Ok, first Unite! is more than just a shared calendar. There was nothing in the product brief I read that indicated a major design decision was to share the majority of calendar entries. In fact for the stated customer base, families and small businesses, I think the new semantics will satisfy more than it disappoints. The ability to share entries is still there, it just takes positive action to share them, rather than positive action to not share them. Since the vast majority of the entries I make in my calendar are, if not private, at least of no interest to the other people in my group, this change is an improvement for us. It is unfortunate that you don't like it, but saying that it is now a completely different product is an exaggeration.
It sounds like what you want is
Google Sync. It only does calendars, and everyone with access to a calendar should get the updates.