Lotus Notes upgrade workshops
Thu, Aug 26th 2010 5:33a Darren Adams My frolleague Matt Newton is running a series of Notes upgrade workshops during September and October. With Notes / Domino 8.5.2 available this week there’s never been a better time to look at upgrading a back-version infrastructure, to take advantage of the attractive and highly-functional Notes client and the many improvements on the Domino server (many of which will contribute to lowering the cost of ownership). To quote the invite…
The Notes & Domino 8.5.x upgrade workshop is [read] Keywords: domino
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IBM Lotus / IDC webcast on Unified Communications
Thu, Aug 26th 2010 5:33a Darren Adams Just a quick one… on the 9th of September at 14:00 (UK time) I’ll be joining IDC for a webcast on Unified Communications. The core theme will be to discuss whether the adoption of Unified Communications requires a rip-and-replace (I can tell you now, the answer is ‘no’). Here’s an overview…
Last year one of the key concerns highlighted by delegates at IDC’s Unified Communications conference was whether UC requires significant investment in new communications [read] Keywords: ibm
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Macs only come in white or silver
Wed, Aug 11th 2010 1:26p Darren Adams What keeps Steve Ballmer awake at night? No, not Mrs Ballmer’s snoring. And probably not the IBM Lotus portfolio. Linux maybe? Well, someone from Microsoft did once tell me that Lotus doesn’t keep Bill Gates awake at night (hence my comment) but Linux does. Why Linux? Because it starts to break down Microsoft’s halo effect… Linux servers replacing Windows servers will hinder .NET and SharePoint deployments and Linux desktops will scupper Windows and Office, which are Micr [read] Keywords: ibm
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At last, new music reviews
Fri, Jul 30th 2010 6:26p Darren Adams Reviews on dadams.co.uk come along as regularly as certain comets pass the Earth, so let’s crack on. First up is the new album from We Are Scientists, the bizarrely-named ‘Barbara’. Why ‘Barbara’? I have absolutely no idea. But what I do know is that it’s a damn fine fourth studio album from the band that are now once again a three-piece – drummer Andy Burrows, formerly of the dreadful Razorlight, making an excellent career move.
Barbara is a return to t [read] Keywords: blogger
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Cool stuff in Notes 8.5.2
Sun, Jul 4th 2010 6:26p Darren Adams Warning – this blog post contains details about a yet-to-be-released product version. There is a remote possibility that some features may not make the shipping version, blah blah, etc.
IBM Lotus Notes 8.5.2 (to keep the brand police happy) is scheduled for release in Q3 of 2010. Those of you working to the Gregorian calendar may say “hey, it’s Q3 now” – indeed it is, so expect it soon. ‘Soon’ is of course a vague adverb – in the grand scale of the [read] Keywords: domino
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Looking ahead to 2014
Mon, Jun 28th 2010 5:24a Darren Adams I’ll be brief. I didn’t see the England versus Germany match because I was watching Lolli’s gymnastics competition (where she picked up a silver medal). I did see the post-match analysis and the obvious talking point was the ‘goal that never was’. I hope that the match officials feel suitably ashamed this morning, and I hope that stubborn old git Sepp “we don’t need video replays” Blatter had a sleepless night. In a game in which the outcome is ess [read] Keywords: facebook
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Five reasons why BlackBerry is still winning
Wed, Jun 16th 2010 3:26a Darren Adams This article from TechRublic is nearly two months old, but remains an interesting read. I’ve observed that, in the past year, interest in iPhones and Android has grown significantly but I’ve yet to meet a customer with a serious strategy around those devices. The trend, as pointed out in the article, is for end users to enthusiastically bring their shiny new devices into work and then ask (expect?) the IT team to get it working with the company’s solutions – mainly e-mail [read] Keywords: domino
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30 reasons why software rules at IBM
Sun, Jun 13th 2010 7:26p Darren Adams To start with, I think this article has an amusing opening line…
Once the neglected stepchild of IBM’s colossal services business and systems unit…
Presented in the style of a slide-show, this article describes why software is now big business in IBM (which I’m rather relieved to hear). The Lotus brand gets three slides right at the end, describing Project Vulcan, LotusLive Labs and the expanding support for mobile devices. So, head straight to slide 25. [read] Keywords: ibm
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I love the iPod nano
Sat, Jun 12th 2010 8:25p Darren Adams While a large percentage of the world has been staging a love-in with the iPad, I’ve been falling in love with another of Apple’s devices. A couple of weeks ago I received an iPod nano as a gift, and as I already had an iPod touch I wondered what use it would be to me. I had, previously, pondered Apple’s strategy for this device (albeit the 4th generation device, not the 5th) but now I find myself eating my words… absolutely feasting on them in fact.
For something so pack [read] Keywords: apple
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Sametime – all together now…
Wed, Jun 9th 2010 6:29p Darren Adams I don’t have a ship date yet for IBM Lotus Sametime 8.5.1, but (no surprise) I’m already using it. A couple of weeks ago I installed the Sametime Connect 8.5.1 client on Ubuntu 10.04, and this week (while enjoying some conference calls) I installed the ‘embedded’ version of Sametime 8.5.1 into Lotus Notes 8.5.1.
As always with a point release there’s a few enhancements and a few bug fixes. But the really important thing about Sametime 8.5.1 in my humble opinion is t [read] Keywords: ibm
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Lotus Notes Traveler on the iPad
Wed, Jun 9th 2010 4:26a Darren Adams It’s a busy week for announcements in Lotus-land, but that tends to happen around the time of DNUG (which is this week, so there you go). Already this week Stuart McIntyre blogged about the new version of Lotus Quickr 8.5, which we have available internally with IBM and is a major upgrade (and a great product). More about that another time.
The other big announcement this week is the support for IBM Lotus Notes Traveler on the iPad. This momentarily had me scratching my head, because I set [read] Keywords: ibm
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Lotus webcasts in June
Wed, Jun 9th 2010 3:25a Darren Adams Here’s a chance to register for some Lotus webcasts during June…
A deep-dive on building Lotus Domino applications with XPages (17th)
Drive growth and deliver outstanding business results through exceptional web experiences (22nd)
Harness a changing workforce and drive growth with social software (23rd)
Collaboration in the cloud: grow your business and reduce costs (24th)
To register go to this page and then follow the links to the individual webcasts. [read] Keywords: collaboration
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Symphony 3 beta 3
Tue, Jun 8th 2010 7:24p Darren Adams Ooops, IBM Lotus Symphony 3, to give it its correct branding. Anyway, you all know the story with Symphony… spreadsheets, word processing and presentations, compatible with Microsoft Office and the Open Document Formats, it comes with IBM Lotus Notes 8.x (free support for maintained users) and Symphony can be downloaded separately and used free-of-charge.
I’ve been using Symphony 3 on Windows and Mac since the release of beta 2 back in February. It’s a huge improvement over ver [read] Keywords: ibm
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LotusLive Meetings on the iPhone
Mon, May 10th 2010 7:24p Darren Adams LotusLive Meetings is now available for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch… click here to visit iTunes and download. The application is free, so for LotusLive Meetings there’s no charge to be a meeting delegate whether you’re using a web browser, an iPhone or a supported BlackBerry device (client still in beta).
This iPhone application is incredibly easy to use – simply add the details of meetings you want to join (those details consist of your user name and the meeting ID). [read] Keywords: apple
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Firefox continues to gain market share
Sat, May 8th 2010 7:28p Darren Adams In the past I’ve blogged a few times about Firefox’s continued rise in market share, and this week it was announced that the trend continues. I immediately compared the new statistics to previous blog posts and came to the conclusion that the information doesn’t always come from the same source, as the figures jump about a bit. The latest information shows that Internet Explorer has fallen to 59.9% while Firefox now boasts 24.5%. So this doesn’t tally with data from StatC [read] Keywords: facebook
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Missie-dog update
Sat, May 8th 2010 9:29a Darren Adams Let’s start with a quote from Mrs A…
How much trouble can a dog that small be?
It was fifteen weeks ago that we picked our new pup Missie. At the time I promised lots more photos, but unless you’re one of my Facebook friends you’ll still be waiting. So here’s one (click on it to see the full picture) that comes from a set of photos taken during an unusually warm spell of April weather and is affectionately known as ‘the swamp creature’.
Missie has change [read] Keywords: facebook
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Terribly serious political blog post
Fri, May 7th 2010 7:24p Darren Adams If you weren’t aware, let me inform you that there was a general election in the UK yesterday. I kid ye not. After weeks of tedious bickering, debates which didn’t include a single punch, one hurled egg, insulting of bigoted pensioners and kissing of babies, it all culminated in a result which wasn’t really a proper result. Yes, we now have a hung parliament. What’s a hung parliament? Let me explain… no, actually, just read this. Or if this is already too boring, he [read] Keywords: facebook
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IBM Lotus ‘Power of Business Applications’ conference
Fri, May 7th 2010 10:24a Darren Adams Okay, I was waiting until I’d done a final check with the speakers and had titles for all of the sessions, but the cat is now out of the bag… the landing page for the event is available. That means you can now see the near-finalised agenda and you can register for the event (16th June at IBM Bedfont Lakes).
As I mentioned in a previous post, this event is about applications (and their business value) but it’s not just about development. There will be sessions (in the first trac [read] Keywords: ibm
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Crappy support for FIFA ‘10
Mon, May 3rd 2010 6:25p Darren Adams There’s nothing I like better after a hard day of doing IBM’s and Mrs A’s bidding than sitting down to a spot of FIFA ‘10 on the Xbox 360. With great graphics and excellent game-play it’s a must-have for anyone who owns an Xbox and likes football (note, ‘football’, a game played with a ball and the feet… not played with an egg-shaped thing while wearing body armour). Plonk me down in front of the big plasma screen with a snoozing puppy on my lap an [read] Keywords: ibm
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A week of LotusLive with Open Logic
Thu, Apr 29th 2010 4:24a Darren Adams IBM Premier Business Partner Open Logic will be hosting four LotusLive webinars in the first half of May. Our own LotusLive technical specialist Thomas McErlean will be joining to help with the Q&A sessions.
To register simply visit Open Logic’s home page and click on the link. [read] Keywords: ibm
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Exchange alternatives
Wed, Apr 28th 2010 2:28p Darren Adams Thanks to my frolleague Mark Holmes for the link to a very enlightening article on ZDNet. It discusses the fact that although Microsoft Exchange has “clear market dominance” – figures and sources please, ZDNet – there are alternatives on the market. That’s probably not a huge revelation, especially if you work for a company that doesn’t use Exchange.
These Exchange alternatives exist because they tend to work out cheaper, as well as being easier to both manage [read] Keywords: collaboration
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UK LCTY event videos now on-line
Tue, Apr 27th 2010 12:24p Darren Adams If you missed the UK LCTY events, or you attended and want to enjoy the sessions all over again, you can go here.
It has been noted that the audience looks a bit sparse, but that’s because the camera captures the first few rows. And as you all know, people tend to avoid the front rows. I don’t know why – I know you get wet when you sit at the front at SeaWorld, but that doesn’t tend to happen at software events. [read] Keywords: lotus
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UK Lotus Developer Conference – date confirmed
Wed, Apr 21st 2010 5:28a Darren Adams In a recent post I announced our intention for a UK Lotus Developer Conference, and I’m now very pleased to be able to announce the date – Wednesday the 16th of June, 2010. The location will be the rather splendid IBM forum at Bedfont Lakes. As yet I don’t have an agenda or a link for registration, but that will be coming soon so please stay tuned.
I have the beginnings of an agenda (and thank you to all speaking volunteers), and as you’d expect topics such as XPages and [read] Keywords: domino
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Trust in the cloud
Tue, Apr 20th 2010 4:28p Darren Adams Every time someone mentions ‘the cloud’ this week your mind wanders… are the talking about ‘the cloud’ as in that fuzzy collection of Internet-based services and storage, or that cloud of volcanic ash which is keeping the airport duty-free shops empty and raising the profit forecasts of car hire companies? The article I’ve been reading, from the BBC ‘Click’ web site, discusses the Internet-based cloud and whether your data is safe. If you go to any [read] Keywords: domino
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A good time to look at LotusLive Meetings
Mon, Apr 19th 2010 3:28p Darren Adams I couldn’t really let the opportunity pass. The volcanic apocalypse is yet another example of the disruption that we all potentially face, one of those things that scuppers our travel plans. Other things outside of your control include inclement weather, terrorism, strike action, and incompetence – for example, you missing your flight because an idiot lorry driver has crashed and the motorway has been closed because his cargo of pigs is now loose. Don’t laugh, it happened last [read] Keywords: lotus
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LCTY versus the volcano
Mon, Apr 19th 2010 1:28p Darren Adams This promised to be a busy week – two LCTY events, and in the middle I had to go to Dublin for a day to provide some Lotus strategy / portfolio training. That involved flying from Heathrow to Dublin, Dublin to Edinburgh, and then Edinburgh to Heathrow. Mother Nature had other ideas, but more on that later.
LCTY London was a knock-out – I don’t know the final attendance number but the place was swarming with customers and business partners. I spent a lot of the day with the film [read] Keywords: ibm
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Spare a thought…
Sun, Apr 18th 2010 6:28a Darren Adams …for Warren Elsmore and Matt White. While my journey from DanNotes last year was a little stressful, it’s nothing compared to the odyssey that they’re currently enduring to get home. Like me they were supposed to take a flight back home on Thursday but plans were scuppered by the volcanic apocalypse. Unlike me, they were in Denmark – I had the relatively easy journey from Edinburgh to London by train… not the most entertaining five hours I’ve ever spent, but a [read] Keywords: facebook
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Volcanic apocalypse
Thu, Apr 15th 2010 8:24p Darren Adams It was Lotusphere Comes To You week in the UK, with two great events in London and Edinburgh… more about those in another post. But it was while in Edinburgh that I got an early morning text message from my airline-of-choice telling me that my flight was cancelled. The reason…? Because a volcano had erupted in Iceland.
C’mon, did they honestly expect me to be believe that? [read] Keywords: lotusphere
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dadams.co.uk on the iPhone
Wed, Apr 7th 2010 6:28a Darren Adams Thanks go to Paul Mooney for discovering a useful WordPress plug-in. WPtouch adds a mobile theme to a WordPress blog – a theme that is optimised for the iPhone or iPod touch. So rather than trying to navigate around the plethora of interesting content on dadams.co.uk using the standard look and feel (which can be a challenge as there’s so much to enjoy), you get a simplified and easy-to-navigate interface. If you prefer the full dadams.co.uk experience you can switch back to it.
Got [read] Keywords: facebook
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WordPress for the iPhone and iPod touch
Fri, Apr 2nd 2010 6:25p Darren Adams Normally I’d be writing blog posts on my iMac or ThinkPad upstairs, but as WordPress for the iPhone / iPod touch is now available I can now write blog posts and (if necessary) approve and reject comments from the comfort of the sofa or in the kitchen. It won’t make dadams.co.uk any more interesting, but it might make the blog posts a bit shorter. [read] Keywords: apple
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A new job… another one
Thu, Apr 1st 2010 7:25p Darren Adams This was announced on Twitter today, but I wanted to provide some more information. Following nine months in the role of Messaging & Collaboration Business Unit Executive (North East Europe) I’m moving back to a role with Lotus UK & Ireland (UKI as it’s known). In the this new role I’ll be looking after the growth markets of Unified Communication & Collaboration and software-as-a-service. In other words, Sametime in all it’s flavours, Sametime Unified Telephon [read] Keywords: collaboration
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Microsoft Exchange 2010 – fun with PST files
Wed, Mar 31st 2010 2:25p Darren Adams It was just over two years ago that Michael Vizard of eWeek wrote:
Within the land of IT, nothing is a bigger pain to own, manage and run than Microsoft Exchange. Everywhere you go customers have horror stories about the installation, maintenance and, above all, uptime of their Microsoft Exchange implementations.
Unfortunately the actual article is no longer available, but if you Google ‘michael vizard exchange pain’ you’ll find enough references to the article to prove that it [read] Keywords: archiving
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UK Lotus Developer Conference
Mon, Mar 29th 2010 12:25p Darren Adams Okay, I’m feeling like things have progressed enough to throw the door open, announce our intention and starting getting ideas and feedback. This is something I’ve been wanting to do for a while, mainly because of what I mentioned in my previous post… Notes applications offer incredible business value and with recent additions to the Notes / Domino product line (e.g. XPages, composite applications, widgets) you can now do so much more than just build plain ol’ Notes appli [read] Keywords: domino
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Polymorph providing Notes applications at Practice Plan
Mon, Mar 29th 2010 9:25a Darren Adams Polymorph, a premier IBM Business Partner who just happen to be hosting Lotusphere Comes To You in Warrington this year, have posted a testimonial video for one of their customers (Practice Plan) on their web site. I love stuff like this, because it highlights the big differentiator between Lotus Notes and it’s competitors… line-of-business applications. E-mail is a mission-critical solution, but no matter how cost-effective you make it, it is a cost to a business. Applications howev [read] Keywords: ibm
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IBM Lotus and OpenSpan webinar
Fri, Mar 26th 2010 6:31p Darren Adams Webinar… now, there’s a word your grandparents probably never used (and they probably didn’t ever use ‘leverage’ as a verb either). Anyway, our friends at OpenSpan provide a Windows Container for use with IBM Lotus Expeditor and Notes composite applications, and on the 14th of April we (i.e. Lotus and OpenSpan) will be holding a joint webinar to talk about this nifty piece of technology which allows your Expeditor or Notes composite-based applications to pull in and [read] Keywords: expeditor
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Lotusphere Comes To You (UK) guest speakers
Thu, Mar 25th 2010 5:23a Darren Adams An update on the guest speakers… not William Shatner, not Leonard Nimoy, and certainly not Harry Hill (I admit defeat). In Edinburgh we have Baroness Eliza Manningham-Buller DCB, who is described as the former ‘real-life M’. Or for those of you less familiar with the 007 franchise, James Bond’s boss (if he existed). Given the events she handled during her career, this should be a fascinating talk.
For London I’m very excited by the prospect of hearing from Professor [read] Keywords: collaboration
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