We're still waiting for Google Calendar

All the rumors of Google launching their own calendar didn't pan out yesterday at the When 2.0 conference, but an interesting article by Dan Farber gives us some hope that Google will eventually release this long awaited calendar.

Dan met with a Google employee Carl Sjogreen,who could very well be the product manager for Google Calendar.  He was seen talking to Outlook's calendar product manager Hans Bjordahl during the conference.

Like a lot of people, I am really looking forward to Google Calendar so I can finally get my life organized -- even though I could use Yahoo or Microsoft to do the same thing.  In the recent past I compiled my own "Wish List" of sorts, like other bloggers, for the Google Calendar -- here are a few points that I think are still valid:

1. Of course, it must use AJAX. An interface that is as slick, functional and clean as GMail is mandatory for this new service.
   
2. Host it on a cluster of computers that can handle the initial traffic (unlike Google Reader). Please be sure it remains responsive even under heavy use.
   
3. “Starring” events will definitely not be left out of the beta release. Hopefully the items you star (close to the current date) will be visible at all times so I don't forget my wife's birthday.
   
4. There should be a link similar to “Inbox” or “Drafts” called “Events” that if you click, would show you today's scheduled items. Even just a link to the calendar service from GMail would be greatly appreciated. (put one for reader too while you are at it)
   
5. The ability to set up auto-notifications by email.
   
6. Repeating events such as birthdays should be included in the first release.
   
7. It is obvious that Google spends a lot of time on integration and the implementation of open standards. I don't expect anything less from GCalendar. RSS and an API would be great to see.
   
8. One of the more exciting items on my wish list is the ability to create private and public “local” events that are accessible to everyone in the area. You should be able to search for local events and add them to your calendar very easily.
   Public events can be added to any users calendar and private ones require an “event password”. Based on the number of people who have replied, the creator of the event can see how many people are attending.
   Even if this is a pay service, the ability for local businesses to hold “events” that GCalendar users can see would be very cool. In addition to radio advertising, local stores could include things like “Today Only, 50% off everything in the store – Best Buy”. When users add this to their calendar, it would act as a “lead” and therefore would cost Best Buy their bid price.
   
9. Sharing appointments with other GCalendar users should be simple.
   
10. Attach GMail conversations to an event. When you view your calendar, you would see related conversations regarding the selected event.
    
11. Inviting GMail contacts to participate in a GCalendar “event” is needed.
    
12. The month and year views should probably show shaded boxes based on the number of scheduled items (similar to how the search history feature currently works). When you click on a shaded box it would drill down to the selected day.
    
13. The week view should show Monday – Friday on separate lines horizontally. If there are many appointments for each day, you would click an arrow which would scroll sideways to see more items. (almost like the guide on your digital TV box)
    
14. The day view has to show appointments for each hour. Scheduled items are easily drag & dropped which would be automatically saved (thank you AJAX).