
Thanks mates.....
Jish

So there is no third party "phone manager" like for example Oxygen Phone Manager for Symbian phones ?

Contacts backup without outlook
Try " Jeyo Mobile Companion" . Google for it. It can save the contacts + call log as well as SMS on your comp. You can restore/ update the it any time It doesnt sync though. Just use it for back up purposes. Very hand. You still need to connect that phone to the comp. and AS to recognize your device.
Trust this helps

I assume that I can backup my PIM.VOL file on my 2Gb Storage Card. I have not had to reinstall the PIM.VOL file so I don't know if it really will work. However, I still would like to find an application that will allow me to update/change my Contacts and Calendar without using ActiveSync. Bottom line, why can't we find something that can do this without using AS since we are having problems on using AS? I have used Palms since day 1 and other things without as much problems as AS.

asctony said:
I assume that I can backup my PIM.VOL file on my 2Gb Storage Card. I have not had to reinstall the PIM.VOL file so I don't know if it really will work. However, I still would like to find an application that will allow me to update/change my Contacts and Calendar without using ActiveSync. Bottom line, why can't we find something that can do this without using AS since we are having problems on using AS? I have used Palms since day 1 and other things without as much problems as AS.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
asctony,
AFAIK, you still need AS to connect the PPC to any PC ( I cud be wrong). What you can do is to set AS not to sync your contacts and others and use another 3p software to update / modify contatcts. The prog - Jeyo mobile companion does just that + back up your SMS too. Which is very crucial, in many cases as they cannot be backed up through the regular way.

Sync with Mac??

Hi,
Any Mac user here sync your Trinity with Mac OSX??
Kindly recommend some applications that sync your contacts and calender well with iCal and Address book in 10.4.9
Thanks in advance.
Mark

Take a look at Marks/Space as
The Missing Sync for Windows Mobile lets you easily connect and synchronize Pocket PCs and smartphones with your Mac. Sync with Address Book, iCal, Microsoft Entourage, iPhoto, iTunes and more. For work. For play. For life. It's really amazing what these devices can do for you when connected through The Missing Sync.
I found the program to be useful for dropping .CAB files to my PDA but I don't use that much anymore to intermittent issues and I prefer is to use an exchange server to sync my address-book, calendar, etc...
4smartphone offer this service and more for a fee (though you can have a two week trial). So I receive push email and I do all my editing of contacts etc which syncs with the server and my email app on the Mac (mail and entourage).
Hope this helps

missing sync F$%K up all my contacts birthdates...

missing sync
heya... just bought the missing sync... really cheap and quite cool... havent tested it deeply, but works quite well for me except i cant transfer files directly into the memory card, have to use the main storage temporarily. rest of stuff works quite well. i love the SMS archiver!

Yer SMS archive is a nice new feature......As to copying stuff direct to Storage card you should be able to perform this. Have you tried clicking on "Install" and then selecting the location from the pulldown menu?

Yer SMS archive is a nice new feature......As to copying stuff direct to Storage card you should be able to perform this. Have you tried clicking on "Install" and then selecting the location from the pulldown menu?

i kno it should work ;( but it seems kind of a conflict, as the memory card folder is seen erratically on the mounted directory: Either it is detected with no files on it, or with a partial list of files, or with "0 files, 2Terabytes free" ... as soon as I try to copy anything into the SD it says "the network drive has lost connection".... I've mailed MarkSpace about this... will post here the solution.

I know the missing sync for window mobile does sync your stuff, however, not correctly.
It messes up my whole contacts and calender with wrong mapping.
Omg, it took me a few good hours to fix up the mess.
Any other suggestions?
Mark

If youre not a radical mac user that would be offended by installing anything microsoft, Im using with success VMWARE with Windows XP on my MacBook Pro. I can then run Windows XP over MacOS, and ActiveSync (and many other apps) without problems.
I still dont have the guts to do a ROM Upgrade from it hahaa but i bet it works.
VMWARE FUSION is quite cheap ($60) and allows to install Windows XP, Windows Vista and Linux, and even run the three of them at the same time over MacOS. I do it.

i use parrallels desktop, vmware, along with missing sync also tried pocketmac...here are my finding......well when i plug my usb from trinity to usb port on mac pro 17" the computer crashes....ya no lie, cant find out why, also, this makes parralels not work for the phone as i have to select the usb port to use by that time comp has crashed.........vmware works better...pain to boot up though just cause i hate having windows running in the background.......missing sync is absolutely ****e..it sucks huge remapped my contacts and screwed everyhting up not to mention i got tons of foubles now as whne i sync with vmware it senses the changes and adds new contacts...arrrrggghhhhhhhh if only iphone had gps then and avoided these sync issues i would have gone to the dark side......as for pocketmac..dont make me laugh..that "lauren" is a fictitious person who just keeps harrassing me by email, yet never solving my problems...and i'm pretty sure that its their software that makes the usb crash my comp, thats why i always use bluetooth with missing sync which only works 1 out of 12 times..annoying as hell

markyeungcy said:
I know the missing sync for window mobile does sync your stuff, however, not correctly.
It messes up my whole contacts and calender with wrong mapping.
Omg, it took me a few good hours to fix up the mess.
Any other suggestions?
Mark
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I'd been using missing sync since early this year for my Trinity to sync with my MacBook Pro. MissingSync v3.3 with WM5 and MissingSync v4 with WM6. I din face much problem. It sync with the OSX Address Book and Microsoft Entourage Address Book plus my Trinity Contact perfectly. I notice it takes on the Microsoft Entourage Address Book format. Others like Calendar, SMS, Notes sync well between computer and device too.

They all suck. I used missing sync for a while but its buggy and clunky feeling and caused problems with my contacts. At one point it corrupted some of my data and just kept asking over and over how to resolve a conflict - I had to force quit it, and disable syncing of that database (calendar, I think).
pocketmac looks promising, because it integrates into iSync. But their website is ****e and I don't really know what I'm buying (should I get pocketmac Pro, or Pocketmac for Windows Mobile 5/6? They're the same?!)
I really wish their was an elegant, inexpensive solution for syncing address book, ical, etc.

p.s.
I have done many a flash ROM upgrade in parallels and vmware. Works just fine.
Oh - and I did just find this:
http://james.manners.net.au/2006/11/13/free-windows-mobile-activesync/
getting closer...

How do you keep your Shift synchronized?

Keeping synchronized between desktop PC and two HTC Polaris devices was easily done by Windows Mobile Device Center. Now I added a Shift.
In fact we have now:
- Outlook on Vista Desktop PC
- Polaris and second Polaris used by my wife
- Outlook on Shift
- SnapVUE on Shift
All have direct internet access (desktop wired - mobile devices via flat fee data plan) and all have WLAN access at home.
Now I am looking for the easiest way - without too much manual interference - to keep all outlook data on all devices in sync. I think in direction of automatic synchronization over WLAN (or VPN over internet).
Guess many of us are facing the same challenge. What would be the best solution?

I've been grappling with the same thing for the past few days and am trying a number of options. One of the most promising may be Gmail drive, which gives you a virtual drive under your My Computer, which is linked to your gmail account. All the files you put there are automatically uploaded. You can have this folder mapped from many machines, hence you will always have docs you need...
Main problem is that it doesn't sync as such, you have to keep copies locally and on the drive, otherwise you run the risk of not having the file you need and not being able to connect for whatever reason.
I have also used Box.net for online storage for quite some time and that works well. I use the Netvibes.com plugin.
Have also been toying with the idea of syncing to the SD card or a memory stick, however i don't know of any great software that would auto sync to a folder on my PC. What we really need is similar syncing to that provided by Windows Mobile and Activesync.
So, here are a few ideas, but none of them are ideal.

salmon said:
I've been grappling with the same thing for the past few days and am trying a number of options.
...
So, here are a few ideas, but none of them are ideal.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for your reply, but like you said none of them are ideal.
Here we use the Vista desktop PC here as our main "device".
To keep everything synchronised we now follow the next procedure.....
-Sync Polaris1 with Desktop PC
-Sync Polaris2 with Desktop PC
-Sync Polaris1 with Desktop PC (need this to get changes from Polaris2 on Polaris1)
-Sync Polaris1 with Shift Vista Outlook
-Sync Shift SnapVUE with Shift Vista Outlook (through USB Tool)
-Sync Polaris1 with Shift Vista Outlook (need this to get SnapVUE changes to Polaris1)
-Sync Polaris1 with Desktop PC (all Shift changes go to Desktop)
-Sync Polaris2 with Desktop PC (to get all Shift changes on Polaris2)
....way too time consuming.
As our desktop PC is usually all day online we are looking for some sort of convenient "outlook server" on our Vista desktop PC, so we can sync each mobile device independently with the desktop.
We are aware of "Microsoft Exchange Server" but that seems way too big, heavy and expensive for private use. There must be other options?

Hi -
I don't have that many devices - I just want to be able to plug my shift into my work desktop and sync my calendar using active sync but not through Exchange Server.
I can not believe that HTC did not design the Snapvu side to be able to do this? Or am I missing something?
This is a disaster! The shift solved so many problems for me but they all relied on the ability to sync just my calendar from my work desktop to the shift.
Is it me or was this what everybody expected?
Cheers - Dave

That's exactly where HTC dropped the ball. Beiing able to do a quick USB sync with a desktop would make life a lot easier.

I guess that is why they cripled WM. Making the shift do all that was just too much trouble for them. They left it up to us.....

SugarSync
This might be an option for you: http://www.sugarsync.com/products/tour/index.html.
Don't use it myself (I have no need for such a service - yet) but read about it on jkontherun.com.
They seem to be in their startup phase. During an introduction period the service is free, after that they plan to charge an annual or monthly fee.
Check it out whether it is for you.

Sorted Calendar Sync
Hi -
Sorted the Calendar sync problem for the moment - I'm using Goggle Calendar. It actually works really well! I sync my work PC to goggle calendar then sync goggle calendar to my shift, I've set it up to update every two hours and it works really well. Possibly better than physically syncing?
On a totally different subject - give Digsby ago! Its great for managing emails and IM accounts - Bug thumbs up, works well on the shift!