I’ve been unusually quiet around here lately. Its not for a lack of things to discuss; rather its because I wasn’t sure how to even go about explaining them with any value. Then I realized this is a blog – valuable comments are purely optional on blogs.
First off, we’ve begun the formal launch of Lotus Notes 8.5 in the organization. Its going quite well. We’re using the automatic upgrade, some policies and a home-grown training course (which I’ll post once we’re done with it) in mandatory sessions that last about an hour and a half. User response has been positive. Favorite features include the ability to show other calendars ontop of your own (yet no one is using it with calendars other than internal users) and Sametime IM. I think the later is more of a result of bringing it to the front sidebar than anything else. However, the “preview” of some of the planned Cisco-Sametime integration helped too… people really seem to be excited about that.
Next, Quickr. We came “this close” (put your finger and thumb together spaced about 1cm apart) to jumping ship to SharePoint based largely on user interface. That’s a huge factor. For whatever reason, SharePoint seems instantly more intuitive to our users than Quickr does, despite the fact that we use so little Microsoft-anything its almost unbelievable.
I think some key users toughed it out long enough to make it seem (at the moment) like Quickr will stick around. However it made me seriously think about developing (and then selling, or at least posting for download) a Quickr template that looks like a mirror image of SharePoint. (hint hint – to any enterprising Quickr fan out there looking to make a buck on the side)
Lastly, Sametime. This one is still a product that is suddenly on the fence for us. Don’t get me wrong, its a great tool, looks fantastic and is easy to use. However it has two big “flaws.” It requires some Java stuff to download before the first use (which I’m told changes in 8.5) which is hit-or-miss with how well it works (or how likely the end user is to screw it up by not waiting or paying attention to warning messages).
The second big flaw is in how it renders the screen. Its essentially square blocks which get refreshed based on changes. We see more and more lag with this as we have Sametime meetings around 3D CAD designs, engineering simulations or even screens that require some modest “scrolling” during the meeting. Sametime has a tough time keeping up despite some big internet connections between all parties involved and a dedicated server that’s plenty big.
We’ve looked into Fuze as of late which is a promising tool (and has an iPhone app – bonus!). There is a fair amount of pressure to make a change in our committment to Sametime based largely on these performance issues – however I’m keeping the faith and waiting out the storm for some first hand experience with the 8.5 release. Hopefully that’ll just fix all of my problems.
Oh yeah, and then there’s the iPhone stuff. Still waiting. Patiently. Its coming – I know. And when it does, I anticipate some floodgates opening in the form of people wanting it and then wanting our applications to work closely with it.
Tags: iphone, notes, quickr, sametime, sharepoint
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