A bit of a history lesson before we get to this post…

When I started this blog I focused mostly on Lotus stuff. Shortly after I became a Mac guy. I then realized I was standing in two communities that (at the time) had little overlap but a lot in common (namely a strong, vocal, passionate and talented community around the product).

In the last 4 months I made the decision to go back to being a “Windows” guy largely due to looking at the roadmap our company had for deploying technology and coming to the realization that if I was the guy who was going to stand in front of the company and lead them into these new tools, I better use them myself.

As I have gone further and further away from Macs at the office, Lotus has gone closer to them – which is exciting to say the least. We still have a few here and for many users it simply isn’t much of a change to use “Windows” Notes (8.5) vs. “Mac” Notes. And that’s no small accomplishment on the part of Lotus! I’m delighted to see them continue to have a stronger commitment to that platform!

Don’t get me wrong – I’m still a Mac guy at heart (and at home). But I wouldn’t be telling the truth if I didn’t admit that it is noticeably easier to get my job done being on a Windows platform due in large part to consistency in using the same other software (VPN, VoIP, etc.) as everyone else.

So … for now, I got the Mac out of the focus of this blog. But given that my decision to finally do that came on the same day I saw many news stories from Lotus about their commitment to the Mac, I have to wonder if its temporary.

Time will tell.

(Dominokeys.com would like to take this moment to remind you that for all medical emergencies we recommend using 911 or your cities local emergency services phone number.)

Yes. I’ve been a Mac fan for years. I’ve harped on the lack of Lotus support for the Mac. I’ve praised Lotus for a solid Mac Notes client. And now, I’ve gone back to a PC.

Simply put: there are too many business applications I need to run that require me to “live” in Parallels (virtualized Windows environment). If that’s where I’m spending my time, then why not just RUN Windows?! Our VPN, Cisco IP soft-phone, Quickr Connectors, System i emulation – and a list of other tools all require Windows. Yes, I could go around and hunt down Mac counterparts to those tools but it almost always results in more work for my Admins or the purchase of another software package (the System i emulator alone was over $100!).

At the end of the day – I need to get BUSINESS done. I’m not abandoning Mac altogether – I still have an iMac and MacBook at home. And I may even keep my MacBookPro around for presentations, videos and such. But as the primary machine, I’m kind of looking forward to the simplicity of Windows.

How smart of a decision will that be? I’m sure you’ll read about it here over the next few months.

I’ll give you a moment to recover from that statement.

All better? OK, good.

My thoughts about going back to a PC have been driven largely by a frustration about how much “stuff” that is released only for a PC. Quickr Connectors and Cisco IP softphone products fill the top of that list. Sure, I can work around them but I have to admit, it would be really nice to just use what everyone else is using and get back to working.

Not to mention that Snow Leopard has many cool new features but was essentially a (temporary, I hope) step backwards. I’ve lost printer connectivity (most of our office printers don’t have compatible drivers yet) and Notes 8.5 and 8.5.1 is missing all sorts of icons throughout the system (which they have said they are working on), so something as simple as scheduling a meeting is now a bit of a guessing game.

Then there’s the list of the 10 things I dislike about my Mac. Most of which have no signs of “going away” any time soon.

Don’t get me wrong… I’m not crazy about opening up a Windows-can of virus and spyware problems; and I’d most likely want to move to Windows 7 which is arguably going to be as problematic as Snow Leopard is. Still, its tempting.

Now… on the Mac side, I would miss:

• Quick Previews (LOVE this feature – use it for all sorts of files)
• Ease of screen capturing (do that ALL THE TIME)
• Spaces (sooo handy)
• A sleep mode that works flawlessly
• … that cool Apple icon

Stay tuned. I’m just as eager as anyone to find out where this will end up.

And yet, Apple clearly does it. Pick a product they make … its cool. If its not, its quickly replaced with something that is cool.

Go to an Apple store … very cool.

I try to inject at least some amount of cool into any new application or system my team creates at the office. Sometimes an app can be cool by making less work for people. Sometimes its cool because of a clever feature. Sometimes its cool because we’ve hyped it to be cool (which only works if you consistently crank out technology that is truly cool to begin with).

Cool is never enough to justify deploying an IT system. There also has to be a legitimate need. However, since you have a need, why not make the thing that addresses that need… cool.

If you are truly cool, then “cool” should show up in some unlikely places. For example, this post about a job offer from Apple. Even the paperwork, packaging, etc. is really cool. Its got a style, an attitude and a look that reflects the image of the company … and that makes it cool!

This all makes me think that I should start looking to inject cool in some unlikely places. I’ll start looking around for those opportunities immediately.

(Let me re-read that. ….. Yeah, makes sense.)

Their latest update gives me better (and faster) file preview functionality, more stability, a nicer Quicktime environment, faster file searching and a bunch of other things … not to mention getting BACK 16GB+ after the install. I think that is the first time I’ve ever done a major upgrade and got space back!

Shortly after the update, I was also reminded that: just because I have a Mac doesn’t mean I can do updates without remembering that I use my Mac at the office. I suddenly realized that my printers stopped working (no drivers yet from Ricoh) and Notes started to do flaky things. Example from my calendar:

Not the end of the word at all. I can live without the icons that are missing. However, I was reminded of the fact that I still use this as my primary “business” machine, and despite how cool/hip/Apple-esque it might feel to be a Mac user, normal “business” rules apply (checking for supported software, updates, testing, not being an early adopter, etc.).

Kinda makes me wonder what else has changed that I just haven’t discovered yet…

10. Function Keys
You’d think this would be insanely powerful … and they are, sometimes. The problem is that my external keyboard’s function keys are different from the MacBook Pro’s onboard keys – so there’s a descrepancy there. Plus some of the software I use (mostly Notes and a 5250 emulation for our ERP system) require funciton keys to do things … so I find myself adding lots of toolbar buttons to compensate for the fact that I can’t keep my keyboard buttons straight.

9. Windows
Despite my best efforts, the fact of the matter is that I still need to keep Windows around for stuff. Certainly my Notes Admin/Dev clients (although the web Admin client is GREAT). But whenever I’m dealing with Microsoft software (Office) or heavy network/file interaction, I find that doing my work in Windows goes MUCH faster. (Using MS Word alone is far easier/faster/better in Windows. Sadly.)

8. Permissions
It seems that the longer you use your Mac, the more likely you are to run into an error (usually when installing an upgrade) that tells you that you don’t have permission to write to your drive. For me, its not a question of setup (I’m the admin, and I usually get this when doing 3-4 upgrades in a row). To fix it, I need to run exhaustive permission repair utilities which take a long time to fix something that really wasn’t a problem caused by anything I did.

7. Tasks
There is a task manager type utility in the OSX but its not on all the time. Menu bar software helps show you what’s going on, but it seems like there should be a built-in, easy way to look at what software decided to hijack your system resources at any given time without going to find a tool to do it. I use some add-on software to do it, but it just seems like something the O/S should have availabe at a moment’s notice.

6. Network Drives
Connecting to a network drive is goofy and painful. If anyone is aware of software that makes it easier – let me know!

5. Eject
Every time you take out a USB or Firewire drive, you need to “eject” it. Technically, you should probably be doing it in Windows too, but the Mac yells at you (popup warning that looks severe) and holds a grudge (doesn’t let you plug it back in until you reboot). For people like me who always have a USB backup drive, Firewire media drive and USB memory stick plugged in — AND — take my Mac to lots of meetings when its not at my desk… the “eject” process takes WAY longer than it should and doesn’t seem needed… until you want to plug things in without rebooting. Doh!

4. Finder
I’ll admit it: I miss Windows Explorer. Finder is great, but its tough to deal with when you move files around quite a bit. Its also hard to determine where you are exactly in the file system (without doing some extra clicking on title bars and such).

3. “Does it work on a Mac?”
If you own a Mac, you’ve asked that question. A lot. Most of the software you need works on the Mac or has a Mac-counterpart. However, you find that some of the “handy” stuff isn’t supported on the Mac yet (Lotus Quickr sidebar, I’m looking at you) or is just a bit goofy when you use it on the Mac (MS Word, I’m looking at you).

2. Cost
Mac’s are more expensive. There’s no getting around it. You could argue that they last longer, but I argue that the longer you have one the more you are likely to encounter problem #1…

1. Support
You’re only good option for support is the Apple store. Which requires a reservation. Which means that you’ll be helped within 2 hours of that reservation time, but you need to be there on-time. Which means that once they run through troubleshooting you’ve already done, they’ll want to keep it in the store and give it to a tech. Which means that you’ll get it back in (based on my experience) 5-7 days. Which means you’re without your work machine that long. Once its back, its always fixed completely, whcih is great. Its just been a painful week. In business terms: that’s not good enough. (One additional note, I’ve seen two examples now where the paperwork printed at the store contains any passwords you gave the Apple people when you dropped off the machine. Niiice. Perhaps that could be something they have to look up on their system only and not put on paper? I’m just sayin’.)

To wrap up, I’m not doing a 10 things I love post because I don’t know how to pick only 10.

Sure, Mac’s are less “virus” prone (using that term broadly) however they can get a virus … especially when you introduce virtualized Windows environments onto the machine. A point I was reminded of yesterday when seeing this:

Doh!

First, open Apple’s iCal application and right-click on the calendar(s) you want to subscribe to. Select “Publish” and make note (either copy/paste or use the “email” option) of the locations of your published calendar.

When the calendar is published, you’ll se a “broadcast” icon appear letting you know its available. In the “Publish…” dialog box, you may also want to select some of the options available. For example, I leave the defaults and select “Publish changes automatically” and “Publish To Do items” but do not “Publish alarms” (I don’t need to be alerted to when their appointments will occur, I just need to see them on the schedule).

Back in Lotus Notes, open your calendar and select “Show Calendars” from the navigation on the left. Use the “Add a Calendar…” feature to enter the location of your .ics feed. Give the calendar a name (can’t use hyphens for some reason) and select any custom icons or colors to make it stand out. I use the same color scheme as I’ve got set up in Apple’s iCal to keep the instant corellation of “who’s calendar is what color” straight in my head.

The new calendar will appear automatically on your Lotus Notes calendar. To toggle on/off, just use the appropriate check mark.

Pretty easy stuff and extremely handy!

This isn’t inteded to be a full blown application – just a web version. The UI is really shapping up nicely. Its very intuitive and they’ve come up with a few handy tricks to make it even easier to use. There’s just one problem: its a website. The second you close your iPhone you no longer will get messages.

Now… the intended use isn’t to be a mobile Sametime client that goes with you (which I would use the heck out of, if I had it), rather a way to access IM services while mobile. That’s still handy.

I haven’t spent a lot of time with other IM apps for the iPhone – mainly because none of them support Sametime and that’s really the only IM software I use anymore; so I’m not sure how those applications handle getting messages when you’re phone is “closed.” I know that a lot of the opportunity to provide a good way of handling this lies on Apple. By their own admission, there needs to be a way to deliver IM alerts to you as simply and efficiently (saving battery life, etc.) as text messages happen on the device today. I honestly don’t know how well other apps are doing that today – but can certainly understand that it would be a HUGE incumbrance to Lotus’ deployment of a true Sametime client app on the iPhone as well.

But they’re smart guys and gals – they’ll figure it out.

As recent as last night, I found myself talking with a group of people from Lotusphere about when true iPhone support would come for Notes/Domino users. It is safe to say that by Tuesday, most everyone interested in the topic had heard Ed Brill say something about future support for ActiveSync (and my favorite quote from him was something like ‘… we said we’d support ActiveSync in a future Traveler release… I guess you could use that to connect an iPhone’).

I’m thrilled about this news – even if there is no ETA. Now, I’ve been… eh… let’s say “challenged” … by people at IBM in the past about my strong stance on the need for iPhone support beyond uber-lite. Various persons from IBM that I’ve talked to have often reminded me about the dominance of BlackBerry in the enterprise and the long list of other perfectly good (notice I didn’t say “great”) mobile phones. Those are good points. However, Lotus is doing something incredibly smart with this announcement… something I didn’t expect, think of, or request… they’re adding ActiveSync support to Travler.

My organization uses GOOD for mobile PIM connectivity. We’ve tried lots of other solutions and that’s the one that fit the best. We also have an interest in Traveler, but, while its a very strong product, we stay committed to GOOD because we can’t justify the transition on any feature improvements (infact, we’re still trying to figure out the final answer on wether or not Traveler supports global address books). But this announcement changes that perspective completely.

Beyond the sheer power the iPhone offers through its ease of use and outstanding applications, its use of a full featured (sans flash) web browser means that I can get to nearly any website I need. Including web-faced Domino apps, Quickr, etc. Sure, some optimization would be nice — but doing that development work for ONE platform (iPhone) is much easier. And doing it with a head start (the rendering ability of a full Safari web browser) means it doesn’t take the entire IT staff to deliver mobile applications.

Couple this huge benefit of using the iPhone vs. other devices with the now upcoming Notes support – and the value proposition of using Traveler vs. anything else suddenly is a no-brainer. AND I can transition existing users/devices to Traveler first if needed, then to an iPhone (to help manage cash flow for buying new devices).

Score one for Lotus! This is an exciting announcement and a brilliant plan. Well done!