In a truly perfect world, The Beatles would never have broken up, Jimi Hendrix would still be alive and MACs would rule the Earth. And Tech shows would get attendees when they are int he right place at the right time.
I went to a tech show today, ITEC, hoping to meet and listen to Chris Brogan. Sadly, as he informed me on twitter, he had to skip us in Ft. Lauderdale.
I ended up meeting a possible new SPAM solution provider for my clients and learned a great deal about using Facebook for Business from Chris's replacement, a really nice guy from Boston, Brett Wohl(He's on Facebook, go say hi!). Thanks Brett!
What I was not prepared for was defining Lotus to him. Sure, I do it all the time, but this was the first time I had really sat and explained it to someone more in tune with Facebook than Redbooks.
I appealed to digital rights and the ability to secure them in the app or db and allowing for selective exposure, plus replication capabilities for working on applications when traveling. We discussed it's messaging side, it's open source side, variable Operating System platforms, and even more important to their customers, scalable clustering within a heterogeneous environment. Even hit on document management and serializing data via RSS and other means.
In a way I feel like I failed to get across what I wanted, but he got what made sense to him and I leveraged what I knew would make sense to him so we were both happy in the end.
We discussed Sharepoint being used as a file sharing program, not in true collaborative style. And that Domino did sharing and does still, long before Sharepoint existed, but then I start to sound like I am 50 or 60!
Another really interesting conversation was with a Microsoft BP, who works in the SMB area. When I asked about his dealings with Lotus customers he said he doesn't see many naturally. He informed me that many customers are still running Windows and Exchange 2000. His hope was for the new Small Business Server, which has Exchange inside, would help migrate these people.
Naturally, Lotus Foundations came to mind and why IBM is pushing that as a solution. I wished him well and continued on.
Speaker, Blogger, Author. Posts about HCL Digital Solutions, HCL Software, Lotus, Management, Collaboration, Competitive Intelligence and Strategy, Productivity, CRM and B2B Marketing.
Showing posts with label foundations. Show all posts
Showing posts with label foundations. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
The Lotuscube Coming Soon, taking orders
Decided to test the waters with our new product. As we found the Lotus Foundation Micro2 server not really practical for my clients, we decided to up the ante.
What if that micro2 was a little bigger, and had 2 drives, 4gb of RAM or more and a really fast processor?
You could load Lotus Foundations, Linux, Windows or whatever else you want on it too!
And it was preloaded with Domino with Sametime or Quickr or ...
What if you could pick it up and take it ANYWHERE, ANYTIME?
And what if it came in Yellow?
Our clients in Florida, or other areas of natural disaster, may appreciate this portability.
Or perhaps you do a lot of trade shows, but hate shipping big boxes.
Or maybe Lotusphere wants to ensure everyone has the same hardware.
Maybe you just like yellow.
But wait, it gets better, what if you need one for development or staging/testing, we can help with other colors, just ask to help prevent confusion.
Whatever the reason, we got it, who wants it?
Labor Day availability, if not sooner for beta testers.
Product is NOT available from IBM or Lotus as a SKU.....yet, but give us time.
What if that micro2 was a little bigger, and had 2 drives, 4gb of RAM or more and a really fast processor?
You could load Lotus Foundations, Linux, Windows or whatever else you want on it too!
And it was preloaded with Domino with Sametime or Quickr or ...
What if you could pick it up and take it ANYWHERE, ANYTIME?
And what if it came in Yellow?
Our clients in Florida, or other areas of natural disaster, may appreciate this portability.
Or perhaps you do a lot of trade shows, but hate shipping big boxes.
Or maybe Lotusphere wants to ensure everyone has the same hardware.
Maybe you just like yellow.
But wait, it gets better, what if you need one for development or staging/testing, we can help with other colors, just ask to help prevent confusion.
Whatever the reason, we got it, who wants it?
Labor Day availability, if not sooner for beta testers.
Product is NOT available from IBM or Lotus as a SKU.....yet, but give us time.
Friday, July 4, 2008
Exchange your Exchange Server or Sharepoint
Yes, I know, crazy words. No one would think of dumping Exchange these days.
After all Microsoft invesnted email don't you know.
They also invented spresadsheets and the infamous blue screen of death, my personal favorite, which was substituted in XP and Vista as a frozen machine.
You write and complain in magazines, blogs, websites, newsletters, pubs and doctor offices that your technology executives don't get it.
Yet, what do you do to change this scenario?
When was the last time you really looked into a product and thought, we could use it, it meets security standards, comes in multiple languages, has a small memory footprint, we shoudl try it.
Well? Anyone?
In every company I worked with I was always able to appropriate an extra PC or laptop or even a server for testing of other software and ideas.
There is nothing stopping you from doing the same. Become friends with the IT guys or help desk, if you are not an IT person and, trust me on this, they have stacks of machines available. Formally you may need to sign for it or somehting but informally, its available.
Doesn't matter what you play with as long as there is a meaning for your company with it.
Naturally I prefer to hear you are tryingt Lotus Foundation Server as your OS or Lotus Symphony or Lotus Notes/Domino or Quickr. But I know you only have so much time on your hands given all the twittering you do.
After all Microsoft invesnted email don't you know.
They also invented spresadsheets and the infamous blue screen of death, my personal favorite, which was substituted in XP and Vista as a frozen machine.
You write and complain in magazines, blogs, websites, newsletters, pubs and doctor offices that your technology executives don't get it.
Yet, what do you do to change this scenario?
When was the last time you really looked into a product and thought, we could use it, it meets security standards, comes in multiple languages, has a small memory footprint, we shoudl try it.
Well? Anyone?
In every company I worked with I was always able to appropriate an extra PC or laptop or even a server for testing of other software and ideas.
There is nothing stopping you from doing the same. Become friends with the IT guys or help desk, if you are not an IT person and, trust me on this, they have stacks of machines available. Formally you may need to sign for it or somehting but informally, its available.
Doesn't matter what you play with as long as there is a meaning for your company with it.
Naturally I prefer to hear you are tryingt Lotus Foundation Server as your OS or Lotus Symphony or Lotus Notes/Domino or Quickr. But I know you only have so much time on your hands given all the twittering you do.
Friday, June 20, 2008
The CEO/CIO thinks free is a great idea and it is too!
The previous post was created to show a theory.
Namely that some people would say it's a bait and switch.
Or Microsoft people would claim they do this too, some would say they offer to give everything for free, but I won't go there.
Or Business people would say how can you do it for free.
Never said I would pay for your licenses, after all I am not IBM, nor would I cover your hardware.
Just that I would migrate your users off Exchange to Domino.
And I could do it in one day/night too.
Rolling out Notes to your employees is up to you, I will give them all webmail access immediately, plus their own blogs and a wiki for them to discuss the pros and cons of your decision.
Still not enough? How about automatic push email, Lotus Notes Traveler, with no other server required. Again ALL from one Lotus Domino box.
Want more? I have over 100 applications I can include and you can use at no cost to you for your internal employees to use, depending on YOUR needs.
EDITED after original Posting to include:
Plus a free Operating System, Lotus Foundations!
And finally, a 100% free Office Suite courtesy of Lotus Symphony for every user. So you can stop paying extra licenses to Microsoft for that as well.
END OF EDITS
I could go on, but, right I forgot, you love Exchange, Office, Windows and it is so useful you wouldn't dream of changing it for anything.
Thank you for the graphic from here.
If companies don't believe something for free is worth anything, why do they consistently take Microsoft up on their offers of Free Exchange or Sharepoint or ahem, Vista.
The next time your CXO or a new one, comes in and saying you must get to Exchange, ask him this question:
How much of your bonus is tied to the company making money? Because you are about to disrupt the company in ways you can not imagine.
The graphic above takes what sits on one server in Domino and shows just how many pieces you need from Microsoft to recreate it.
You don't need more servers, you need less.
You don't require more silos, you want fewer.
Everyone wants to collaborate, the shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line, or in this case....
1 Lotus Domino Server.
Namely that some people would say it's a bait and switch.
Or Microsoft people would claim they do this too, some would say they offer to give everything for free, but I won't go there.
Or Business people would say how can you do it for free.
Never said I would pay for your licenses, after all I am not IBM, nor would I cover your hardware.
Just that I would migrate your users off Exchange to Domino.
And I could do it in one day/night too.
Rolling out Notes to your employees is up to you, I will give them all webmail access immediately, plus their own blogs and a wiki for them to discuss the pros and cons of your decision.
Still not enough? How about automatic push email, Lotus Notes Traveler, with no other server required. Again ALL from one Lotus Domino box.
Want more? I have over 100 applications I can include and you can use at no cost to you for your internal employees to use, depending on YOUR needs.
EDITED after original Posting to include:
Plus a free Operating System, Lotus Foundations!
And finally, a 100% free Office Suite courtesy of Lotus Symphony for every user. So you can stop paying extra licenses to Microsoft for that as well.
END OF EDITS
I could go on, but, right I forgot, you love Exchange, Office, Windows and it is so useful you wouldn't dream of changing it for anything.
.gif)
Thank you for the graphic from here.
If companies don't believe something for free is worth anything, why do they consistently take Microsoft up on their offers of Free Exchange or Sharepoint or ahem, Vista.
The next time your CXO or a new one, comes in and saying you must get to Exchange, ask him this question:
How much of your bonus is tied to the company making money? Because you are about to disrupt the company in ways you can not imagine.
The graphic above takes what sits on one server in Domino and shows just how many pieces you need from Microsoft to recreate it.
You don't need more servers, you need less.
You don't require more silos, you want fewer.
Everyone wants to collaborate, the shortest distance between 2 points is a straight line, or in this case....
1 Lotus Domino Server.
Tuesday, April 15, 2008
Lotus Foundations Server SMB Sales Ideas
It thinks it can invade the SMB territory. Here's why:
IBM wants to encourage SMB to get off Microsoft Small Business server.
It's great they want them to go to Linux which is why they bought Nitix.
I applaud the direction of trying to put Domino on yet another Linux platform, and try to certify it for the Nitix distribution.
It runs Domino(basic mail server).
OK so it also handles Exchange, not everything is perfect.
Now, I am in the process of sending my Micro II server in an envelope back to Nitix.
I do want to remain a BP of theirs, I love the idea and presented a 1/2 dozen reasons why BPs should be selling this or using it. However I was told unless I bought a server I could not be a BP. Possibly I could buy the Nitix license and stay a BP. My instinct says IBM will revise the BP structure soon and we can revisit it then. So I decided to send it back anyway as I can not use it for anything and a new Dell PC costs $1,000 less even after licenses or if use Ubuntu nearly free from licenses.
6 Suggestions of sales ideas:
1) Backup solution for small businesses, Nitix promotes this idea, but I do not mean using it as a backup drive or tape offline, Imean as a backup hot swappable Domino server for an SMB or household.
2) Household server. Why would a LInux person buy this and use it that way? They wouldn't. But peopel who see themsleves as technical lovers, albeit without the true geekiness, would love to say they have a linux box at home doing x,yz. And their mail server too.
3) Use it as the Sametime server for SMB's. Or App server or Mail server.
4) DRP/BC "pick up and go" server. I'm in Florida, Hurricane central and the idea of grabbing my network and going someplace is very appealing to SMB clients, even larger organizations which know they can not take a whole server would like to take targeted groups or divisions information with them.
5) Trade show/Event staff who always need a server but really a 5-10 user one is fine and this would be perfect. No more prying a server from someone or always rebuilding your demos because someone took your server.
6) Home Web server. Moving forward a static IP address at home should be de facto standard(hello Comcast pay attention!)and so should the ability to have a web server running.
Unfortunately I also had some valid reasons for not wanting the little box to stay in our offices.
My main issue is the 5 user limitation. Which to be fair is a hardware issue somewhat but more a business decision as they feel beyond 5 users the box will perform not so well. I poionted out that it could and should be licenses to at least 15, possibly 25 in this condition although even I realize this would be an absolute maximum..
Sadly my pleas although stated to sales, marketing, technical and Lotus Execs for Nitix, fell on deaf ears for now. They recognize it isn't ready for any of the uses I had in mind and the IBM take over has put them in a middle ground which will take another quarter or 2 to resolve and produce some newer products. In addition to the capability of running Sametime and Quickr on top of it with presumably beefier hardware and RAM.
Looking forward to it in the future but for now it does not meet my SMB needs in the small form factor. Would love to be part of the internal discussion around this if anyone is reading this from within.
IBM wants to encourage SMB to get off Microsoft Small Business server.
It's great they want them to go to Linux which is why they bought Nitix.
I applaud the direction of trying to put Domino on yet another Linux platform, and try to certify it for the Nitix distribution.
It runs Domino(basic mail server).
OK so it also handles Exchange, not everything is perfect.
Now, I am in the process of sending my Micro II server in an envelope back to Nitix.
I do want to remain a BP of theirs, I love the idea and presented a 1/2 dozen reasons why BPs should be selling this or using it. However I was told unless I bought a server I could not be a BP. Possibly I could buy the Nitix license and stay a BP. My instinct says IBM will revise the BP structure soon and we can revisit it then. So I decided to send it back anyway as I can not use it for anything and a new Dell PC costs $1,000 less even after licenses or if use Ubuntu nearly free from licenses.
6 Suggestions of sales ideas:
1) Backup solution for small businesses, Nitix promotes this idea, but I do not mean using it as a backup drive or tape offline, Imean as a backup hot swappable Domino server for an SMB or household.
2) Household server. Why would a LInux person buy this and use it that way? They wouldn't. But peopel who see themsleves as technical lovers, albeit without the true geekiness, would love to say they have a linux box at home doing x,yz. And their mail server too.
3) Use it as the Sametime server for SMB's. Or App server or Mail server.
4) DRP/BC "pick up and go" server. I'm in Florida, Hurricane central and the idea of grabbing my network and going someplace is very appealing to SMB clients, even larger organizations which know they can not take a whole server would like to take targeted groups or divisions information with them.
5) Trade show/Event staff who always need a server but really a 5-10 user one is fine and this would be perfect. No more prying a server from someone or always rebuilding your demos because someone took your server.
6) Home Web server. Moving forward a static IP address at home should be de facto standard(hello Comcast pay attention!)and so should the ability to have a web server running.
Unfortunately I also had some valid reasons for not wanting the little box to stay in our offices.
My main issue is the 5 user limitation. Which to be fair is a hardware issue somewhat but more a business decision as they feel beyond 5 users the box will perform not so well. I poionted out that it could and should be licenses to at least 15, possibly 25 in this condition although even I realize this would be an absolute maximum..
Sadly my pleas although stated to sales, marketing, technical and Lotus Execs for Nitix, fell on deaf ears for now. They recognize it isn't ready for any of the uses I had in mind and the IBM take over has put them in a middle ground which will take another quarter or 2 to resolve and produce some newer products. In addition to the capability of running Sametime and Quickr on top of it with presumably beefier hardware and RAM.
Looking forward to it in the future but for now it does not meet my SMB needs in the small form factor. Would love to be part of the internal discussion around this if anyone is reading this from within.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
LS08: Updates, take 2
Let's try again to post this.
Project Liberate:
The other day I discussed this and now IBM is pushing it out a little more.
Antony Satyadas added this to his Microsoft FUD site which is a good starting point for some people in the competitive arena.
Foundations:
Had some great conversations with Ed and Alan about this and while I am still ont he fence, they said the Business Partner (BP) community has been asking for it. So if it fails, who is to blame? Highly unlikely it will fail, IBM just dished out some major money for the company and usually gets their money worth. I await a demo box and look forward to what this may bring us.
Bluehouse:
Wish I had the same excitement or interest. As a BP, this will not work for my firm. We do NOT do application development or create tools or any other applications. we just build Lotus/IBM infrastructures that work, and work well. Now what if we, as a BP, want to leverage this IBM hosting and offer products to our clients? Alan suggested to think of this as a menu, not an application. So if I want CRM like functions, great, but what if I really want to host Quickr sites? Is this going to be a reasonable price structue to accomodate the upsell on our part? Maybe not.
But as was said yesterday a few times, not everything IBM does is for it's partners.
Project Liberate:
The other day I discussed this and now IBM is pushing it out a little more.
Antony Satyadas added this to his Microsoft FUD site which is a good starting point for some people in the competitive arena.
Foundations:
Had some great conversations with Ed and Alan about this and while I am still ont he fence, they said the Business Partner (BP) community has been asking for it. So if it fails, who is to blame? Highly unlikely it will fail, IBM just dished out some major money for the company and usually gets their money worth. I await a demo box and look forward to what this may bring us.
Bluehouse:
Wish I had the same excitement or interest. As a BP, this will not work for my firm. We do NOT do application development or create tools or any other applications. we just build Lotus/IBM infrastructures that work, and work well. Now what if we, as a BP, want to leverage this IBM hosting and offer products to our clients? Alan suggested to think of this as a menu, not an application. So if I want CRM like functions, great, but what if I really want to host Quickr sites? Is this going to be a reasonable price structue to accomodate the upsell on our part? Maybe not.
But as was said yesterday a few times, not everything IBM does is for it's partners.
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