Fact Checking Articles - "IBM ditches Siebel" and Lotus Notes being "left behind?"
Mon, May 21st 2012 11:18a Steve Pitcher In reading this blog I'm amazed at the leaps of faith taken in order to draw conclusions about IBM and the future of Lotus Notes. IBM Ditches Siebel http://www.roketix.co.uk/2012/05/11/ibm-ditches-siebel/4776.html "What is perhaps interesting, however, is that IBM, the owner of Lotus Notes (which itself is being left behind), should also move away from a computer-based system to a cloud or web-based solution." I have a couple of issues here. How is Lotus Notes being "left behind?" Do [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
notes
blogger
Old Perceptions Seem to Linger On Like It's 1988
Thu, May 17th 2012 7:02p Steve Pitcher Trevor Perry started a thread on LinkedIn asking people "what it would take to call the platform IBM i?" I posted the following comment, but I think in my mind I wanted to understand "what do people gain by calling IBM i on Power Systems an AS/400?" I call it IBM i on Power Systems, and educate my users to do the same, because of two main reasons: 1. It's the name of the OS and hardware that we currently run. 2. It ensures that everyone in the company, from shop floor to CEO, is aware w [read] Keywords: ibm
sametime
blogger
linkedin
system i
Ahaheim Recap
Tue, May 8th 2012 12:56p Steve Pitcher It's hard to sum up a conference that's not over yet. Just know that I'm not. I'm actually just giving a quick recap of my last few days. I'm the newest member of the Common Americas Advisory Council (CAAC). We met for two days of meetings this past Friday and Saturday before the Common User Group annual meeting and expo in Ahaheim, CA. I arrived in Anaheim after about twelve hours of travelling from Nova Scotia. Air Canada, you're not Westjet in terms of in-flight service, but you g [read] Keywords: collaboration
ibm
blackberry
blogger
community
security
421
IBM PureSystems Announcement - Bittersweet Vindication with a Glaring Omission
Fri, Apr 13th 2012 10:09a Steve Pitcher The major characteristics of IBM i on Power Systems are the main selling points of IBM PureSystems. I won't go too deeply into it here because it's all too familiar. You save money on manpower, save computer room space, you have intelligent computing and integrated everything. Those key words of Expert Integrated Systems kept ringing about like an IBM i announcement: integration by design, simplified experience, built-in experience. We've been touting similar concepts for years since the [read] Keywords: ibm
aix
applications
blogger
integration
linux
The Sametime Contest
Fri, Mar 30th 2012 11:12p Steve Pitcher In order to promote IBM Sametime usage at my company, I started a little contest for the month of March. Here's the details...I already log all Sametime chats to a directory on our server, so capturing the data isn't an issue. I just need to copy them together using a little CL program. For you Windows folks, that can be accomplished easily by joining them via DOS command like copy * chats.txt. Once you have the big file, just open it in a spreadsheet editor like Symphony and get slicing and d [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
lotus
policies
sametime
symphony
archive
blogger
exchange
exchange
profile
server
140
Quickr Library Downloads - Slooooooooow
Tue, Mar 27th 2012 7:18p Steve Pitcher Well, they were. I used to have, typically, 50-100 Kbps download speeds from our IBM Quickr server. I checked everything twice and three times. I made performance tweaks left and right to no avail. I had a great conversation with Keith Brooks about it and he pointed me at DNS as a common culprit. Our DNS server was correct but I began checking the IBM i host table, notes.ini for the Quickr Domino server, the Domino server document, qpconfig.xml...everything appeared clean. Then I took a c [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
notes
quickr
blogger
network
server
twitter
xml
141
Thanking a Teacher
Tue, Mar 27th 2012 6:39p Steve Pitcher My soon to be 5-year old son will be starting school this fall. It's a big step in his life. Hell, it's a big step in mine too. We have twin daughters at 19 months and it's amazing to think my son was that small just a few short years ago. As you get older, the names of all the teachers you had start to get harder to remember. I've been out of high school for 15 years or so and I really only remember, unless I really think about it, three or four teachers from my senior year. I'd like [read] Keywords: blogger
122
Quickr with STlinks and Sametime Preferred Chat Method
Sun, Mar 18th 2012 9:13p Steve Pitcher I had an issue last week where our IBM Quickr users were having a problem with the web based Sametime chat facilitated by STlinks. When others would send the affected users a Sametime instant message, if they had a pop-up blocker in their web browser they'd never get the message. Even if they were logged into Lotus Notes with the embedded Sametime Connect, it seemed that Sametime messages were being pushed to the web based chat, which is less feature-rich than the full client. The solution l [read] Keywords: connections
ibm
lotus
notes
quickr
sametime
blogger
instant message
server
IBM i Unity in 20i2
Wed, Mar 7th 2012 7:09p Steve Pitcher A small request from a guy who's been plugging his own survey for 5 months: if you're an IBM i enthusiast, please go to http://www.ibmi2.com and fill out the small survey about your perceptions of the IBM i platform. Trevor Perry has collected 600 responses from the IBM i community. Great work! IT Jungle and System i Network have published articles on it as well. Check it out and get involved! [read] Keywords: ibm
blogger
community
network
system i
502
Steal This Post!
Fri, Feb 24th 2012 12:12p Steve Pitcher Help us drum up support and please copy/paste this for your own blog. Short and sweet...like a flyer. IBM Should Support IBM Connections, IBM Sametime and Lotus Notes Traveler on IBM i Why Should these IBM Collaboration Solutions (ICS) products run on IBM i?IBM i on Power Systems and it's predecessors have literally hundreds of thousands of installations worldwide. IBM i customers want to leverage existing investments in hardware, software, personnel and training. Running ICS servers on ot [read] Keywords: collaboration
connections
ibm
lotus
notes
sametime
traveler
aix
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security
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IBM i 5.4 End of Support Announced - What does this mean for IBM Sametime 7.5 customers?
Wed, Feb 8th 2012 1:57p Steve Pitcher IBM i 5.4 end of support was just announced for September 2013. Many customers will be planning the jump to IBM i 7.1 and possibly some newer Power Systems hardware. What does this mean if you currently run Sametime 7.5 on IBM i 5.4? Since Sametime 7.5 is not supported on IBM i 7.1, you'll need to upgrade to Sametime 8.5.2Sametime 8.5.2 requires you to use Windows or Linux on x86-64 servers for the audio/video components now offered in Sametime Media Manager. Deploying Sametime Media Manage [read] Keywords: collaboration
ibm
sametime
blogger
linux
server
436
Pitcher's Lotus-on-IBM-i Campaign Pays Dividends
Thu, Feb 2nd 2012 8:30p Steve Pitcher Here's an article IT Jungle ran on getting IBM Connections, IBM Sametime Media Manager and Lotus Notes Traveler on IBM i. It ran a few weeks ago but I never had a chance to blog a link to it. http://www.itjungle.com/fhs/fhs012412-story01.html I will say that IT Jungle were interested enough in what we're doing to seek me out for an interview, and not the other way around. Kudos to them. That also tells me this is getting a little bigger. [read] Keywords: connections
ibm
lotus
notes
sametime
traveler
blogger
"Our Software is Platform Agnostic" - Another Load of Marketing Crap
Mon, Jan 30th 2012 9:49a Steve Pitcher This was another oddity I heard at the vendor showcase at Lotusphere 2012. I heard from a good few vendors that claimed their software was "platform agnostic," and therefore will run on any platform. I thought this foolishness died out a few years ago, but it's rearing it's ugly head again; probably due to the increasingly growing number of now-public atheists/agnostics in recent faith polls. This is just another example of language designed to pull the wool over the eyes of potential cust [read] Keywords: lotusphere
blogger
407
My Thoughts on Lotusphere 2012
Sun, Jan 29th 2012 6:10p Steve Pitcher First, I had the good fortune to meet and talk with a lot of people, many for the first time: Hai Bo Yu and Shuang Hong Wang (two very awesome IBM i developers from IBM in China). Kim Greene and Amy Hoerle from Kim Greene Consulting Sharon Bellamy Lisa Duke Femke Goedhart Stuart MacIntyre Darren Duke (who I'm convinced is my UK double in terms of a dry sense of humor) Bill Malchisky Kevin Mort Alistair Rennie (who I ambushed on my last day but was gracious enough to spend a few minutes talkin [read] Keywords: connections
ibm
lotus
lotusphere
notes
xpages applications
blogger
community
consulting
twitter
316
A Bit of a Push
Thu, Jan 12th 2012 2:55p Steve Pitcher I've got a bunch of meetings at Lotusphere 2012 justifying Connections and Sametime Media Server on IBM i. I really want to bring us over the 500,000 user license mark. 200,000 was the original goal. Half a million is a statement. We're at 406,551 right now. On stage, at lunch, or in the hallways I want to tell people there's 500,000 licenses. http://spitcher.wufoo.com/forms/make-ibm-i-your-social-collaboration-platform There's currently 400,000 "i" systems worldwide. Many of you [read] Keywords: collaboration
connections
ibm
lotus
lotusphere
sametime
blogger
server
184
Connections on IBM i: Not Supported...But Will it Work?
Mon, Jan 2nd 2012 5:51p Steve Pitcher I had a thought today after perusing Frankeni.com. I check the site every few months or so to see what Larry Bolhuis has been up to. You see, Larry has been doing some fun stuff over the years with old AS/400's all the way up to current systems. Essentially, he'd take a system and break support rules by installing all sorts of components that aren't "allowed." I've never met Larry personally, but I'd equate him to the Eddie Van Halen of the early 80's who'd take a guitar, literally [read] Keywords: collaboration
connections
domino
ibm
notes
sametime
aix
application
blogger
email
server
system i
158
Happy New Year! 2011 briefly in review...
Sun, Jan 1st 2012 4:12p Steve Pitcher I wanted to quickly reflect on 2011 as I've had a heck of a year, both personally and professionally. At the tail end of 2010, my twin girls (Madeleine and Abbigail) were born. Close enough to 2011 and so life changing I had to mention it first and foremost.After eight years with Minas Basin Pulp & Power, I resigned in March of 2011 and joined Scotsburn Dairy Group. Scotsburn had just adopted Lotus Notes and there was so much potential in terms of collaboration solutions. It was a great [read] Keywords: collaboration
connections
ibm
lotus
notes
sametime
traveler
apple
blackberry
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157
IBM Collaboration Solutions on IBM i - LinkedIn Group
Sun, Jan 1st 2012 1:22p Steve Pitcher I've been using LinkedIn very much in the last 6 months or so. In drumming up support for our "Lotus on i" campaign it's been incredibly helpful. With that in mind, I started a group in LinkedIn specifically for IBM Collaboration Solutions running on IBM i. I was surprised there wasn't one already given the amount of i (IBM i, iSeries, System i, and even AS/400) installations out there. The biggest congregation seems to be on the Domino400 mailing list on Midrange.com (which is great, b [read] Keywords: collaboration
ibm
lotus
sametime
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linkedin
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370,000 users? Ho Ho Ho!
Sun, Dec 18th 2011 8:25p Steve Pitcher Happy holidays everyone. It's time for a little update and to spread some holiday cheer. The tally right now is 153 customers and business partners representing 370,000 potential user licenses demanding native support for IBM Connections, IBM Sametime and Lotus Notes Traveler on IBM i! Perhaps by December 25th, Santa will deliver a couple of big submissions to bring us to the half a million mark. The big shops help tremendously, but what would be really awesome would be another hundred SMB [read] Keywords: collaboration
connections
ibm
lotus
notes
sametime
traveler
aix
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linux
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87
225,000 Potential Users and 133 Companies...Not Too Shabby
Fri, Dec 2nd 2011 6:34a Steve Pitcher Saying our little campaign had a good month would be a drastic understatement. There is, in fact, a very decent amount of customer and business partner demand for IBM Sametime, IBM Connections and Lotus Notes Traveler on IBM i. More and more people, especially ones running Sametime 7.5 who are at the IBM i 7.1 upgrade crossroads, are coming out of the woodwork and making their voices heard. How fast do you think we can get to half a million? By Lotusphere 2012 in January? I really believe [read] Keywords: collaboration
connections
domino
ibm
lotus
lotusphere
notes
sametime
traveler
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Have You Already Moved Away from Domino on i?
Tue, Nov 29th 2011 7:26p Steve Pitcher Did your company move away from Lotus Domino to another platform? Did you used to run Domino on IBM i (or iSeries, System i or AS/400)? If you answered yes to both, I would like to hear from you and understand your story. Feel free to e-mail me privately. [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
lotus
blogger
system i
Cloud Services: Terms and Conditions
Tue, Nov 1st 2011 6:15p Steve Pitcher Here are two terms and conditions excerpts from a couple of popular cloud storage vendors. I'm not trying to spread FUD because cloud computing really is a fantastic concept. I'm just offering fair warning for you to do your own research and take responsibility for your data. Displayed very clearly, these two excerpts make it pretty clear the liability is on you, no matter what happens to your data. From Carbonite: "CARBONITE DOES NOT WARRANT THAT THE CARBONITE PRODUCTS, THIRD PARTY [read] Keywords: blogger
security
Google Translate Widget
Wed, Oct 19th 2011 10:12p Steve Pitcher Hey, it's the least I can do considering the amount of traffic I get from Germany, Sweden and Denmark to just name a few. Then you have a whole lot of Spanish speaking countries. Only 40-50% of my web traffic comes from Canada, USA and the UK. I'm not sure how great a job it does, given it just does a bare bones text translation, but hopefully it works OK for you. Cheers. [read] Keywords: blogger
google
widget
47
RIM Gives Away $100 in Free Stuff? Puh-lease.
Mon, Oct 17th 2011 11:35a Steve Pitcher Last week I traveled from Halifax, NS to Boston, MA on Tuesday morning for the IBM Leadership Alliance gathering. Like most Blackberry users, I use it much more often than my laptop which remained in my hotel room. For probably 75% of 36 hours or so, I had no solid data communication aside from basic SMS service. No email, no calendar updates, no 5250 emulator to IBM i boxes, no VNC, and no real communication from anybody at RIM. The other 25% was when the service appeared to return, only [read] Keywords: ibm
blackberry
blogger
email
laptop
rim
twitter
Nice, But You Missed a Great Selling Point
Mon, Oct 10th 2011 8:07a Steve Pitcher There's a great article and whitepaper that offers a ton of great information on gauging the appropriateness of IBM i for your business. The one major omission, in my opinion, is that there is no mention of IBM Collaboration Solutions (i.e., Lotus) in this whitepaper. I betcha there are thousands of IBM i on Power Systems (or the systems preceding it) that run Lotus Domino, Quickr and Sametime that already know this great secret. The benefits of this platform combination are awesome sellin [read] Keywords: collaboration
domino
ibm
lotus
quickr
sametime
blogger
Connecting to other Sametime Communities
Sat, Sep 24th 2011 10:06a Steve Pitcher I ran across this post from Stephan Wissel that outlines a number of useful Sametime servers that you can connect to and instructions on how to do it. Fantastic info!
Expand your IM contacts. I just joined Sametime communities for the IBM external Sametime server, the Greenhouse and Bleedyellow. Feel free to contact me there! [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
sametime
bleedyellow
server
44
Adventures in Sametime 8.5.2 - Case Sensitivity Sucks
Wed, Sep 21st 2011 9:11p Steve Pitcher I installed Sametime Standard 8.5.2 a while ago. Along with that I installed the Sametime System Console, Proxy Server and Meeting Server on IBM i. Furthermore, I converted Sametime from standard Domino to Domino LDAP off another Domino server we have.
I was the 1st person on the newest client. Everyone else was on the stock 8.0.2 Sametime client that comes with the Notes 8.5.1 install image [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
notes
sametime
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57
Succeeding with Social Business: Seven Steps to Greatness
Mon, Sep 12th 2011 10:46a Steve Pitcher An InformationWeek Webcast:
Succeeding with Social Business: Seven Steps to Greatness
Register Here
Date: Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Time: 10:00 AM PT / 1:00 PM ET
Duration: 60 minutes Companies, especially in the midmarket, struggle with social business. It’s difficult to execute it well while retaining corporate identity and voice. And then there’s the question of [read] Keywords:
78
Will IBM Continue Supporting Domino, Quickr and Sametime?
Fri, Sep 2nd 2011 12:54a Steve Pitcher In the past two months I've spoken with a number of IBM employees and customers to help bring support for IBM i to Connections and Sametime.
The general consensus from IBM Collaboration Solutions (i.e., Lotus) is that it's a great idea, however there hadn't been any real demand from existing IBM i customers. This is why those products were released without full native support.
What I hope [read] Keywords: collaboration
connections
domino
ibm
lotus
quickr
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A Call To Action - Demand Support
Sat, Aug 27th 2011 12:42p Steve Pitcher In the past two months I've spoken with a number of IBM employees and customers to help bring support for IBM i to Connections and Sametime.
The general consensus from IBM Collaboration Solutions (i.e., Lotus) is that it's a great idea, however there hadn't been any real demand from existing IBM i customers. This is why those products were released without full native support.
What I hope is [read] Keywords: collaboration
connections
ibm
lotus
sametime
91
I Heard That Lotus Notes Sucks
Wed, Aug 24th 2011 7:41a Steve Pitcher Yeah, you heard that right. Happens from time to time for any Notes advocate.
I heard it again recently when I met a guy...we'll call him Phil McGillicuddy. Phil is in his mid-forties and works for an energy company. He's in middle management and an end user. Nice guy.
The focus of our conversation turned to technology. Since he had no idea that I'm a Notes advocate, only a "computer guy [read] Keywords: lotus
notes
97
Copy IFS Directory - QSHELL Can Be Your Friend
Thu, Aug 18th 2011 10:10p Steve Pitcher I needed to push an entire IFS directory of objects (including sub-directories) into another directory and maintain authority.
I'm not a Unix guy so I tend to get frustrated with Qshell a bit. However, I'm getting more impressed the more I use it. For instance, it was incredibly easy to do what I want with Qshell instead of coding an RPG program to read the directory structure and build each [read] Keywords: ibm
67
Is i Social? i Can be!
Mon, Aug 15th 2011 7:24a Steve Pitcher I need literally 10 seconds of your time to help me bring a good idea into reality.
Please click the link below and then cast your vote for Connections to run natively on IBM i.
https://greenhouse.lotus.com/blogs/We047f6e69323_42ff_8db6_8bd4fe32a841/entry/native_support_for_ibm_i?lang=en_us
For those who aren't aware of the IBM i operating system, here are some fun facts:
It has been [read] Keywords: connections
ibm
lotus
60
Get the Ball Rolling! Please Vote for Connections on IBM i in the Greenhouse!
Fri, Aug 12th 2011 7:10p Steve Pitcher I need literally 10 seconds of your time to help me bring a good idea into reality.
Please click the link below to cast a vote for Connections to run natively on IBM i.
https://greenhouse.lotus.com/blogs/We047f6e69323_42ff_8db6_8bd4fe32a841/entry/native_support_for_ibm_i?lang=en_us
For those who aren't aware of the IBM i operating system, here are some fun facts:
It has been rated as [read] Keywords: connections
ibm
lotus
The past 24 hours with Sametime
Fri, Jul 29th 2011 3:09p Steve Pitcher Converting my existing Sametime Entry server to a full Sametime Community server was a snap. We've used IM and presence awareness for the last 6 months and we've got the licensing for Sametime Standard and nearly there for the SUT Lite licenses. Ideally in the end I'll have a full ST deployment w/SUT Lite all running under our Power Systems server. That's one box. Then a clustered solution to [read] Keywords: sametime
community
server
What You Need to Know to Convert Spooled Files to PDF (and More)!
Wed, Jul 13th 2011 7:13a Steve Pitcher Here's an article I wrote for MC Press Online showcasing some new options for converting spooled files to PDF in IBM i 7.1.
http://www.mcpressonline.com/application-software/document-management/what-you-need-to-know-to-convert-spooled-files-to-pdf-and-more.html [read] Keywords: ibm
application
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Great Resources to Sell IBM i to Your Boss
Tue, Jun 28th 2011 10:14a Steve Pitcher Check out these awesome podcasts, Powerpoint presentations and videos to help you sell IBM i and Power Systems to your company. You will need to register a PartnerWorld id to view these.
http://bit.ly/k1RJtA [read] Keywords: ibm
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IBM Champion Program - Wow!
Wed, Jun 22nd 2011 8:13p Steve Pitcher Well, this is very surprising to say the least. I, along with 49 other folks, have been named IBM Champions for Collaborative Solutions. I figured my chances would be spread thin a bit compared to most nominees as I do most of my chest beating regarding "Domino on IBM i" solutions, so my evangelism is more of a hybrid of Power Systems and Lotus.
I feel very humble to be included with a names [read] Keywords: domino
ibm
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86
You're not still on V5R4 are you?
Sat, Jun 18th 2011 11:14a Steve Pitcher Based on this blog's traffic the IBM i 6.1 upgrade planning checklist is the 3rd highest viewed page. That's encouraging! It's nice to know people are looking at moving to the newer operating systems. It's also a little expected because it people may be moving because end of support for V5R4 is on the horizon, instead of moving to take advantage of new features. I was at a conference many [read] Keywords: ibm
60
New in IBM i 7.1: RPG Built-in Function %SCANRPL
Fri, Jun 17th 2011 7:11a Steve Pitcher %SCANRPL gives you the ability to scan a string for a value and then replace it with another value.
The article I wrote for MC Press Online describes it in more detail.
http://www.mcpressonline.com/tips-&-techniques/rpg/techtip-new-in-71-the-scanrpl-built-in-function.html [read] Keywords: ibm
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The Business of Social Business. Where does IBM Collaboration Fit?
Mon, May 30th 2011 8:13p Steve Pitcher Join us for an exclusive webcast entitled: The Business of Social Business. Where does IBM Collaboration Fit? on 6/07/11 at 12:00 p.m. EDT and learn how becoming a social business may be essential for success in today's and tomorrow's competitive landscape. Becoming a Social Business involves connecting 'people' and 'knowledge'...together. To be successful, a business today must do so through [read] Keywords: collaboration
ibm
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Well, what do you call it?
Sat, May 7th 2011 10:11p Steve Pitcher Check out the poll to the right. When you decide to purchase a new server, what will you ask your IBM Business Partner to quote you on? [read] Keywords: ibm
server
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Sametime FUD and the Kids Are Alright
Fri, May 6th 2011 11:09p Steve Pitcher After installing Lotus Sametime on IBM i a few weeks ago, I remembered a conversation with an IT Director I spoke with back in 2009. This person had flat out refused to install Sametime (although he was entitled to it with their Lotus licensing) because he thought that any form of instant messaging (which could interrupt him, not unlike a phone) was too intrusive for the entire company based on [read] Keywords: ibm
lotus
sametime
instant messaging
53
My Major i, or iSeries, or AS/400, or Power Systems running i Gripe
Tue, Apr 19th 2011 9:13p Steve Pitcher I posed this response to the System i Network forums when they asked the question: "If IBM came to visit tomorrow and granted you one wish, what would you ask for?"
My response sums up my only gripe with the platform:
Call the operating system OS/400 again. "i" is a broad term that confuses the hell out of people.
Some Guy: "What are you running under the hood of that thing?"
Me: "i."
Long [read] Keywords: ibm
network
system i
52
Collaboration: A Fresh Look at All Things Lotus
Mon, Apr 11th 2011 5:24a Steve Pitcher This article describes the current offerings from IBM Lotus and explains why IBM Power Systems running i5/OS is the platform on which you should be running them.
Lotus Domino Server—it's just an email server, so let's move on.... Just kidding!
Many shops use Domino just for the simple task of running their email. That's all well and good, but Domino offers a number of different [read] Keywords: collaboration
domino
ibm
lotus
sametimelotus
email
server
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Customizing Quickr Blog to Allow Authors to Comment Only
Thu, Apr 7th 2011 7:13a Steve Pitcher In the Lotus Quickr blog, logged in users need to have a minimum Author access in order to comment and create new blog entries/pages. However the only people I want posting new blog entries are Editors or above, and disallowing anonymous comments no matter what a place creator specifies.
The instructions on the Blog Fast Start document are misleading, saying that Authors can comment but can't [read] Keywords: lotus
quickr
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Quickr Blog Template Question
Thu, Mar 24th 2011 8:27a Steve Pitcher How to have logged in users comment on an entry but not create new blog entries? I can't seem to find an answer anywhere.
Anyone? [read] Keywords: quickr
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Oh, Yakov
Fri, Mar 11th 2011 11:23p Steve Pitcher In America, you update blog. In Russia, blog updates YOU! [read] Keywords:
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Domino "Fanboys:" you are being called out publicly...
Wed, Mar 9th 2011 10:11p Steve Pitcher Yesterday, I wrote a little ditty about an article that seemed very anti-Lotus. Evidently, I was not the only "fanboy" who spoke up against the perceived anti-Lotus articles.
The author of that article is now challenging the Lotus community to prove it's worth by demonstrating that there's an Australian company with a new deployment of 100 seats or more. This offer also extends to companies [read] Keywords: domino
lotus
community
36
Nail in the coffin of Lotus Australia?
Tue, Mar 8th 2011 10:11p Steve Pitcher Hardly. Don't make any funeral arrangements or send flowers. Moving from in house Domino to a cloud based MS solution is hardly a fair comparison.
The statement "large Australian organisations are increasingly dumping Lotus Notes/Domino wholesale, with many seeing it as a legacy platform unsuited to modern enterprise needs" is pretty bold without providing sources to back up the claim. [read] Keywords: domino
lotus
notes
enterprise
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Cloud computing is dangerous. FUD or fact?
Tue, Mar 8th 2011 5:14a Steve Pitcher The amount of times a major service goes down is rare. But still, do you feel comfortable doing externally hosted cloud computing every time you see a big "oops" in the news?
http://www.engadget.com/2011/02/27/gmail-accidentally-resetting-accounts-years-of-correspondence-v/ [read] Keywords:
Hold A Public Flogging Clinic in Your Vendor's Parking Lot
Thu, Feb 10th 2011 10:18p Steve Pitcher Just kidding. I'm not trying to incite any violent behavior. It would be funny though. You'd make a day out of it. Barbeque, baloons and a solid flogging. I suppose if you wanted to go old school you could make the guy go into the woods and select his own switch, but I digress.
You may think I'm posturing but I actually threatened (not seriously of course) a vendor with this fate a few [read] Keywords: security
39
Archive Database Confusion
Thu, Feb 10th 2011 8:12p Steve Pitcher I'm wondering what is the easiest way to have all archived mail files look more obvious to users. Seems like people are forwarding messages more often inadvertently while in their archived mail. Comments please. [read] Keywords: notes
archive
database
38
Lotus Connections for IBM i
Fri, Jan 21st 2011 8:19a Steve Pitcher I could make an argument that the IBM i operating system is the best thing you could possibly run Domino on. The security, uptime/stability and performance compliments Domino so well...it's truly a match made in heaven.
Tell me, IBM, why Lotus Connections hasn't been made available to run on i? [read] Keywords: connections
domino
ibm
lotus
security
50
What does SAVSECDTA Do?
Fri, Jan 21st 2011 6:03a Steve Pitcher There's an old saying: "You can back things up, but can you restore?" It's almost become a bit of a mantra that rolls off the tongues of business partners as easily as the words "scalable," "robust," or "paradigm."
Since recovery is the major reason for backing up your system, much attention and focus have been given to the end process of recovery...
Read the full article at MC Press Online. [read] Keywords:
52
MORE Nasty AS/400 Screens!!
Tue, Jan 11th 2011 2:18p Steve Pitcher
Hard to take the warning seriously on the "Frog" screen because there's a big, foolish frog on the screen!!! [read] Keywords:
50
Does WSCST(*PDF) support JPG files?
Tue, Jan 11th 2011 12:16p Steve Pitcher I received an email from someone with a question about converting a spooled file with an embedded JPG file to PDF. I believe that this is supported but don't see the problem in his code. If anyone has any ideas please comment. Below is the email.
"I am by no means a AFPDS expert so I am doing a lot of trial and error. We currently have a print file that prints a barcode and that converts to [read] Keywords: email
33
Reader and Author Fields Troubleshooting
Sun, Jan 9th 2011 11:14p Steve Pitcher Sometimes you program something and you've got a bug that's maddeningly simple to fix. You know it's right there but just can't put your finger on it. With Author fields, I always end up making a simple mistake that wastes 2-3 hours to try and find. I'll take a break, and then take another hour to finally figure out what a knucklehead I am.
If I'm Superknucklehead, then Author fields are [read] Keywords: domino
bug
80
Nasty AS/400 Sign-on Screens
Fri, Dec 31st 2010 11:17p Steve Pitcher I had a funny thought as I signed on to my iSeries today. We had an incredibly ugly sign on screen a few years ago until I changed the darn thing when we went to security level 40 and needed to expand the password field. I work for a paper and energy company and our sign on screen used to feature reverse image trees and a blinking light bulb. I wish I hadn't deleted the display source...maybe [read] Keywords: password
security
44
XPages Bootcamp
Wed, Dec 29th 2010 9:18p Steve Pitcher I've been to other shows offered by The View, most recently in Boston. Was a bit of a let down compared to other years but they're generally pretty decent.
http://www.xpagesbootcamp.com/eview/Xpages10.nsf/home?openform
Now to decide which city I should attend...Chicago or DC? Hockey in DC mid-March looks like the Avalanche or the Wild...not the most appealing couple of games. Baseball... [read] Keywords: xpages
Replica Analyzer
Sun, Dec 26th 2010 6:07p Steve Pitcher I started playing around with replication of Domino directories a few months ago and came up with an iSeries-only program that essentially does wholesale replication of directories. I received a couple of downloads (thank you, thank you...diaper money for my twin newborn girls), but what I really wanted to create was something platform independent that did a little more. I went a little [read] Keywords: domino
30
Replica Information Queries
Wed, Oct 13th 2010 10:25a Steve Pitcher I've been busy with the twins so much I haven't had a chance to write any updates this last month. My newest little project is a Domino application that queries replicas for any differences. IMHO, a replica should be just that...but there are things that don't get replicated; quotas for one being my biggest irk.
If it works alright I'll post the source. [read] Keywords: domino
application
server
Directory Replication Utility (CPYDOMDIR) - Multiplatform Soon!
Thu, Aug 26th 2010 11:48p Steve Pitcher My little utility CPYDOMDIR is almost finished with an update to have the source server be platform independent. Probably by next week. Currently the source server must be an iSeries but the target server is any platform.
If you've already downloaded a copy I'll contact you and email you the updated source code. [read] Keywords: domino
email
server
Optimizing Old Hardware
Tue, Aug 24th 2010 7:11a Steve Pitcher Every now and then you find a system setting based on either an old technology constraint or decision made years ago and no one remembers just why it was done that way. Perhaps you inherited a system with no documentation on the "why."
Our little AS/400 model 170 was set at half duplex with a line speed of 10MB, however it was plugged into a 100MB switch. Since the 2838 ethernet card supports [read] Keywords:
36
Social Networking - What Can It Do For Your Business?
Sun, Aug 22nd 2010 10:29p Steve Pitcher Locking down your firewalls to keep the poor, defenseless users away from certain websites are we? Probably because the decision makers at your company are fearful, distrusting and naive to the benefits of social networking?
That, my friend, is online bigotry at its finest.
Elvis Presley's hip shaking on television 50-60 years ago didn't cause a nation of immaculate conceptions to occur [read] Keywords: networking
27
Updates
Tue, Aug 17th 2010 11:46p Steve Pitcher A lack of posts this month as I've been a little preoccupied (to say the least) with our newborn twin daughters born on August 9th.
I've got a few new articles coming out in the next week or so on more IBM i system values and another on how social networking can help your business. As well, I'm all over the board with tips on project management, the new 700 series Power Systems announcement [read] Keywords: ibm
networking
50
CPYDOMDIR
Wed, Aug 4th 2010 5:59p Steve Pitcher CPYDOMDIR is an iSeries command that does a Copy, Template Copy or Replica Copy of an entire directory of Lotus Domino databases that exist on an iSeries Domino server. If you've ever done a manual replication of a directory of files you've probably spent a lot of time in front of your Administrator client. Even if you've used the CL COPY command (which CPYDOMDIR makes use of) you're limited to [read] Keywords: domino
lotus
server
99
CL Copy for Directories
Sun, Aug 1st 2010 1:21a Steve Pitcher For any Domino on iSeries nuts out there, I'm just putting the finishing touches on a little routine that essentially has the (undocumented and unsupported) CL COPY functionality (copy, replicate or template copy a DB with the target DB on the same or different server). The difference with what I've done is that my routine copies an entire directory of databases! I think it's pretty cool.
A [read] Keywords: domino
server
74
Automatic Notes Client Failover with HidePromptFailoverInc=1
Sat, Jul 31st 2010 8:59a Steve Pitcher This is a really neat parameter that was introduced in version 8 which allows for suppression of prompting the user to attempt to access a replica on another server.
Manually add the HidePromptFailoverInc=1 to the notes.ini or you can push it out via a Desktop Settings policy document on the "Custom" tab. [read] Keywords: notes
notes client
desktop
server
22
New in 6.1: System Value QPWDRULES
Fri, Jul 23rd 2010 3:10a Steve Pitcher In V6R1, the QPWDRULES system value was created to give you more control of how a user profile password is constructed. In the prior release, a number of different system values offered this ability (e.g., QPWDMAXLEN controlled the maximum length of a password, QPWDRQDDGT enforced that there be a digit character, etc.). Having all password rules under the hood of one system value makes things a [read] Keywords: password
profile
Domino 8.5.1 on V5R4 - Program Conversion
Fri, Jul 16th 2010 12:43p Steve Pitcher Upgraded a server last night which took about 4 hours. For a long time, my interactive job was in a SVFW status with 0% processor. I took a look via WRKSYSACT and noticed a task called LDFX02 running there and just eating up the processor. Of course, the setup wizard via Windows tells you it will happen, but gives no time estimate based on your current configuration. However, I did the [read] Keywords: domino
server
35
Fun with Solution Providers
Wed, Jul 14th 2010 9:07a Steve Pitcher From enterprise level software consultants all the way down to your helpdesk, us technical people love using the word "robust." It's been ingrained into the minds of IT folks as a buzz word to razzle dazzle decision makers.
I guarantee you that a damn good few technical experts don't know the definition.
The next time you hear someone say "robust" or "scalable" or "ubiquitous" or "paradigm [read] Keywords: enterprise
25
Are You Using the QIBM_QDB_OPEN Exit Point Wisely?
Fri, Jul 9th 2010 9:10a Steve Pitcher In this article I talk a little about what the QIBM_QDB_OPEN exit point does, what it can be used for and a word of caution when implementing an associated exit program. Exit points are very powerful tools but you must be careful not to do more damage than good, no matter which tool you use.
Here's the link to the article. Comments are always welcome. [read] Keywords:
