Potential Policy setters, We are working on some POTENTIAL (no promises!) changes to local mail replicas, and we're calling it "cache mode" (the term is not final, if you have suggestions, make them). I want to check with you to ensure that our proposed new/changed desktop policy settings are OK with you. Please read thru and see the questions at the end.
Description Cache mode: essentially a copy of Samantha's data from the mail file is kept locally and Replicated/synchronized automatically with the data stored on the server. Samantha works with her mail file the same as if she were connected directory to the server, but in fact, she is accessing the data locally. For the near term, we'll implement local cache using our local replica technology; cache is actually a transparent local replica of Samatha's mail file. Technically, a cache IS a local replica with some additional characteristics:
We will initially create it, and do it in the background continuing to use a server copy until it is fully available.
Once a cache is available, we will prefer to use it over a server copy unless the user specifically tries to open a server copy.
We will prevent deletion and setting changes.
If the cache becomes corrupt, we will delete it and recreate it and use the server copy in the interim.
If the cache needs to be fixed up, we will try to fix it and use the server copy in the interim
Some Use Cases Sending a message - When Samantha sends a message she does not experience the potential delay that she might experience if it were being sent immediately to the server. This is because the message is sent to a local outgoing mailbox. - Because the message is sent to a local outgoing mailbox first she is not blocked from continuing with other tasks - She is made aware without being blocked by having to dismiss a dialog, that the message has not completed its delivery
I will post more design details and ask more questions about Cache mode in future postings. Today my questions are about the new/different policy settings. Specifically, on the Desktop Policy - Mail tab. We're thinking of providing a new choice-- rather than specifying whether to make a local replica, we want to give "Fred the admin" the ability to do several things. -- We want your feedback on what read admins need here.
Initially, we had said that if a local replica exists, we would not create a cache. This is where we could use some input.
As you can see from below, we could set an existing local replica as a cache.
If we converted a local replica into a cache, we would also want to determine what settings, if any we would override (for example, if Samantha already has a local replica that lasts for 365 days, but Fred-the-adin sets a cache policy for keeping it for 180 days, do we let Samantha keep it for 365 or do we apply the new policy completely?, e.g. how much of the server copy to keep local)
So in the policy choices below (second picture) so these choices seem reasonable? (And do you want some additional setting to respect or not respect any current replica setting?) Make a local replica Create a cache Create cache or convert local replica if present
And we are also re-arranging some of the choices in this Mail tab.
To help you understand, I have posted a screenshot of the current UI below, and then of the proposed UI below that. Let me know what, if any, specific things you think we should change about not only the policy UI, but also the version settings of what the admin can specify
Current Mail policy tab:
Proposed changes:
Summary of questions: 1. Is the term "cache mode" acceptable and if not, what would you suggest? 2. Are the policy choices for replica vs cache mode appropriate and if not what would you suggest? 3. Are the UI changes to the mail policy tab acceptable 4. A THOUGHT for the future: We might want to cache things beyond mail files-- thus, I would expect that the Cache Settings that we have right now only applies to the mail file, but could apply to additional mail files or Dbs in the future (And might impact where in the policy we would want to place the information) - Is creating caches for other Dbs of interest to you and should we be proactive and NOT put these settings in mail policy at all, rather extract them out at a higher level to begin with? Thanks for your feedback - I realize this is a lot of stuff to read about!
The telephone usage survey results are in!
Thu, Mar 18th 2010 11:14a Velda Bartek This is Velda and Michelle again... On February 24, we asked you to complete a Telephone Usage Survey to help us gather data about how you typically use your phone. 42 of you accepted our invitation! You shared really interesting information that will help us as we continue work on our Sametime Unified Telephony product. Here's a sample of what you said: When making a phone call, 48% of you find the person in saved contacts/number on your phone. 86% of you typically look up the call [read] Keywords: sametime
255
How to send someone an email that shows your calendar availability
Fri, Mar 12th 2010 1:14p Mary Beth Raven Fabulous Free-time users, Even though Notes has a tab for "Find Available Time" in our invitation AND even though we have integration with Tungle, sometimes we get asked if you can just "send a snapshot of your free time" to an AA or other person (It appears that former Outlook users might be the most common source of this request), At any rate, YES YOU CAN, Here is how (many thanks to John Lance for writing this up) To send an email with your availability, do the following: 1. Go [read] Keywords: notes
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Share files in online meetings?
Wed, Mar 10th 2010 3:18a Velda Bartek If you share files in online meetings, I'm looking for you. I need your assistance in understanding what features are important to you when you share files from your local system, Lotus Quickr, Lotus Connections, LotusLive, or other file sharing applications in Sametime Meetings. Your responses will be used to assist the Sametime Meetings UX team as we consider how to improve file sharing in online meetings. Please take 5 minutes to rate the 16 features in this brief study. The stu [read] Keywords: connections
lotus
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How to let users define their own default font for Rich text fields
Tue, Mar 9th 2010 11:15a Mary Beth Raven Terrific Template users, If you have users who like to always use certain colors or fonts when writing in rich text fields, here's a tip on how to let them set their own and then make it the default for themselves. (Thanks to Mike Carroll for this tip). Use this trick in any template to allow users to use their own font for rich text fields. To accomplish this the following must happen. The Template developer needs to create a Permanent Style (ex. MyRichTextStyle) and apply it to the par [read] Keywords: rich text
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Please consider voting for the Lil Iguana Children’s safety foundation so that they get a grant
Thu, Mar 4th 2010 8:45a Mary Beth Raven Hi friends, this is a purely personal post that has nothing to do with IBM Lotus. My children have benefitted from the "Lil Iguana" children's safety programs. The Lil Iguana foundation is a local (Nashua NH) organization and they are in the running for a grant from Pepsi. People get to vote for the charities they think should receive the money. Please feel free to check out -- and vote for - the Lil Iguana foundation. ( think only USA-based people are supposed to vote) You can learn mor [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
Regarding Andy’s blog posting abotu the going to the wrong replica
Thu, Feb 25th 2010 5:44p Mary Beth Raven Over on Andy Pedisch's blog today he asked about a recurring "goes to the wrong replica" issue Here is how it is supposed to work. There was a bug (now fixed but I do not know which release, I think in 8.5.1) introduced in Notes 8.0 in which the last used replica was used even on startup. There is a location document and it has: which specifies either use server or local copy. The behavior is suppose to be: During a Notes session, the 1st time mail is opened it is based on this [read] Keywords: notes
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Talk on the phone? Take 5 minutes and talk to us.
Wed, Feb 24th 2010 3:15a Velda Bartek Hi, everyone. This is Velda and Michelle. We are members of the WPLC User Experience team. We work with Mary Beth and the other User Experience team members that you frequently talk with. We are focusing on phone support in our Sametime set of offerings. We would love to hear how you commonly use your phone. Here's a brief survey that asks you twelve questions about your phone usage. In 5 minutes, you can provide us with invaluable input to the future design direction of the Sam [read] Keywords: sametime
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Here is an opportunity to tell the internationalization team what you think about Lotus Product consumability
Mon, Feb 22nd 2010 4:14a Mary Beth Raven Customers, I invite you to take the consumability experience survey (link below). My colleagues in IBM's internationalization tea are conducting a survey, and would like your input. Generally, they are looking for customer satisfaction information related to several aspects of IBM products. You can respond to the survey for any IBM product, but obviously, they've asked me to help gather some additional responses as it relates to Lotus software. The survey questions are detailed and ask abou [read] Keywords: ibm
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How to add a web app THAT REQURES AUTHENTICATION to your sidebar
Fri, Feb 19th 2010 10:14a Mary Beth Raven My last post explained how to add a web app to your sidebar-- in this post, I explain how to add a web app that requires authentication to your sidebar. This includes web apps like gmail, twitter and so on. In this example, I'm going to use Twittergadget. The Configure a Widget wizard opens and detects two options from the context: Configure a component from this web page or Configure a component from a form on this web page. Choose the first option: “This Web Page…(HTTP GET)†[read] Keywords: twitter
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