When looking into the software universe you usually find 2 kinds of software: standard software (like OpenOffice, SAP, Lotus Notes) and custom (or bespoke) software (which is build by an ISV or an inhouse team). On a closer look there is a third category. In IBM we call that a software asset. Such an asset solves a business problem in a repeatable way but hasn't enough breadth or depth to justify the process that turns it into a standard software. Typically software assets are used together with consulting and implementation service. Inside Lotus, to no surprise, there are a lot of these assets under management by the IBM Software Services for Lotus (ISSL). From time to time I'd like to introduce this solutions. Here are two:
Automated Database Deployment for Lotus Notes(ADD4LN - IBM internally known as Database-o-matic): Allow business users to create new databases based on selected templates and manage them including the access control. Users won't need to learn the ACL dialogs or the Notes admin client. Why is it interesting: One of Lotus Notes' biggest fans clearly stated, that databases are the key to Notes bliss. However allowing anybody create access to any server only ends in a maintenance nightmare. ADD4LN fills that gap by not only making creation easy, but also helping to keep track. ADD4N does this one thing very well, and is fast and easy to implement. If you are looking for a more versatile solution, you need to ask Bill.
My Attachments Tool (MAT). MAT moves automatically or on trigger all attachments from your mail file into a separate attachment database and replaces the original attachment with a DocLink to the new location. It identifies duplicate files and only keeps one copy. MAT predates tools like DAOS and Quickr and is still a valid addition to your toolset. MAT works on Windows, Linux, Mac and OS/2. Normally you would use a local attachment database, so no server side storage is required. I have configured my MAT to archive any attachment that is older than 7 days. Why is it interesting: While that 50 MB Powerpoint presentation is stored only once in DAOS for all 500 users, it still counts 500x against the quota. With MAT you can remove these attachments from your quota and still enjoy the fulltext search and intact context of the attachment (who send what file when is often as important as the content itself). MAT works offline by design and can be replicated if desired (the Quickr connectors are not there yet). MAT also helps to eliminate local duplicates. I use it every day (OK, the background agent works for me every day).
Your local IBM sales rep will know more - or drop me a note.
Happy Birthday Anthony and Ernest
Sun, Mar 14th 2010 5:35a Stephan H Wissel 10 years ago the biggest adventure of my life started. It is still on and I'm still learning.
Happy birthday Anthony and Ernest!
Being a geek dad we celebrate with the appropriate present and stuff to chill out afterwards. [read] Keywords:
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Broadband and web2.0 applications
Sun, Mar 14th 2010 4:33a Stephan H Wissel Singapore is one of the most wired companies in the world with a Broadband penetration exceeding 100% (Korea take that ). I recently switched to Starhub from SingTel on one of their midrange plans (not the alledged 100 MBPS one), so I was curious and headed over to SpeedTest to check how I'm doing. Locally I got 8.42 Mbps and overseas 5.37 (Boston), 4.76 (San Franscisco) and 5.3 (Texas) Mbps.
Should be ample power for any web based application isn't it? Not so fast. Just recall how most of [read] Keywords: lotus
symphony
ajax
application
applications
development
google
network
web 2.0
web2.0
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Boys and their toys VII
Sat, Mar 6th 2010 6:24a Stephan H. Wissel The good Movie Bag is loosing shape and SWMBO insists on replacement. SoI had a look at Varier: [read] Keywords:
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Address Dialog on stereoids
Sat, Feb 27th 2010 3:23p Stephan H Wissel Over the long live of Lotus Notes the address dialog has been a trusted, never changing compagnion:
Over the years it got some facelift like the ability to drag and drop or the ability to sort by Notes hierarchy, language or corporate hierarchy (anybody seen that?) or to look at details in yet another window. It works OK as long as the number of names is small and diverse. However once you enter cultures that are notoriously short of last names and sport large companies it gets tedious to pic [read] Keywords: lotus
notes
show-n-tell
facebook
properties
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Quote collection
Sat, Feb 27th 2010 3:23p Stephan H Wissel A collection of quotes I like:
Thomas T. Nagle: Sustainable cost advantages are realized not by constant belt tightening,
but by the efficient use of resources
Edsger Dijkstra It is never enough to satisfy your own intellect (since it will be laid in your grave with you), but one must teach others, to use their mind.
The more one focuses on these two tasks, the faster one realized that they are the two sides of one coin:
Who teaches himself, discovers what can be taught
Antoine de Saint-Exup [read] Keywords: lotus
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JavaScript Closures
Sat, Feb 20th 2010 8:30a Stephan H Wissel XPages allow you to use JavaScript closures in both client and server side code. There are plenty explanations available, which seem to make them rather more mysterious. After looking at a lot of them I conclude: "JavaScript closures are like riding a bicycle: nearly impossible to explain, but obvious and natural once you get it". So here is my try, from a LotusScript perspective.
First step in the puzzle is the fact, that there is no difference in JavaScript between a function and a class. To [read] Keywords: lotusscript
show-n-tell
xpages google
java
javascript
server
wiki
Netgear support hell reloaded - Part 3 - Salvation
Tue, Feb 16th 2010 3:24a Stephan H Wissel Netgear's local support was incredible helpful (Thx Andrew Tan). It turned out the motherboard is fried and one of the disk behaves "interesting". The WD green drives look good on paper, but not so much online. Anyway Andrew was so kind to loan me a spare Netgear unit, so I could resync the faulty drive [read] Keywords: google
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Boys and their toys VI
Mon, Feb 15th 2010 4:24a Stephan H. Wissel It is a public holiday here in Singapore, so I can catch up with blog reading while the gentlemen are busy to collect hong bao (red packets). The Mobile World Congress in Barcelona is on with a lot of new toys:
The Samsung I8520 Halo running on Android with an integrated projector
Sony Ericsson X10/X10pro
More coverage at Heise (German), Engadget and elsewhere [read] Keywords: google
mobile
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GTD in Singapore (or close by if you like)
Thu, Feb 11th 2010 3:24a Stephan H Wissel I love GTD. I'm a happy user of eProductivity (currently not so happy with myself, but that's a different story for a different day). Over time I got introduced to David and his team. In a recent conversation with Michael Dolan, the Director Coaching Services in DavidCo, he mentioned that DavidCo is planning to dispatch a coach to visit Singapore in the near future to serve an existing client. This presents the unique opportunity to engage DavidCo in a Corporate Seminar, get top quality Consulti [read] Keywords: consulting
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