Rainlendar2 is a calendar application with lots of features which works on Windows, Linux and Mac OSX.

What I like about it, other than being cross-platform, is that you can import an holidays ICAL to it, the way it integrates into the Gnome desktop (screenshot above) and the Google Calendar like reminders. Rainlendar2 comes also with skins and lots of options.

To integrate Google Calendar events into your Gnome desktop, go to Google Calendar, click on "Settings", then on the "Calendars" tab and then on your calendar's name:

If you set your language to English (US), Gnome Calendar applet starts the week with Sunday, which is ok for USA but not for the rest of us and unfortunately there is no option in the applet to change this.

Sunbird is a calendar application built by the people at the Mozilla Foundation. It's entirely standalone: it doesn't require the bulk of another application, but doesn't offer any integration into other programs.

When I hear "mail merge," I usually think of personalizing letters and printing envelopes. However, many other projects can make use of mail merge. This year I tackled a new Christmas gift project by using mail merge in OpenOffice.org (OOo) to create a tear-off daily calendar, personalized with holidays and family events. Here's how.

Google Calendar is simply a great calendar application, and for many of us it has become the logical choice. The only problem is that to add a new appointment you have to open the calendar. There should really be a simpler way.