Update: a web-based events calendar

[Prentiss Riddle]

Some time back I posted a query here about web-based tool to replace
our gopher-based university events calendar.  I thought I should post
an update.

What seemed like scarcity a few months back now seems like an
overabundance of tools, although features vary quite a bit.  My notes
on the calendars I've examined are at:

	http://is.rice.edu/~riddle/calsearch.html

A couple of recent additions to the list are worth mentioning here:

   Man~ana
   http://scendtek.com/zv/manana.html

      Commercial software, but free for educational use. Currently in
      beta test. Written in perl 5 for Unix and based on the ZyView WWW
      database system. Man~ana was developed to meet Rice's specs, so
      it currently seems to the best match for Rice's needs, especially
      in the area of access control, e-mail notification and
      "moderation" of events. Concerns remain, though, about its
      efficiency with a large volume of events (it requires a linear
      search of a flat-file or DBM database in response to every
      query). Extensively customizable, especially by hacking the perl
      filter for each view.  Source is available.  Contact: Chuck
      Johnson (cdjohns at scendtek.com)

   Now Up-to-Date Web Publisher
   http://www.nowsoft.com/products/UptoDate/morse_pub_info.html

      Commercial software. An approx. $300 add-on to the personal time
      management software Now Up-to-Date. Publishes events either by
      running an HTTP server on the user's desktop or by periodically
      exporting HTML files to an HTTP server elsewhere. Available for
      Windows and Macintosh. Probably the slickest solution I've seen,
      but it doesn't seem to include a way for events to be entered
      through a web interface (i.e., by users who do not have access to
      Now Up-to-Date). Nor is it clear how it manages access control in
      order to permit cooperative management of a unified calendar
      across a large institution. Software (binary) is available,
      including a free 30-day trial version.

So far, only Man~ana seems to meet our requirements at Rice.  I'm
interested in suggestions of anything I've missed that might match it.
I'd also like to hear if any users of Now Up-to-Date Web Publisher
have managed to find a way to use it in a large, cross-departmental
setting where many users contribute to a unified institutional
calendar.

Please reply by *mail* and I will update my web page.  Thanks.

-- Prentiss Riddle ("aprendiz de todo, maestro de nada") riddle at rice.edu
-- RiceInfo Administrator, Rice University / http://is.rice.edu/~riddle