Dave Thewlis R.I.P., 1942-2025, founding executive director of CalConnect

Not long after I started this blog, I was contacted by Dave Thewlis, who just a few years earlier had started CalConnect, the sole organization focused on improving calendar interoperability. Today, I learned that Dave passed away at age 82 on June 17. I was honored to serve on CalConnect's board from 2012 to 2018, including a stint as chairman. The organization was filled with top-notch technical talent and genuine collegiality.

It is no fault of CalConnect -- nor of Dave's -- that the technology industry never fully embraced the standards they promulgated. The problems this blog and CalConnect identified more than 20 years ago continue, at least in part, due to this lack of embrace. It would be a fitting testimonial to Dave's memory if the industry didn't morph into error-prone AI-powered solutions to calendar interoperability. Sometimes, it takes embrace of true standards and not vendor lock-in strategies. That day cannot come soon enough.

AI commentary on Calendar Swamp's 20th anniversary

Google AI, June 16, 2025: "Calendar sharing between different vendors can be challenging due to compatibility issues and varying permission levels. While some platforms offer limited sharing capabilities with external users, full editing access is often restricted. Sharing calendars across different platforms often requires workarounds like publishing calendars or using intermediary tools."

A word about Skylight

I've seen the ads, heard the reviews. If this is calendar interoperability nirvana, with a dash of AI, it didn't come cheap. The industry failed the rest of us.

Overloaded women need shared calendars but vendors need to step up -- still!

 "One local mum I know says a shared calendar has helped her and her partner both be across their weekly schedule without each having to check in with the other. Another couple of two children organise the extracurricular schedules of one child each, which involves researching, booking and transporting them to it. For this type of organisation to work, they say regular communication is key."

Did you catch the need for a shared calendar? We should demand truly shareable calendars, not calendars that lock us into a particular platform. My message for nearly 20 years has been this message.

TidyCal

This blog has always been about calendar and schedule sharing, but apparently, Calendly pioneered something called the calendar management and scheduling category. Now there's a Calendly competitor called TidyCal. Here's a review. Free to try, $29 for lifetime access. Advanced stuff requires programming skills, and as always, who knows if the API access included today will always be there. History says it will end someday.

That calendar-sharing service you use may be harvesting your personal scheduling data for artificial intelligence purposes

A Facebook friend of mine just posted that "Calendly is now data harvesting for 3rd party AI features. Guess it's time to cancel it."

Read those privacy policy updates closely folks.

CalDAV remains the standard, but compliance still varies

Around the 1:55:00 mark, this week's Windows Weekly podcast hosts discuss CalDAV, but we are reminded that although CalDAV is a standard, complaince various from product to product, and implementation to implemenation, discouraging adoption and use.