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Initial reactions from the Lotusphere OGS…

I don’t think there has been a Lotusphere that I was more interested in seeing what would happen with than LS10. We’ve all been handed a fresh release of  Notes/Domino, a stable Traveler product (answering much of the iPhone demand) and a Sametime release that’s so new it still has that “new car” smell to it. I left for Orlando wondering what they could possibly debut at Lotusphere.

The answer: not a whole lot. And I’m OK with that!

Let’s first cover some of the bullet points I found interesting from the opening general session:

• William Shatner was the guest speaker – he did a great job and reminded me of the power of storytelling in getting your message across. The guy is simply a pro. (He even made fun of his Priceline ads RIGHT as I was tweeting about the same thing)
• WiFi sucked. The APs must have been seriously overwhelmed which is unfortunate. A big part of this event is the community and I found reading the community’s thoughts (via Twitter) in real-time last year to be quite interesting. (Sadly the improved AT&T coverage didn’t help and the fact that I forgot my brand new Verizon MiFi was the final blow to the whole “wireless internet” thing).
• Lots of customer & business partner perpsective stuff. This is a tough thing to do. Unless you can “connect” with the person talking, you tune them out. I personally liked the Xerox story, Panasonic and GM (and the entrance in a yellow Corvette didn’t hurt either). I can really appreciate GM’s willingness to attend this event considering how much PR they’ve had on the company in the last 18 months – not all of which has obviously been positive.
• Notes client – despite being called the foundation of most of the product line, I honestly can’t tell you one single improvement/announcement/feature unique to the client itself (throwing out a few things about integration with other things, LotusLive, etc. and some screen shots from Project: Vulcan). Oddly enough, I’m totally OK with that!
• Quickr – is getting some great attention. I am putting a lot of faith in this product at the office and I’m glad to see improvements being made. I’d like to see them being made faster, but I’ll take what I can get. (Most noteworthy from today was better UI for adding content and iCal support for team calendars.)
• Sametime – This is essentially a whole new product (in my opinion) and it looks fantastic! One “new” thing demo’d was multi-person video conf. support. The term “HD” was thrown out there. I’ve looked at A LOT of systems that do this and Sametime (demo’d with a 3rd party tool from RADvision) isn’t “there” by comparison to other stuff out there. (However, its also much cheaper.)
• Traveler – now supports encrypted messages through a new app in the Apple AppStore.

Other big news included some new updates to LotusLive – all of which were talked  about but only referenced. I’m expecting the “depth” to be in other sessions on that  topic. It looks interesting. I’ve considered LotusLive but felt it was a bit “early” for my tastes. I think its one to watch though!

The biggest news was the announcement of Project Vulcan. Its not a product, its a direction. Simply put – its brilliant! Today’s world is far more transparent than ever before and companies that are making some huge strides in the markeplace are (often) the ones who embrace this and use “being transparent” to their advantage. I expect (hope) this is where Lotus is going as well.

Project Vulcan is a sort of mission for Lotus’ focusing on building on their existing portfolio, converging their products (and how you deploy them either on-premise or in a cloud) and innovations which drive businesses forward (such as social software) – all of which is designed to foster new opportunities.

Its a good move for Lotus because it helps the community understand WHAT they are focusing on. I expect that in the coming months/years we can then translate that into the products and features that evolve as a result of this.

That being said – “Lotus Knows” their audience and knew that they needed to show some screen shots working versions of products to help us wrap our minds around it. And those products look outstanding! (Very “Apple” in a few cases – which I think is good.)

Final thoughts: much like last year, I didn’t walk away excited about new products. It didn’t feel anywhere near an Apple type of event. However I did walk away excited about Alistair Rennie taking over the GM position (he’s hilarious off-script!) and excited about the future Lotus is embarking on!

It will be interesting to see what the rest of the week brings, especially at mini-keynotes and in various technical sessions (which, as they did last year, will no doubt contain many more announcements that simply didn’t “fit” into the OGS).

Tags: lotusphere, ls10, vulcan

I’ll admit that in every single one of the 8 (I think that number is right) Lotusphere’s I’ve attended, I haven’t given much thought to the LS online tool that’s prepared with the event. Until now.

Perhaps the lsonline.info site has been this good in the past – but this was the first year I’ve noticed it … and WOW is it a great tool! The interface is very easy to use. I was able to scan through the list of sessions and create a calendar of what I wanted to see in very short order (a process that normally involves multiple reads through the materials, scanning for sessions that repeat and generally a good afternoon planning session right after I pick up my Lotusphere registration information).

But the best part was that I could export my schedule as an .ics file which then can be uploaded into Notes so that my calendar is available with me – how handy is that!

It doesn’t end there, they’ve also provided a mobile interface (www.lsonline.info/m) which works fantastic with my iPhone!

Very cool!

Tags: iphone, lotusphere, ls10

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

One of the other sites I work on quite a bit is Netcot.com (which, for those of you looking for a great weekly podcast about Disney parks, I’d suggest checking out now — or in the iTunes podcast area under “Kids & Family” – its been a featured podcast for a bazillion months now).

Anyway… I’ve wanted to do a video that blends Lotus and Disney… eh… worlds, into one segment for a couple of years now – and I’ve had no shortage of people to help me. I did, however, have a shortage of time to edit it … until now.

The video below is a look at what its like to attend a conference at Walt Disney World and it heavily features the Lotusphere event. The video is targeted at listeners of the Netcot Podcast (read: fans of Disney parks) but I thought people reading this blog might enjoy it as well.

Tags: disney, fun, lotusphere

Sadly, no, I’m not talking about ActiveSync support for Notes. I’m not even talking about a session guide for the 2010 Lotusphere. No, I’m talking about the newly released iPhone application for Disney’s Swan and Dolphin resort.

The application is designed to be a helpful guide to restaurants, activities and everything else at the resorts. Its a free application that is great for the first time visitor of the event (or for big Disney fans). Clever features in the application include clickable phone numbers (which isn’t so much of a technical accomplishment as it is a nice idea they didn’t over-look) for making reservations or contacting the hotel directly. The app is the first iPhone application for any Disney resort hotel anywhere in the world… and technically, the resorts aren’t owned by Disney.

Tags: disney, iphone, lotusphere

Two weeks ago today I was sitting in the Lotusphere 2009 OGS. I was also in much nicer weather, despite the fact that it was the longest cold streak in Orlando in 20 years. Today, I’m still on a sort of Lotusphere-high and I’m really surprised (and pleased) to see my team is applying a lot of what they learned at the event.

One of the things we were most excited about was DAOS. This utility falls under the category of “stuff I never expected IBM/Lotus to come up with, but am REALLY glad they did.” This is a great example of some brilliant thinking on the part of the Lotus development team because it gets at a core problem within nearly every company: huge amounts of redundant file attachments.

Armed with more how-to knowledge about DAOS, we returned to the office with the goal of implementing this as one of the first action items coming out of Lotusphere. Below are stats from just two of our servers:

• Mail server:
  - 171 db’s analyzed
  - 162GB of NSFs
  - 647,001 attachments
  - 368,877 duplicate attachments
  - Disk savings: 64.1GB
• Application server:
  - 158 db’s analyzed
  - 52.6GB of NSFs
  - 410,219 attachments
  - 148,035 duplicate attachments
  - Disk savings: 12GB

Beyond disk savings on those servers, the value of this extends (almost exponentially) to our backup solution. We store a few days of backups on-disk (so that savings is multiplied) and then write to tape (again, multiplying the savings) and finally to archive tapes. When you consider that the Lotus Notes/Domino upgrade that contains this feature is included in our normal maintenance and that the savings extends throughout our infrastructure … it becomes a tool that’s so much more impressive.

Tags: daos, domino, lotusphere

Under the category of: “stuff I don’t want to admit is wrong with my Apple products…”

My MacBookPro has been having a battery issue lately. This is due either to voiding the heck outta the warranty to get the drive space upgrade I needed, or a battery that’s nearing the end of its life. The result has been a more heavy dependence on my iPhone.

I didn’t realize just how much I’d be using this device down here. Twitter, email, contacts, brightkite, the LS09 app (which is SOOO much nicer than carrying one more book), camera, photos, beamMe (business card xfer), iNotes uberlite and, oh yeah, phone calls.

This has given me a whole new appreciation for the already-huge appreciation I had for this device… with one tiny exception: battery life. Ugh. I’ve yet to deplete it completely, but I’ve seen it get lower than ever before. To compensate, I’ve stopped using brightkite (which does a lot of GPS) and check email a few times less.

Kinda makes me wonder what the deal is with Mac/Apple/iPhone batteries in my life.

Tags: battery, iphone, lotusphere, ls09

An odd thing happened in my first session today… I heard someone say “… blog post about things to do to get applause down here.” I wondered if someone else came up with the idea also, or if he was talking about my post. Either way, during the first session of the morning, I found myself inspired to create another helpful list of sorts – this time of things you should, or should not, do as a LS presenter. Enjoy:

• DO shut off ALL IM programs. All of them.
• DO shut off weather alert software
• DON’T keep Skype logged in
• DO your Windows updates the night before
• DON’T put your start bar in the “moron” position (I have to admit – I’ve now heard ONE explanation for why to do this that made it seem a bit less like a silly idea.)
• DON’T run your presentation off your battery only if its at <60% when you get started
• DO pick a WiFi status (on and connected or off completely)
• DON’T put your screen in anything higher than 1024×768, its just too tough to see in big rooms
• DON’T use a beta or alpha build of the thing you’re doing a demo on – when you’re in a session about “what’s new” in the most recent version release of software.

Tags: lotusphere, ls09

I realized today that there is a sort of “fool proof formula” for obtaining applause at Lotusphere! You simply need to do a few of the following things. Hopefully this helps some of you who are presenting. 

• Take any function/process that everyone hates – and fix it
• Show editors for inline complete of javascript, xml, html, etc.
• Pause for 3 seconds after you do something in your demo
• Ask: “Do you want that?” when showing an upcoming feature
• Do a demo in 5 minutes of something that today takes us 1 day to create, 2 to test and 3 to debug
• Let Maureen do the presenting (she’s always got great stuff!)
• XPages. Any time you talk or demo about it – you win
• Mention ANYTHING about support for Mac’s
• Mention ANYTHING about support for the iPhone
• Copy/paste a replica ID

Tags: lotusphere, ls09

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