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I’ve been using my iPad since not long after it came out and I LOVE it, especially with the connectivity I have to Notes. Setup was a snap! Just like Traveler for the iPhone, I simply point to a URL and follow some simple directions. Moments later I have enterprise email, contacts and calendar on one of the most amazing devices Apple has produced to date.

The moment Traveler was setup on the iPad I had one primary thought: “Notes looks AMAZING when Apple does the user interface!” — That thought was immediately followed by another “People are going to challenge Lotus about their UI… I just know it.” Clearly, they did.

At the risk of sounding like I’m coming to Lotus’ (and Ed’s) defense, I want to point out one very important fact (since I personally COMPLAINED about the lack of this for quite some time — I’m now showing my appreciation and respect…): Lotus/IBM didn’t choose to build their own iPhone/iPad app which required you to enter an entirely separate interface for email/calendar/contacts… they (with much difficulty/hassle, I might add) integrated with Apple’s core email/calendar/contacts functionality.

That’s huge! – And its the reason Notes on the iPad looks so good! Apple is known for great UI’s and the blend of their interface and Lotus’ enterprise software core makes for a great product.

Does the Notes calendar interface need some work? Eh, maybe. I personally would like to see them brush off some of the old Lotus Organizer stuff, give it a Web 2.0 feel and an Apple polish and add it to the set of views in my Notes client. — Or… I could just use my iPad, which Lotus has made VERY easy for me to do.

Thanks, Lotus!

Tags: calendar, ipad, notes

Irony: I officially remove “Mac” from the title bar of my blog the same week Lotus does a fantastic job of proving they are committed to the platform!

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.

Tags: consistency, mac, windows

Everyone else seems to be posting things that reflect on the last year – so I decided to do the same. Below are the top 10 moments/posts/thoughts that I feel are more noteworthy from this blog. Enjoy.

10. Lotus announces Sametime 8.5 before the end of 2009 (despite me being SURE they’d wait to Lotusphere)

9. Disk savings from DAOS was easy to implement and quite beneficial on disk space usage!

8. Began using Google Voice a utility that’s not all “there” yet but potentially a game-changer for managing phone calls & voicemails.

7. Notes turns 20

6. Realized the using an iPhone is more like integrating something into your life than getting a new phone.

5. Realized that people don’t “search” any more, they “Google.”

4. My alter-ego starred in a video all about “conferences at Disney World” which featured Lotusphere 2009.

3. After much debate (and frustration caused largely by SnowLeopard) I abandoned a Mac in favor of a PC.

2. Notes (Traveler) support for the iPhone was released (and it rocks!)

1. I got fed up with hearing things like “notes is a tarnished brand” and one simple thing to try to make my voice heard for a moment by being featured on theInfoBoom.com along with a companion piece on my blog.

Tags: 2009, daos, google, iphone, lotusphere, mac, pc, sametime, traveler

WELCOME to those of you following the link from infoBOOM!

Lotus technologies are the “secret sauce” to the IT dishes our company serves up. And NO, Lotus Notes isn’t just email, there’s so much more! Here are some real-world examples of how and why it is such a powerful component of how we deliver outstanding IT systems…

Mobility & Flexibility
The entire Lotus Notes client can run off a USB memory stick! Simply plug in the USB stick into any computer and an icon appears on the desktop allowing the user to access the full Lotus Notes client experience without installing any software to that computer! Our users can now access Lotus Notes at home or from another computer if they ever have a hardware failure on their primary machine. For users who simply need email access, each email file includes an “iNotes” version which can be accessed via the web. The web interface is nearly identical to their Notes client, so there’s no learning curve!

Operating system agnostic
We have a mix of Windows XP, Vista, 7, Linux and even Mac users in our organization. ALL of these users are able to have the exact same email and application experience by using the Lotus Notes client. The only differences between these operating systems are found in core components (title bars, scroll bars, etc.).

iPhone
Apple’s wonder-phone is closing in quickly on RIM’s BlackBerry devices. With Lotus’ Traveler utility running on your Lotus Domino server your users can use a variety of mobile devices (Windows Mobile, Symbian and many more) including the iPhone! Traveler integrates directly into the iPhone’s mail, calendar and contacts applications and the result is a fast, easy and secure way to access your information … when you’re not playing games, of course.

Getting business done!
Have an ERP or legacy system you need to connect Notes to? No problem. The Lotus Enterprise Integrator (LEI)  is a low-cost solution that is easy to use. Simply point it to your data, establish the type of data link and BOOM your systems are integrated giving Notes a powerful connection to your other key business systems.

Application Development – Easy and Free
Development in Lotus Notes is easy and free with the recent announcement of no additional cost for the Lotus Designer client. Just about anyone can easily design a Notes application in a short period of time – its that easy. However, don’t think that means its “limited” – its not. With support for JavaScript, Java, Lotuscript, XML and much more, Lotus Notes is as powerful as you need it to be!

Cost Cutting
There are many different types of Lotus licensing available making it a cost-effective product for just about anyone. Small/Medium organizations might want to look into Lotus Foundations an all-in-one server solution that is an integrated email, VPN, firewall and file/print solution that’s self-healing, easy to setup and even backed-up all within the one device. Think of it as an “IT department in a box!”

Powerful Web Tools
Notes has progressively become a better web-friendly system. The addition of Xpages allows developers to build powerful, web 2.0 applications within the Notes Designer. There’s even built-in Ajax functionality alongside tools that support CSS, XML, etc. (etc. is not a web standard – didn’t want you to think you had something new to learn).

What’s more, the developer community for Notes is building their own cool applications – many of which you can download for free. The ext.nd project is based on ExtJS and gives you an easy jump-start to web enabling databases with a very contemporary, intuitive user interface that instantly gives users lots of dynamic functionality on the web. There’s also plenty of applications to download from OpenNTF.org, a community of web developers who produce fantastic Notes apps (many web-enabled) for free download.

Project Management & Collaboration
Lotus Quickr offers a web based project management & collaboration system. The result is an easy-to-use, highly configurable utility for managing project teams. Quickr “places” (project sites in Quickr) allow users to control access/security, store files in a library, create/manage gantt charts, calendars and even write their own custom forms.

Quickr also includes “Connectors” – software integration that works with Windows Explorer, Microsoft Office, Lotus Notes and many more. Connectors allow you to check in/out documents from a Quickr place without having to leave the software you’ll use to view/edit the document.

Like much of the Lotus software there’s a strong community around Quickr – and that community is so passionate about the power of the software that they provide free stuff! Quickrtemplates.com offers a number of free Quickr place types (customized Quickr site types for specific uses, like wiki’s, contact management and corporate communications) that will let you quickly download, install and launch great Quickr functionality in your organization.

Lotus software offers so much more than I’m able to type out – or you’re willing to read. The bottom line is this: people who hear “Lotus” and think “Lotus Notes – that old email system” are missing out. Lotus software offers some amazing software and has a community around it that makes the software even more powerful. With systems like Notes, Quickr, etc. you’ll be able to easily, quickly, and cost-effectively make a dramatic change in your IT application landscape. Before you know it, you’ll suddenly realize why its the secret sauce behind powerful applications.

We just updated to the latest version of Quickr and WOW is it an improvement. It is noticably faster and its clear that a lot of it has been cleaned up. There’s also a bit more Ajax goodness floating throughout it. Longstoryshort: a strong upgrade for the product.

I’d still LOVE to have the ability to have folders in my personal Quickr place and Mac support. Oh, Mac support… that would be GRAND!

Which brings me to this question: anyone else having problems adding their personal place via Quickr connectors? It looks like you can only add team places, not personal places (which were previously an option to add).

Anyone else found this? Just me? Work arounds?

Meanwhile… this is promising: Pandabear @ Snapps. Its beta so there’s still plenty that I’m sure they’re working on. I’d like to see something different for uploading files (dragging files onto a Panda is fun, but not as business-like as I need it to be) and more functionality added throughout. But its a great concept… especially for those of us who work in a world of multiple OS’s.

Tags: adobe air, lotus, panda, quickr

I spent some time (OK, a lot of time) in the usability lab at LS09. One of the things I got to see was Sametime 8.5, running on an iPhone.

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.

Tags: iphone, ls09, sametime

I just sat through Ed Brill’s session on the future direction of Notes. I’ve kept up with his blog and shared a few spirited (in a positive way) emails with him over the year – but it dawned on my today that I had never seen him speak at Lotusphere. I set out to change that and I’m glad I did. He did an excellent job presenting and is one of those rare speakers you enjoy listening to for a long period of time.

The session was really what I thought was missing out of the OGS. They covered details about where Notes/Domino is going; highlighted features in 8.5; talked about some specifics in the next release; etc. They also talked about IBM/Lotus’ overall vision and philosophy – which really helps explain a lot of what they’ve been doing lately. He talked about how they are working to sort of “pop up” in unusual places, like Macworld. Its a good plan because it gets Lotus in front of end-users with their message (which has been something I’ve said would be a great idea for years now). IBM/Lotus is very happy with their results so far (Ed cited a few articles from a variety of sources that covered product announcements in the last several months). That’s all really positive stuff and frame their mindset as they go to market.

But by far THE MOST EXCITING thing they SHOWED was an iPhone using ActiveSync to connect with a Domino server. The demo was almost lackluster because it worked so well. They opened mail, calendar and contacts – all of which were connected to a Domino source using ActiveSync. VERY impressive!

They said that they weren’t in a position to make an announcement, which means no ETA has been established. Still, it was increadibly exciting to see that its being worked on (and appears to look VERY close to usable!)

Tags: iphone

Update: I attended a session this afternoon which provided the components of the OGS which I thought were missing. The two together have prompted me to change my opinion here. I now have a better understanding of why the OGS was structured the way it was (although they probably could have lifted 5 minutes of content about the direction of Notes/Domino from the INV102 session). I suggest reading that entry first, and then coming back to this one with the understanding that I’ve eased up a bit on my original thoughts.  -KH 1.19.2008 @ 2:45PM EST

The Lotusphere 2009 Opening General Session just finished and, as much as I honestly hate to say this, I can sum it up with one word: disappointing.

Normally, I have 8-12 pages of notes after this session; I want to redo my schedule selection because I’m so excited about new announcements; and I’m just so completely excited and enthusiastic that I start to “get” why people wear those “I bleed yellow” t-shirts. This year? Not so much.

I think Lotus was really trying to shift the OGS from being a demo session “lite” (which we all actually like) and be something that tells the story about their product portfolio. They also talked very little about the direction of Notes/Domino. Infact, hardly anything was mentioned about the Domino server at all.

Some of the highlights:

• 12,236 new Notes customers since the launch of version 8 (impressive!)
• 2% more attendance at Lotusphere this year vs. last (take THAT recession!)
• “Bluehouse” is now “LotusLive Engage” – gone is the cool logo. Instead, it now has both a very Microsoft name and font logo.
• “Alloy” is the new name for Project Atlantic – a sort of joint venture between Notes and SAP
• LinkedIn appeared throughout various slides
• Sametime looks like its getting some BIG improvements! Zero footprint. Great telephony integration. Slick interface. Looks great – can’t wait to use it! My team and I actually decided we need further evaluate this and potentially revamp some of our Cisco strategy.
• “Stuff’ (connections, LotusLive, etc.) works on the iPhone (’cause it has a browser)
• BlackBerry, BlackBerry, BlackBerry, BlackBerry, BlackBerry. (Lotus wants you to say that four times every time you THINK about the iPhone. It was really quite frustrating – the amount of focus they put on the BB and lack of mention of anything helpful for the iPhone.)
• Quickr for Domino will get ECM integration in the next release
• WebSphere – this section compelled people to leave, yet again. I’m really surprised at how many people get up and leave when this starts.
• Integration – its clear that Lotus/IBM have spent A LOT of time getting all of their apps to work together well. Connections, Quickr, LotusLive Engage, Sametime – all of it works together well and will continue to do so in the future.

One other item that’s worth noting is the use of Twitter. The “#LS09″ flag allowed people to tweet realtime throughout the event. I can’t imagine being a presenter and getting instant feedback like that. When its good feedback, I’m sure it helps the energy build – when its not, its got to make things that much worse.

Overall, the feedback I’ve been hearing from people has been surprisingly split. IBM/Lotus employees and business partners seem to be saying that it was the best OGS in a long time. Nearly all of the other people I’ve talked to who are customers completely disagree. I’m hearing people complain about the lack of new announcements for the Notes Client, Domino and Administrator. I’m hearing positive things about Sametime, but a mixed interest in Connections and disappointment in improvements for Quickr. Even the Mac crowd seems to be subdued … most likely largely due to the fact that they now have a great Notes client (and can shut up about wanting one – myself included, btw) and the disappointment about NOT hearing an announcement about an iPhone PIM application (and the repetition of “BlackBerry” throughout the morning didn’t help.)

So there you have it — I’m anxious to hear what others thought as the week goes on. So far (yesterday and the one I’m in now), the sessions have been outstanding. I’d also offer that I had my hopes up for the OGS since the decision was made to announce 8.5 at MacWorld … I assumed Lotus had more surprises up their sleve for their own conference.

Tags: Apple / Mac, iphone, lotusphere, ls09, mac, notes, ogs, quickr, sametime

I have mixed feelings about continuing to post anything about the Notes 8.5 release for the Mac. The fact is that I was one of the many people at Lotusphere 2008 who frantically downloaded the beta release when it was announcd. However, I only kept it installed on my machine a total of 5 weeks because … well, it was beta, slow and buggy and I needed to get stuff done. (I’m not condemming the beta version at all – the fact is that it wasn’t a production version, and that’s what I needed at the time.)

My mixed feelings are due to the fact that I’m stumbling on a lot of things that are interesting and wondering “Was that in the beta? Was that supposed to be there? Was this a problem in the beta? Is this by design?” Regardless, I said I’d post some updates, so that’s what I will do.

First off, I LOVE the way you can check up on your quota in your mail file. There’s an indicator at the top of your email navigation (which seems like it should be clickable, but isn’t) and the ability to access a quick pop-up via a menu to give you some more detailed information. For the record, my mail file is MUCH larger than I’d like it to be. Time to delete.

One of the things I rely on (for now) is the ability to export every calendar entry to an .ics file, which I drag into iCal, thus syncing a number of Mac calendars in my life, including my iPhone. Yes, its not the most glamorous way of doing this, but it works and I’ve been too busy to try alternate methods. There are two problems with doing this in 8.5: 1) I can’t select multiples via the gutter and 2) there are two options for the export type, both of which appear to be similar. I’ve tried both types and they appear to do the same thing.

Finally, I’ve seen a few cases where there is a phantom tip bubble. I haven’t figured out a rhyme or reason to it, but occassionally one appears and doesn’t disappear. In this case, a calendar reminder stayed up over my inbox, workspace and a few applications. Minimizing, then bringing up the window again usually takes care of it.

I still have a lot of positive things to say about this release and I’m thrilled that the Mac version doesn’t appear to be an after-thought on this release. This is all helping build up even more excitement for Lotusphere!

Tags: 8.5, lotusphere, mac, notes, quota

A team from Lotus was on-site at the MacWorld conference this week with an exciting announcement: Lotus Notes 8.5 is available! I was expecting this to be the big announcement at Lotusphere but was excited to see it announced early. I think it goes a long way to show their commitment to the Mac platform … which is great!

There’s only one problem: with the exception of a few trade rags and Lotus blogs, NONE of the Mac-based sites & blogs I read up on were talking about it. That’s incredible unfortunate because its a big announcement and worth mentioning (especially since some of those Mac-based sites picked up stories about iNotes uber-lite when that was announced). However, I realize that *I* maintain one of these Mac-based blog sites, so I’m doing my part to help spread the word!

I’m sure I’ll have lots to comment on over the next several days, but for now, let’s talk about the installation of the Notes 8.5 client for the Mac. The first big piece of news is that there is a “full” and “basic” client available. I didn’t see that coming – what a nice surprise!

My install started with the unpackaging of the tar file, which took some time.

After an hour (thankfully I had a meeting in my office during that time where I could see the screen, but didn’t need to use my computer), the program decided that it didn’t actually want to do the install, so it backed out of the idea:

I decided to try again first thing this morning. To my surprise, it ran through this step VERY quickly (I’m now assuming that something didn’t shut down correctly yesterday when I stopped Notes 7.0.2 before the install). One helpful screen I noticed during the install was an information screen telling me where it would install the program and data files. I rarely need this information, but always have trouble finding it when I do.

Another surprising screen was the options for installing Sametime and the Composite Application Editor – which I’m anxious to check out.

I was also suprised to see some defaulting options for mail, calendar and contacts. I left these checked, but I’ll admit, I’m a bit nervous about NOT using iCal and Mac’s address book as the defaults.

The most entertaining portion of the install is the confirmation screens. As you can see, Lotus REALLY wants you to know that things are done. The first display…

… and then…

… and finally:

You’re done. I got it! 

The other “trick” that I noticed was a “starting up” screen when loading. This is something Windows users have seen for a while now and I wondered when it would make it to the Mac. Reminded me of the old story about a building with a slow elevator that was expensive to replace and caused everyone to complain while waiting impatiently. What did the building owner do? Install mirrors. People were so preoccupied looking at themselves, they assumed the elevators were faster. This screen is the software version of that concept:

Now that the software is loaded and running I can say its a BIG improvement over the 8.5 beta. The team has clearly spent a lot of time working and refining this product and deserve much credit for doing so. It gives me renewed hope in the idea that Lotus is taking Mac users seriously.

Over the next few weeks, I’ll blog more about new features, etc. But one I have to mention now is the dock icon with a count of unread mail messages. This is something Mail.App has had for some time and its GREAT to see Lotus adopt it!

Tags: 8.5, lotus, mac, notes