Is OGCS Free?

FAQs > Is OGCS Free?

From its inception, keeping OGCS free (as in libre or "liberty") and open source has been central to its development.

Additionally, making it available for free (as in gratis or "free as in free beer") has also been important and the tool remains fully functional, without any restrictions to its functionality.

So What's This About Donations of £10 or More?

To encourage continued development of the tool and/or for users to show their appreciation, donations have always been central to Open Source Software. In return and as a thank you, for donations of £10 or more, the ability to hide the splash screen is provided as well as the option to suppress occasional prompts to help spread the word about OGCS on social media. Functionality for synchronising calendars remains unchanged.

I've Donated But Can't Hide the Splash Screen

If you have been kind enough to donate, you'll receive an email to the Google account you have registered for use with OGCS. The email address is also included on your PayPal donation description: Outlook Google Calendar Sync from <email address>.

Since v2.7.6, the Google account currently being used by OGCS can be found under Settings > Google > Connected Account.

If you are on at least v2.9.2, the next time you start OGCS and sync, a pop-up will ask if you wish to hide the splash screen; otherwise the email will contain the below instructions on how configure it:

• Restart OGCS whenever is convenient (don't worry if the 'Hide Splash Screen' option doesn't work just yet).
• Run a manual sync by clicking the 'Sync' button.
• Go to the 'Settings' tab and 'Application Behaviour'.
• Check 'Hide splash screen' and click 'Save'
• The next time OGCS is started...no splash screen!

If you need to change the Google account OGCS is configured with and still retain the ability to hide the splash screen, please contact me and provide both the old and new email address.

I've Seen There is a Subscription Option Too?

This is distinct from donations and is related to the limited daily quota offered by Google for programmatically accessing Google calendars. Users of OGCS all share a pooled quota, and as such, dependant on usage as a whole, it can be exhausted before the day is through and the next day's quota is available (at 08:00 UTC).

For £12 per year, it is possible to be assigned into a different quota that won't be exhausted. Again synchronisation features are not affected, it is simply about quota usage which I cannot directly control. The option to subscribe will only become available to those who have been affected by the quota being exhausted.

Fair Usage

To prevent users consuming a disproportionate amount of the limited quota, the maximum scheduled frequency of syncs are:

• Every 2 hours if Push Sync from Outlook is enabled; otherwise
• Every 15 minutes
• Restricted to 1 year past and future

It is possible to remove these limitations if a personal API quota is configured.

But I've Donated and Now Being Asked to Subscribe As Well!

Don't worry - if this happens, just email me (preferably with the PayPal donation email) asking for your donation to be switched over and used as your first year's subscription.

What If I Change My Computer?

Any donation or subscription is associated with the email address of the Google account with which you are using OGCS to sync your calendar. Therefore, if you reinstall OGCS onto a new computer, as long as you sync to the same Google account the ability to hide the splash screen and/or your subscription will retained.

If you still have access to your old computer, you may wish to migrate your OGCS configuration too.