Apple recently announced that all MobileMe members must upgrade to the new MobileMe Calendar by May 5. If you're a BusyCal or BusySync user (http://www.busymac.com), upgrading to the new MobileMe Calendar may require significant changes to your calendar sharing workflow and affect other members of your workgroup.

The new MobileMe Calendar functions as a CalDAV server and requires all calendars you wish to sync between your Mac and iOS device to be hosted on MobileMe. This allows you to sync calendars between multiple Macs and iOS devices through the cloud from any location. It's ideal for single users, families, and small workgroups provided everyone uses MobileMe as their cloud server.

However, if you're sharing calendars with others in a large workgroup it may not be practical for all users to use MobileMe as their cloud server. In that case, your organization may wish to consider other cloud syncing solutions that support Macs and iOS devices such as Google Calendar, iCal Server, or Kerio.

Since all calendars must be hosted on MobileMe in order to sync between a Mac and iOS device, the following limitations apply:

° Local calendars will not sync with MobileMe.

° LAN calendar subscriptions will not sync with MobileMe.

° Google calendar subscriptions will not sync with MobileMe.

Therefore, if you're using BusyCal or BusySync to subscribe to calendars on a LAN or Google Calendar, you will have to make changes to your workflow if you want to sync those calendars with MobileMe or an iOS device. Here are suggestions for migrating to the new MobileMe Calendar:

° Convert LAN syncing to cloud syncing -- LAN subscriptions will not sync to MobileMe and the iPhone. If you are a single-user, family, or small workgroup, and each member of your workgroup has a MobileMe account, you can share your calendars through MobileMe. If upgrading all members to MobileMe is not practical, you can share calendars through Google Calendar instead of MobileMe.

° Sync your iOS device with both Google and MobileMe -- Google Calendar subscriptions will not sync to MobileMe and the iPhone. If you need to access calendars on your iPhone that are hosted on both Google Calendar and MobileMe, you should sync your iPhone directly with Google Calendar, in addition to syncing your iPhone with MobileMe.