Darren Duke Blog Zone

Update on the Domino 8.5.2 SMTP "issue"

Darren Duke — Wed, 1 Sep 2010 23:22:50 -0400

For those that are waiting on the hotfix, it should have popped out from IBM today. My customer with the AIX 64 server got the ftp site email today. In their case I believe they are just going to leave the 8.5.1 SMTP server in the way for the time being and install the fix when it is rolled into Domino 8.5.2 FP1.

For those that didn't see Dan Adams' from IBM comment on my original work around post, the fix should be posted to Fix Central on September 8th. My guess is a PMR will get you it before then. Any way here is Dan's comment:

This issue is not platform specific and has been reproduced in house with a message that has caused the issue. If you are running into this issue please contact Support regarding this issue.
IBM has a test fix available that is undergoing testing.
Based on successful test results, the target for a public Fix Central fix posting is September 8, 2010.
This fix will also be incorporated into 8.5.2 Fix Pack 1 in Q4.

Ubuntu 10.04 and Lotus Notes 8.5.2 working as expected

Darren Duke — Wed, 1 Sep 2010 23:11:12 -0400

I mentioned on This Week In Lotus podcast last week that I would test Ubuntu 10.04 with the 8.5.2 gold client. I have good news....it works out of the gate, with no need to hack symbolic links or anything else. Even check boxes seem to show up OK!

There is a dependency that needs to be satisfied, just run this from the terminal to pick them up:

sudo aptitude install libgnomeprint2.2-0 libgnomeprintui2.2-0

but once those two UI packages are installed (either pre or post Notes install) all will be good in the world.

Also if you want to get DownloadDirector (a java applet) to work in Ubuntu take a look at this post over on Ubuntu Geek (but change the double quotes to single quotes!).

A workaround we did for the 8.5.2 SMTP server issue

Darren Duke — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 17:21:22 -0400

Update as of Sept 1st - A fix should be posted to Fix Central by Sept 8th, See Dan Adams' comment at the bottom of this post.....

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As you are probably aware of by now, there is an issue with the SMTP Listener task on 8.5.2 gold. IBM are currently working on a fix and this will hopefully be available soon.

If you can't downgrade back to 8.5.1 then you also have another option we just did for a STS customer. We quickly registered a new Domino server, created a Windows 2003 VM, installed Domino 8.5.1 and configured this server to be the inbound SMTP server.

Outbound SMTP does not seem to be affected (at least at this customer) but YMMV.

Once the new 8.5.1 server was up we simply pointed the customers edge Spam server to deliver SMTP mail to it. Then new SMTP server then routes (via NRPC) mail to the affected 8.5.2 server.

Viola, issue fixed. For now.....

Start to finish, 20 minutes. And no need to downgrade the server.

IBM Support technote outlining the issue is here.

Reminder CHUG (Chattanooga Lotus Users Group) is tomorrow

Darren Duke — Mon, 30 Aug 2010 05:30:21 -0600

If you are in the greater Chattanooga, TN area then come on along to CHUG. It is scheduled to start at 11:30am and will go until 1:30pm.

On the agenda are new 8.5.2 features and Quickr use cases. Registration is required and the web registration page is available here.

Quickr Domino 8.5 - new features, screenshots and overview

Darren Duke — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 04:10:52 -0600

With the recent release of Quickr Domino (QuickrD) 8.5 to Greenhouse IBM have relented and will now allow Design Partners to talk about the features that are present in the latest beta of QuickrD 8.5, namely code drop 8 (or CD 8). CD8 is expected to be the last beta so hopefully gold will be shipping soon.

As always, the features I outline here are present in the latest beta code, but the shipping product may have different functionality. All screen shots are from the STS 8.5 CD8 server.

A tip to the QuickrD team, you really should have released the bloggers from NDA before you upgraded Greenhouse....we could have generated a whole lot of buzz prior to the launch. Maybe next time.....

OK, so 8.5 is a major, major release. There are new features (not all covered here, these are only the ones I'm interested in), new extensibility APIs and a lot of juicy Quickr goodness.

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First up, you can also run QuickrD 8.5 on Domino Linux servers.

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Next up, there is now a Trash option. No need to use hooks and Java to do this anymore:

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Secure folders with ACLs is a new feature that allows security on a folder. This means you don't need to always use Rooms and/or document level security to secure sensitive content. There is also a new folder icon to make sure you know this folder is ACL'd (however, at least in CD8 this icon in not in the Connectors). IBM spent a long time with the Design Partners on this and I think the outcome is an excellent solution.

While we're on the subject of folders, Editors can now create folders! This is a huge enhancement and much anticipated by many STS customers.

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The Calendar has been much improved and has been given a face lift. It no longer looks like a 1990's application. Added to that is the ability to overlay a Quickr calendar using calendar federation added to Lotus Notes 8.5.1. I haven't had a chance to test this yet, but I did hear that the "chair person" bug (where the CP does not get the calendar added to Notes) is fixed. Still overlays are a very welcome feature and it now looks sexy:

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Comments have been enhanced and now have a webby 2.0 look and feel about them:

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Imported file improvements thanks to the addition of KeyView. You can now view speadsheets, documents and many other types of file with needing the application installed locally. This is just like Notes users are used to with the "view" option on an attachment. Here is a Symphony presentation viewed via Quickr with out the need to download it or have anything installed on the client machine:

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Multiple attachments in a single page has been improved. If I have a page with multiple attachments then the Connectors have a new "file icon":

When I right click there are new options on the context menu:

The same page view via the web UI shows:

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Lists as in Sharepoint lists. A new page type, surprisingly called "List", has been added to allow users to create, import and export all variety of data. Sometimes free text and/or attachments just aren't structured enough.....enter user configurable lists, Users love them and now they can love them in Quickr:

Here I have created a list to track Domino releases, release dates, and a URL to the support documentation. I am adding the fields I want the list to contain:

Once I have created the "list template" I can now create a "list element" for each row I want to display:

Not only that, but I can import and export date into and out of lists too. Happy, smiley users abound.

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So there you have it, just a few of the QuickrD 8.5 features that should be making it's way to you soon.

Quickr Domino 8.2 Fix Pack 16 available - fixes some Java issue

Darren Duke — Sat, 28 Aug 2010 03:28:59 -0600

In an obvious "out of schedule" release, IBM have released FP 16 for Quickr Domino 8.2. This fixes a couple around Java and Java Applets, and also using an IP sprayer. I'm not sure if these issues were introduced with FP15 or a specific Java update, but either way, upgrade to this as opposed to FP15.

As usual get it from IBM Fix Central.

There is no new qp2.cab file in this release. The latest qp2.cab is 8.2.0.14-005.

Fixes contained in FP16:

08/25/2010	CWIR87BJWY	Under certain circumstances multiple refreshes from the Notes sidebar connector may cause the Domino server to crash.
08/25/2010	No SPR	After deploying Java version 1.6.0_19 or later on a workstation, users get a warning dialog when running the drag and drop java applet (dndapplet.jar).
08/25/2010	No SPR	After deploying Java version 1.6.0_19 or later on a workstation, users get a warning dialog when running the Quickr Sametime applet (peopleonline31.jar). *Please note, you will have to copy the LotusQuickr\peopleonline31.jar to the Sametime server as described in the Quickr Infocenter to get this updated functionality.
08/23/2010	RALF82GPZD	For Active Directory users, resolved issues with users who have slashes in their DN. (see fix RALF82GPZD in “Additional Information for special fixes” section)
08/23/2010	RTIN882PAQ	Under certain circumstances the Domino server may crash with the crash stack stating HuDocNote::AttachFileFromPost as the offending call.
08/12/2010	TKAO889HTH	When using Communities, a member is not removed from a place when this action is performed.
08/12/2010	No SPR	When using a proxy, ip sprayer or load balancer the Quickr servlet may not use the correct host name causing slowness in downloading from the Library or errors while displaying a place. (see fix “Servlet Host” in “Additional Information for special fixes” section)

ATLUG is this coming Thursday, August 26th - with the great Bob Balaban

Darren Duke — Mon, 23 Aug 2010 07:54:36 -0400

If you've never heard of Bob Balaban then you need to be at ATLUG. If you have heard of him, then you know why you need to be there already.....he created the backend classes for Notes and Domino. Yes, those classes.....

Anyway, as usual if you are in the Atlanta area come along. Register with Randy Davison (rdavison@matrixres.com) .The event will start at 11:30AM and ends around 1:30PM.

Also presenting is Steve Heil from IBM on the latest on LotusLive!

See the ATLUG site for further info.

GLUG Q3 2010 presentations available - covering Notes and Domino 8.5, 8.5.1, 8.5.2 and Lotus mobility

Darren Duke — Sat, 21 Aug 2010 06:04:26 -0400

I gave two presentations at the Greenville Lotus User Group (GLUG) this past week in SC. There was a tremendous turnout and thanks to all who came. There were so many questions that this great interactive session went 60 minutes over schedule! And almost everyone stayed too.....although admittedly that could have had something to do with the rain ;)

Anyway the presentations are available for download over on the STS site.

Quickr Domino 8.2 Fix Pack 15 available

Darren Duke — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 02:17:44 -0400

As usual get it over at IBM Fix Central.

There is no new qp2,cab file in this release. The latest qp2.cab is 8.2.0.14-005.

Fixes contained in FP15 (ohm and as usual Fix Packs are cumulative, so all previous fix packs are also included):

08/09/2010	CLOH87TMSV	Custom policy where an alert limit in days has been set, that setting isn’t respected.
08/09/2010	PNOT87UP2J	In certain circumstances, uploading files through Connectors when using EMM may cause an error “Block size illegal for BPOOL”.
08/04/2010	DAMC83E23R	Integrated with Lotus Connections, the Business Card is not displayed near the user’s login name in My Places.
07/29/2010	CXCX85L9QP	Members whose name contain an apostrophe are missing when in the notify list from a room.
07/29/2010	CWIR87BJWY	In certain circumstances the Domino server may crash when performing multiple refreshes from the Notes connector.

GLUG - Greenville SC Lotus User Group - is this coming Tuesday (08/17/2010)

Darren Duke — Thu, 12 Aug 2010 07:46:00 -0400

This coming Tuesday the 17th August is GLUG. This is already looking to be a pretty packed event so if you are in the Greater Greenville SC area come along. I'll be presenting on what was new in Notes and Domino 8.5.1 and what is new in 8.5.2.

With the impending release 8.5.2 on 8/24 this will be a timely presentation.

Head on over the STS events page to register and find out further details.

And GLUG still has to be the best named LUG.

IBM LotusLive Notes - 25GB mail, Notes client and web access, Sametime IM, spam and virus - for $5 per user per month

Darren Duke — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 06:43:02 -0400

In a move the truly shocked me (in a good way), IBM have priced the newly announced 1.3 version of LotusLive Notes at $5. Wow. That's right folks, $5 per user per month. For an annual cost of $60 per user per year. Not only that, but this includes at no extra cost the Lotus Notes 8.5.2 client software. This will be available on 24th August...the same day 8.5.2 is released.

It also includes 25GB of mail And Sametime IM. And email spam and AV protection.

This gives IBM a very compelling cloud footprint with various features at various price points. For instance, add another $5 to the price (for $10/u/m) and you also get LotusLive Engage (which includes LotusLive Meetings and other goodies). If $5 is too expensive go with the $3 LotusLive iNotes and loose Notes client access and Sametime IM (and a few other things) but gain IMAP and POP3.

This is not the only news for the 1.3 release. The minimum user count needed to start has been reduced from the shocking high 1,000 seats to a somewhat more palatable 25 seat minimum. This is a move in the right direction, but I'd still like to see this come down to a minimum seat purchase of 1 user (you can do 1 users with LotusLive iNotes).

What is missing today, and will be until sometime Q4 2010 is mobile access. In Q4 IBM will add Lotus Traveler access to LotusLive Notes for iPhone, Nokia and WM access. IBM are currently working with RIM and BlackBerry BES access is expected to be added. No time frames on the that though.

So all is sunny in the cloud right? Not quite.

I really, really love IBM's offerings here but there is a slight problem. See these offerings are "priced" per user per month, but you can't buy per user per month. You have to purchase annually, for a full 12 months. This has been an issue with LotusLive for a while, but I believe IBM loose a ton of sales because of this. Lets take a simple example, web meetings aka LotusLive Meetings. I use. I like it. But you have to purchase this annually. WebEx, LotusLive Meeting's main competitor can be purchased on the recurring monthly basis. Why is this an issue? Well, a salesman can expense $49 per month for WebEx and not flag any checks and balances. LotusLive meetings is only $39 per month, but you have to pay annually, so the real cost is $468 which is a whole lot harder to hide in an expense report. No sale, do not pass go, salesman goes with WebEx.

I'd also like to see credit card purchases added too. This and the "recurring monthly payment" are must haves if IBM are to succeed in the cloud. IBM have to understand the purchase decision of 1-25 users is significantly different to a 500 person company and that IBM has to come down to their level. When are are selling as a commodity just one hiccup at the purchase time and the shopper goes elsewhere. Right now this hiccup is an insurmountable mountain.

Still with the 25GB mail allowance and the $5 price point IBM are starting to get the cloud thing. I'm hopeful the other things required for a successful cloud presence will come in time. I just hope it is not more than a few months.

Oh, and if you want a 99.9% SLA, be sure to ask for it.

Google Wave is dead - long live Lotus Notes?

Darren Duke — Thu, 5 Aug 2010 09:58:08 -0400

Yesterday Google killed Wave. Google mention several reasons, the primary being:

Wave has not seen the user adoption we would have liked

The question is how did even the mighty Google get this so, so wrong? I have lamented on Wave on This Week in Lotus and on Google not understanding enterprises on the blog lately, where I basically laid into them for not thinking their product strategy through. Was Wave bad? Honestly I can't say. I used it all of 5 minutes and never went back. No one else I knew was on it, so it was worthless to me. Basically people "just didn't get" Wave as a product, or a process. This is not news though, as for decades IBM Lotus has struggled to define what Lotus Notes and Domino are. See Wave and Lotus Notes are very similar. Both are (to quote Google about Wave):

[allow for a] radically different kind of communication

Still today, 20 years after the first public release, Lotus Notes is radical. So radical in fact, that most IT managers and CIO's don't understand the true power of "real collaboration". This is the reason "migrations" are done to Exchange. Lotus Notes and Google Wave are so far ahead of their time that it hurts the heads of those managers and executives who insist that IT and businesses can run on email and spreadsheets. Maybe even IBM don't realize what they have here......

Times are a-changing people. Social software is going to be as pervasive as email in the generation to come. Email and spreadsheets won't cut it anymore. As a manager it is your job to bring business value and using innovative tools (and yes, even after 20 years Lotus Notes is still one of the most innovative tools out there). But if you resist, and you will resist because you are "old school" then you will cost your organization a generation of innovation.

Google has killed Wave. IBM has invested millions into IBM Lotus Notes and Domino. What are you waiting for? As Gartner's Matt Cain (at the 2009 Gartner Portal, Content and Collaboration Summit) said:

E-Mail becomes the collaboration console: The future of E-Mail is....gasp....Lotus Notes

Google just got spanked. IBM are, and will continue to be, the undisputed leader in this space.

Given all the media hype on Wave on the likes of CNN, MSNBC and NPR if IBM play their cards right they could have a marketing coup with tons of free publicity. I won't hold my breath though. Still maybe Lotus Knows Google Waved Goodbye to Radical Collaboration.

Notes and Domino 8.5.1 FP4 is available

Darren Duke — Wed, 4 Aug 2010 11:40:14 -0400

As usual pick it up over at IBM Fix Central.

See the fix list of what is included here.

If it sounds too good to be true - it usually is. GMail for the City of LA: a FUBAR in the making

Darren Duke — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 04:25:00 -0400

Thanks to Daniel Lynch's recent post, Google misses deadline for L.A. city email system: LA Times I went back and read the full story on the LA Times site. This is wonderful story of a company (Google) who claim to know enterprise computing but in reality are so far out of their depth that National Security could be at risk here.

So the story goes like this:

Google promised "state of the art" and cheaper email system than the City currently has with Novel Groupwise. The CIO believed them, the Council believed them and so in swoop Google to deliver on all their promises for 30,000 users by 6/30/2010. In a true "you needed to be a rocket scientist to see this one coming", Google missed the deadline. The reason Google missed the deadline?

Google has run into roadblocks at the Los Angeles Police Department, which has strict rules about the way its data is secured...Until Google can address those concerns, city officials say, LAPD will continue to use the old system — in effect forcing the city to pay for both the new and old e-mail programs at an additional cost that could rise to more than $400,000 over the next year

Are you kidding me? Why on earth would a law enforcement agency (of any size) put their email on the cloud? Are you insane? Do you want to be famous and on the front of your local tabloid newspaper when it all goes wrong?

So who's fault was this asked Council member Dennis Zine at a come to Jesus meeting with Google and CoLA IT? Your fault you idiot! You can blame Google, but really, they are just an advertising company. Would you give your firearms contract to a water pistol manufacture? Sure they are cheaper but is it really their fault when the water pistol fails to fire real bullets when the Police officer uses it? It is your fault, Councilman and your deranged IT department.

Yes, Google has some blame here, but they are merely a 4 year old learning to talk and walk all the time trying to stick their fingers in power outlets. Google are so busy claiming to know this stuff that they neglected to actually learn this stuff. In fact I'd go as far to say that Google are so busy trying to "innovate" that they forget to cogitate. Google are a consumer company, not an enterprise company. These environments have different needs. Wow....these CIO folks just don't get it do they?

Then Google's response, another classic:

Google executive Jocelyn Ding said the company was committed to fulfilling its contract but admitted that it had missed "some details" in the original requirements

As Daniel points out it has to be laughable that to Google security seems to equal "some details".

If it sounds too good to be true, it usually is. Period!

Last October, Los Angeles became the largest city in the nation to commit to Google's vision of online computing.

This July, Los Angeles became the reason that no organization should ever trust Google's vision of online computing.

What is more worrying here, is that some Google Cr-Apps have just been approved for Federal Government use! WTF people? Google gets hacked by (purportedly) the Chinese government and now you approve it's use? Is the "drug czar" distributing crack cocaine to all of you? Is anyone reading the tea leaves here? The Feds should just copy all their secret and confidential data to a big SAN and ship it to the Chinese, North Koreans and the Iranians. Has the Federal Government, like the City of L.A. been so overawed by the claims of Google that they forget about National Security? Or data protection laws like HIPPA, SOX and the State mandates on encryption?

Then you add in Vivek Kundra, the Federal CIO and his insane push to the cloud. He just worships Google in this video. From a Computer World article:

I don't think there's anything to delay massive adoption [of cloud based services] by the federal government, except security......The feds have always outsourced everything. What you're talking about is outsourcing at lower cost and at higher capacity. Tell me why that's a bad idea?

"Except security"? How did this guy pass the interview?

Mr Kundra, you answered your own question, and now L.A. has given you the synopsis. Hopefully you can adjust your belief in Google to a more reasonable level of dis-trust. Hopefully Mr Kundra you have realized, thanks to L.A. that "consumer technologies in the public space" may not be such a good idea. GIS and Google Earth, fine. Sensitive information in need of security, not so much.

May I also suggest that the D.C. Fire, Police, HR and Finance Departments talk to L.A. and also do a security audit.

Note to the editor of the LA Times, there are several mistakes in the article, but maybe Google told you "other email systems, such as Outlook" were "older".

Disclaimer, I hate Gmail (it always takes me 30 seconds to find the button to forward an email! What's up with that?). I fire it up to send test emails to a real email system, IBM Lotus Domino and Notes. Oh, which is secure. You know, with encryption and stuff. Oh, and with a built in secure PKI ID infrastructure. But you want cheap.........ah.........well, you get what you pay for, but remember, cheaper isn't always, if ever, better. But what do you care? It's not like it's your money you are throwing at it when it all goes wrong.

Idiots. The lot of them.

Pop Quiz - who knows the encryption strength and alogrithm that Lotus Notes port encryption uses?

Darren Duke — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 12:20:36 -0400

Nathan got me thinking, and when I think I search the web. In an earlier post Nathan commented about Notes encryption. Now I swear that every 6 months or so I am asked by a customer about the strength and algorithm that Lotus Notes uses when connecting over an encrypted port. I also swear I search for this information every 6 months too and I always come up with 64 bit RC 2 as the "possible" answer in this ancient SearchDomino post ....

Well this time I searched I hit pay-dirt. Based on technote 1097816 we get the following:

S	Encryption Strength The first value is the key length The second value is the algorithm	Length 128 (new in Notes/Domino 6) 64 40 (only used for R3 Int'l or WW40 versions) Algorithm 22 = RC4 2F = RC2
A	Algorithm	4:1 = RC4 2:0 = RC2 (R3 Intl or WW40)

Now, this is not listed (as far as I can tell) anywhere in any help, be it admin or client. The technote also outlines how to test it and I did just that. As you can see below when I connected to my server I am connecting as 128 bit RC4.

So there you have it and why the hell is this not in the trace information or the help?

The most useful feature of Lotus Notes that most users can’t use - Full Text Indexing

Darren Duke — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 06:28:04 -0400

In a comment on Ed Brill's blog post about Google's dubious marketing I asked (comment 11) to allow full text indexes to be moved to different, non-Domino data storage. See, Google are saying you can't really search your mail file, or to quote Ed:

....they [Google] seem to have a total blind spot to the full-text search engine in Notes, asserting that sort by sender and browsing folders are the only ways to "search" in Notes

Anyone reading this blog will know that Google's assertion is as blatant a lie are there is. But, alas, most companies do not have full text indexing turned on for all, if any, of their mail users.

Why not? Is it IBM that have the blindspot here?

After all, full text indexing a Notes database application immeasurably increased the usability, value and experience of Lotus Notes so why not turn it on? Disk space is the why. Storage consistently rates as one of the major concerns for IT in any survey you can find, so why double the storage needed on my shiny new SAN just to enable searching? It is a good question and one that has never been addressed.

We can move attachments out to different storage.

We can move view rebuilds out to different storage.

Why can't we move full text indexes to different storage? Why do they have to reside in the same OS directory/folder as the mail file?

With Lotus Notes 8, IBM tackled head on the user interface issues with Lotus Notes. Now they need to tackle the usability of full text indexes and their location on the server. Yes you can use a local replica, indeed on this very blog I show you how to set that up, but IBM, you must tackle the issue at the lowest common denominator, the server-based mail file user. With the plethora of thin client technologies on the market (Citrix, Terminal Services and VMware View) more and more organizations have to use server based mail files due to "thin clients" having no storage. Add to that the brilliant experience that is iNotes, yet for most it is crippled beyond simple actions like sending and reading emails due to, you guessed it, being a server based mail file with no full text index.

Tripp Black elaborates my feelings on Ed's blog (comment 30):

The reason that Google can get away with the Full Text comment is, that as implemented, most companies cram as many users on a box until the experience is pretty dismal - No FT Indexes allowed. At a couple RTP companies (which one converted to MS live but still has $$$ going out to reinvent the apps), I told friends how to setup local replicas, turn on replication and then have FT Indexes. Suddenly, Notes was fast, you could find something and it didn't SUCK!. What a concept...... It took years of crippling Notes to get Notes to be evil to escape at any cost.

User satisfaction is king. And right now, due in some large part to this restriction, the majority of user are anything but satisfied when it comes to searching. And the shocker here is not that lack of functionality but being able to enable said functionality. IBM Lotus need to focus on the removal of every single roadblock that prevents full text indexing from being enabled.

As indicated above, there is already an IdeaJam for this, and it already has over 70 votes. 70 votes? That's a pretty unanimous cry for help. As Hynek Kobelka comments on the idea:

Very good idea ! And it should be so easy to accomplish :-)

To reduce storage on the server IBM Lotus gave us DAOS and I would have to say this has been a leading factor in the massive and fast adoption of Domino 8.5.x in the last 18 months. If IBM wants to see another fast uptake on a Notes/Domino release why not add this? It is a win-win. The user wins with increased functionality and IT wins by being able to use cheap storage for FTI's.

What am I missing here?

The most useful feature of Lotus Notes that most users can’t use - Full Text Indexing

Darren Duke — Sun, 18 Jul 2010 06:28:04 -0400

....they [Google] seem to have a total blind spot to the full-text search engine in Notes, asserting that sort by sender and browsing folders are the only ways to "search" in Notes

The reason that Google can get away with the Full Text comment is, that as implemented, most companies cram as many users on a box until the experience is pretty dismal - No FT Indexes allowed. At a couple RTP companies (which one converted to MS live but still has $$$ going out to reinvent the apps), I told friends how to setup local replicas, turn on replication and then have FT Indexes. Suddenly, Notes was fast, you could find something and it didn't SUCK!. What a concept...... It took years of crippling Notes to get Notes to be evil to escape at any cost.

Very good idea ! And it should be so easy to accomplish :-)

The 2006 version of Lotus Notes vs the 2006 version of GMail

Darren Duke — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 12:35:33 -0400

By now you have probably read Google's attempt to take a swipe at Notes that Ed Brill posted about. Most (if not all) of what Google claim is wrong or a lie. Apparently "Don't be evil" does not stretch to lies. Any way Chris Whisonant has done a very good response. So in an attempt at humor and righting some blatant wrongs, mis-truths and lies I decided to pit the 2006 version of Lotus Notes against the 2006 version of Gmail.

All facts about Lotus Notes and Gmail were gleaned from wikipedia. I will use the production code for each platform as of June 30th 2006. So for Lotus Notes we have 7.0 For Gmail we have nothing. It was in beta from 2004 through 2007. But that's OK because in the Google post they did not seem to care either, "Don't be evil".....erm.....OK....so on with the show.

In Lotus Notes in 2006 you....

Can access your email in an ajax based web experience (called DWA), a Notes client, a mobile device and any POP3 or IMAP mail client from anywhere in the world
View messages and their replies
Place a message in a folder
Sort by message sender and date
You could not auto-spell check (added in R8)
Delete messages to save disk space (and to avoid lawsuits, etc)
Archive to a desktop file (so you could read you email on a plane, even in 2006!)
Flag important messages
Receive notifications of new mail
Forward multiple messages

In Gmail in 2006 you...

Had to wait for an invite
Had to wait for an invite
Had to wait for an invite
Had to wait for an invite
Had to wait for an invite
Had to wait for an invite
Had to wait for an invite
Had to wait for an invite
Had to wait for an invite
Had to wait for an invite

See mine post is true too. Google, Google, Google, are you proud of your place beside Microsoft in the "we'll say anything" contest? Really I have thought more (not much though) highly of you.

An update on Anonymous access to Domino applications

Darren Duke — Fri, 16 Jul 2010 11:42:26 -0400

Yesterday I concluded an email conversation with Ed Brill to get some final clarification around the "anonymous access" questions surrounding Domino that were brought up on this blog and by Nathan Freeman over on Tim Tripcony's blog over that past free weeks.

Well the mystery is over. Express is, well, "limited" and as such has no anonymous access to Domino applications. You will need either a Domino Utility Server license or a Domino Enterprise Server license to allow this. Yes, that is right, Domino Enterprise Servers does allow anonymous access to applications. So at least some good news.

Thanks Ed for the follow up and clarification. Hopefully all confusion is now rectified......move along, nothing to see here.

OpenNTF IdeaJam is open until 7/16

Darren Duke — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 03:05:38 -0400

Over the last 12-18 months the OpenNTF web site and the number of projects (read free Lotus applications) has increased immeasurably. Help continue the trend by participating in the (the first annual?) OpenNTF IdeaJam that is open until 7/16/2010.

Got any things you'd like to see on the site? If not, go and peruse the ideas already contributed, there are some that will deserve your vote.

What are you waiting for, go to http://openntf.org/ideajam/IdeaJam.nsf/ProductByAreaMostRecent?openview&restricttocategory=July2010

The idea linked above is just a sample (although I think it is a great idea that we all start to promote OpenNTF on our blogs, etc).