FudBuster Friday 2018 Edition: That GDPR = Dead Domino

"From the ashes we can build another day.."- from "Story in Your Eyes" by The Moody Blues

Every once in a while I feel the need to publish another FudBuster Friday post, yes it has been way too long but "fake news" makes these posts almost superfluous. I could write 10 a day and still never get them done.

Over the last few days some people I like, trust and learn from, were bothered by a "op-ed" type Press Release from the CEO of a company that obviously makes their money by moving IBM Domino shops to Microsoft.

Their own website even states in absolute terms "Our mission is to develop user-friendly, cost effective technology solutions to help companies escape the IBM Domino/Notes application landscape.:"

From their site I get the impression they have not been around for a long time but obviously are unhappy that people use Notes and Domino. This is their prerogative and in business there are many ways to make money. However, FUD ways are not funny, nor valid reasons to ever do something.

In this case they try to angle that the old solution is not up to par for the imminent on May 25, 2018 General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) of the EU. For a great article about it read this. 

GDPR is a regulation that requires businesses to protect the personal data and privacy of EU citizens for transactions that occur within EU member states. It also is applicable to US companies that STORE the data.

Taking a few items to task, let's start with 

"It is compelling because organisations are expected to create a single view of a customer – leaving data in old Notes databases is likely to render users non-compliant"

No explanation is provided and it is "just a fact". There is no requirement, that I found, requiring a single view of a customer. And even if there was, given Domino is a flat database solution, the data is sitting in one nsf although it may be called and referenced by others. Of course you may have data shared in various formats across your CRM, your SAP, your individual sales people as well. This would not change no matter what or how you store your data. What becomes incumbent on companies is the need to document their data workflows and processes for reporting breaches of the said data. 

Domino non-compliant? No way.

He then goes on to lay out a process of three steps that are required to help you meet GDPR requirements, namely: Discovery, Data Extraction and Archiving. In truth none of these steps do anything except pad a consultants pocket and sell, as we will see, many software licenses.

Discovery phase in which they inventory your Domino servers looking for applications. How exciting! our interns can and should do this for us if the built in tools of Domino can not.

Again, this has nothing to do with GDPR or Domino, it is just a normal project process. 

Data Extraction

"A key area of importance to the GDPR compliance directives is being able to get to all the data that is held on an individual so that, for example, a request to be forgotten is executed with a high degree of certainty. This means that getting data out of the Notes databases into an easily searched Relational Database is critical."

What? A did not go to B and definitely did not reach C in that sentence. If you already mapped out your data workflows and locations, then you would have a process in place to eliminate the data asked to be forgotten.

You do not need a relational database to do an index lookup, Excel does it quite well and so does your own internal search solution hopefully. If not, you may want  to invest in a corporate search appliance but this is still no reason to give up on Domino nor does it prove any non compliance. Just bad FUD.

The author then goes on to elaborate about how data could be dumped out of Domino into not one (MS SQL), not two (MS Dynamics), but three (Alfresco) different solutions and somehow this is a better idea? Imagine how many licenses and servers and billable hours this requires compared to your existing team looking at your data and mapping it out.

Archiving of data is always fun. those of you with 20 year old tapes of customer data, how will you rectify this? There is a serious business. This however is just bad rhetoric. Do you really need an all encompassing search solution? Perhaps, but if you have workflowed your data, you should know exactly where it resides and be able to easily identify what parts need to be marked/deleted.

Again, Domino is no different than any other database when it comes to finding your data.

The gist of the PR is a SQL server will give you better control, indexing, deletion of the data. No, it will not and no matter what database or solution you use if you do not document it or manage it properly you will face some huge fines. Any business no matter how small or large if you have personal/private data of EU members you will need to sit down and sort yourselves out.

In the end, no, moving to Microsoft SQL server will not be more compliant for GDPR than Domino.

You will have spent way too much money to move data from one solution to another for zero, I repeat zero reasons other than you were blindly following some entity because you were ignorant and uninformed!

I welcome feedback, further details which maybe I have neglected to research thoroughly enough or even an official statement from IBM or HCL that provides me with a reason to edit this post.

How did I Miss This Feature in Notes?

Admittedly it probably is important to specific people in specific countries but I needed it for my Hebrew references. You learn something new every day. Or maybe in my case, you forget more than you remember.

With your Contacts db open (local names.nsf) select View-> Additional Language Options and select whichever language you need...or all 7! How cool is that!

The languages to choose from include: Greek, Hebrew, Arabic, Thai, Vietnamese, Japanese and Cyrillic

It makes a list of the alphabet next to the English one and is searchable as well.

I thought it was new in Notes 9, but went back to an 853 client and it was there, looks like we got it in the 8.X stream.

Carry on with your normal work now.

Connect 2013 Tips #5 Mail Rules, Get to Know Them

Sorry this got posted earlier than Friday. Oh well. Enjoy.

You probably are like me and get more email than you wish. The problem is some of it is just useless, like backup reports from the tape drives. Yes I want to know about them, but no, I do not want to see them, unless there is a problem.

I bet you feel the same about many of them.We see often enough that mail rules are not used by everyone. Which is a shame because it is one of the best ways to help you get to the semi-mythical inbox zero. GTD, Getting Things Done people will and rightly argue there is a better way but for the average person, mail rules can mean a big difference.

I want to provide another example, aside from the backup notices above.

If you are part of ANY internal distribution list, raise your hand. As I suspected, almost everyone.
And hoiw often do those really involve you or have any meaning? If never is your answer, GET OFF THE LIST! Like Linkedin groups that sends you updates you never read and then you get a nice email saying they have changed you to digest or weekly, if you never read them, why do you get them. Otherwise keep reading.

You can create a quick rule, but I prefer the full details. Let me show you why. Sorry forgot to tell you how to find the mail rules. One way is to click on the More drop down menu option and click on Quick Rules or Mail Rules. The other way is to click on Tools form your Left column and then Rules.

You can pick any sender, domain or subject, fine by me for step 1. Pick either choice in step 2. But it is step 3 which leaves me wanting more. yes, one can change importance or not accept the message (i.e. delete it) or move to a folder. Now the problem with moving it to a folder is, you guessed it, you will not have seen the message! Not what one wants usually, unless it is the tape backup saying success, in that case, this works.


Now if you are NOT a manager, this next part can be skipped. But I know you will read it anyway.

As a manager of multiple international projects I am on a few distribution lists which although MOST of the emails serve no purpose for me, I get them anyway. BUT the few that are for my teams, I need to see and do something with them. Here is where the full mail rules kick in.

Once at the Mail Rules window, click New Rule and you will see this screen. you can see orm the snapshot I entered support in the blank field and changed the default sender to to or cc contains. This normally would be the group address name of your distribution list. Then the drop down for Specify Actions has copy to folder and I created one called supportmails and then click Add Action and click OK.

NOTE: If you leave the default as Sender you will only get copies of anything with support as the TO field.

That's it. Now I have a copy of the support emails, should anyone ask if I got one and if I mistakenly delete one from my inbox via my phone and do not realize before my soft delete limit is hit, I am good. I do not always have the reply

See you Sunday at Connect 2013! No more tips after this, just one more post about where I will be and how to find me.

Connect2013 Tip #3 Exporting Your Notes Calendar

Just a few more days and a whole new world will open before your eyes at Connect2013!

But for now, we have to build up interest and what better interest is there than various tips for users?

So far I discussed Lotus Notes letterhead and Sametime Goodies and for today I decided to discuss a Notes Calendar trick. This is helpful not just for the reasons described but if you need to do compliance work or some other similar areas.

If your calendar looks like mine for next week, you may be going to Connect.

  

What if you needed to get this on to a different mail file, say your Notes9 test site and it is not in your domain? Or in my case I want all my personal and company meetings to merge properly. 

Fellow IBM Champion Mat Newman outlined some examples to get an ical feed for your Notes calendar and getting Facebook birthdays and events in your Notes calendar in case you are wondering. In this case I am unable to bridge the domains and see each others mail. You may find synching to Gmail and then back to your phone works but not in my specific case. So here is how i got around it.

1)Bring up your calendar and change the view to show summary from the drop down on the Right side of the page

2) Now check all the events you want copied over

3) Now click File-Export from the menu bar and enter a name, I used week and make sure to  select calendar file (.ics). Also put the file someplace accessible from the 2nd machine, like a network share or a dropbox account or email it to the other domain.

4) You will be asked if you want ALL your documents exported, be sure to only click Selected Documents.




5) Now swap over to your other machine or client, open your calendar view and select File-Import. locate the file and open it.

6) You will see a pop up window asking about importing into your calendar with a preview of the entries. You may choose not to use notify me, your phone or client would be going off all the time.

7) Click OK


8) Done, simple enough. if you had similar entries already in place at the other location you will be prompted what to do with them

Maybe not as much fun as the other tips, but just as useful.

See you at Connect!

A Week of Connect2013 User Tips #1 Company Logo on Letterhead

Connect2013 starts next week and I wanted to provide a daily tip for you the person using Lotus IBM Notes and Domino and naturally the administrator managing it as well. This is done using Notes 9 and works in previous editions as well. This is not a new option in Notes 9, but it never hurts to remind everyone.

Customizing your Notes client is not so difficult and can provide some healthy warm and friendly feelings when accomplished. Remember to always store all changes in a separate named database file with a different Notes ID otherwise your changes will be overwritten on upgrading. And document the procedure and reference points so anyone can repeat it later.

So for tip #1, I want to review how to put your Company Logo on every message you send.

You will need a Designer client, download it for FREE from IBM, which usually means the administrator is the one who will do this. However, you, the end user can have some fun on your own. You will need to change the mail template that all users mail files use as their template. I know, editing the mail template is not always approved, but if you already customize it in any way, this is really a simple update and your CEO, well your CMO at least, should love it.

There is a technote, #1094814 that outlines what to do but is a bit out dated, but here are some more details for those who are not so familiar with this topic.

Instructions to Edit the Letterhead:
Part 1: Adding a Logo Graphic
1) I will presume you have a file in GIF, JPG, PNG or Bitmap and is 88 pixels high and 70 pixels wide (although a size as large as 90 x 85 should fit in most cases) you can adjust the size in your graphics program.
2) Open Domino Designer
3)  Select File-Application-Open from the top menu bar
4) Find your Server or select Local if you are testing or doing this for yourself

5) Locate the Mail 85.ntf or in my picture maill9.ntf
6) Highlight the file and click on Open
7) Find the Images directory and double click on it to open up a new tab and you will see all your images
8) Click on Import Image Resource and the pop up window asks where to find the file

9) Select the image to add
10) The image will now be listed and you need to edit the name so there is no extension and is named ltr-somename with an Alias of StdNotesLtr51 ( It is also suggested that you start numbering your custom letterheads at a value of 50, so as not to interfere with the letterhead numbers that ship with the Mail template per above technote)

Not done yet, you need to add the new letterhead logo into the drop down box so any user can find it.

Part 2: Editing the Drop Down List of Letterheads
1) With the mail template still open in Designer
2) Double Click on Forms to open a new tab with all the forms and find (Calendar Profile)
3) Double Click to open it
4) Find the Letterhead Tab and click on it
5) Click on DefaultLogo
6) You should see this line in the window below and to the right:
@If(logo = ""; "StdNotesLtr25"; Logo) or something similar which is the default

7) You can change this to your new logo default, I am using 19 as it was free at the time, but you should use above 50 to be safe.
8) Now double click on the DefaulLogo text/box
9) You will see a new pop up window open, go to the Control tab (The old style key)

10) In the Choices box create a new line and add the Graphic name with a pipe the | and StdNotesLtr51 as shown in the picture.

11) Once you added the graphic here, click on the Check Arrow that appears to save it
12) Press CTRL-S or close the Form tab and it will prompt to save it
13) Don't forget to sign the template with your Application ID so the ECL warnings do not pop up for users asking if they trust you.

Test your Work:

While in your inbox, click on More, then Preferences, then Mail tab then the Letterhead tab

Find your new Graphic by name and say ok.

If all went well, it will be there and will now be sent to anyone inside your organization. This will not be sent outside your organization.

You can now let the Design task update everyone's mail template and if you set the default to this number it will be there for everyone.

Similarly you can put any graphic you want in there, subsidiaries, holidays, divisions, awards, as long as it fits.

See you at Connect 2013!

PS - In case you wondered, this is a list i made of what is in my client:
No Letterhead|StdNotesLtr0
Bouncy Earth|StdNotesLtr1
Buck Rogers Mail|StdNotesLtr2
Computer Chip|StdNotesLtr3
Decco|StdNotesLtr4
Golf|StdNotesLtr5
Frank Lloyd|StdNotesLtr7
Clouds|StdNotesLtr8
Gateway|StdNotesLtrGateway
Geometry |StdNotesLtr9
Gray Gradient with Lines|StdNotesLtr13
Surfboard|StdNotesLtr14
Maple Leaf|StdNotesLtr6
Marquee|StdNotesLtr34
Metal Plate|StdNotesLtr15
Architect|StdNotesLtr16
Plain Text and Web Only|StdNotesLtr0
Pony Express|StdNotesLtr17
Post Mark|StdNotesLtr33
Primitive|StdNotesLtr20
Purple Geometry|StdNotesLtr18
Slashed Lines with Globe|StdNotesLtr21
Squiggle with Backdrop|StdNotesLtr22
Fishing|StdNotesLtr23
Tacks|StdNotesLtr24
Mail Envelope|StdNotesLtr25
Teal and Yellow Lines|StdNotesLtr26
Three Dimensional Relief|StdNotesLtr27
Adirondack Chair|StdNotesLtr28
Triangle with Dots|StdNotesLtr30
Triangles|StdNotesLtr29
Wild Confetti|StdNotesLtr32

Notes 9 Public Beta is Fast

Having finally got around to installing the public beta, as a Design Partner I have been using the previous beta code I am impressed by the speed of the client.

Here are a few simple yet beneficial bits of information.

• It moves much more fluidly than the 8.5.x stream. More web speed than Windows speed.

• There is now a Discover tab area which is sort of like a GUI for help and a welcome to Notes on line learning area. Right now the video links are not connected but a number of useful items from mailing, search, calendar and more will be there for all the new users and even find some new pieces for us old guys.

• The IBM Connections plugins and widgets all work in the beta so far as well.

• When in your inbox, click on the Show drop down from the upper right corner of the inbox. The Group by Date option will let you know just how bad you are at inbox zero (50 messages for December in mine) 

• Also under Show is the new Beginning of Message option will show you just what it says, the beginning of the messages.

Two personal preference things which I changed:
If you are not a fan of the shades of grey look, change the theme.
I set it to my Operating System Theme for my Windows7 laptop.
Steps from your Notes client: File->Preferences->Windows and Themes and the Theme option drop down.

The other thing I changed is the new blue icon. I don't mind the change, but since my background is blue as well it blends in and I miss my yellow/orange icon. So with that in mind I created a Lotus icon so I did not need the old notes.exe which housed it. If you want a copy, grab it here it is also on my Downloads tab. I made this using this site in case you wanted any other icons.

No doubt much more will come out in time as I use it further.

IBM is using SugarCRM Internally

One of the things heard this morning at SugarCon was that IBM is working on rolling out SugarCRM to the company.

This is a huge boost of course for SugarCRM and for IBM and it's sales teams and Business Partners. In doing so, IBM will be putting aside Siebel.

SugarCRM which is looking to grow their Enterprise business, needs this boost. In many ways it brings validity to what many of us have known for years. Mainly that older solutions are cumbersome, expensive and they preclude others from excelling at their jobs.

With this roll out there are integration points in place today for IBM SmartCloud Engage (previously LotusLive Engage) and now there will be IBM Connections integration. More on this topic coming in a different blog post.

If you had been at the Partner day or the Keynote this morning, you may have felt, as I did, that substituting Lotusphere/IBM for Sugarcon/SugarCRM you may think you were in Orlando. Even the music/videos out front had a similar sound/feel. so naturally I feel at home. Just missing my yellowverse friends.

But as I meet new friends, customers and partners, I am struck by the feeling of deja vu. I have seen this similar growth and plans way back in R4 of Lotus Notes. yes prior to IBM buying Lotus, the company was also trying to break into the Enterprise levels. And IBM helped them get there in many ways.

Now SugarCRM is leaning on IBM to help guide the future, make inroads into bigger clients and integrate with their existing systems and extend out to newer ones. It is a good working relationship that can only help SugarCRM. But I wonder what IBM will get from this.

Back in R4 time, email was just coming out and it was the right time, right product. Now, CRM is not new nor is SugarCRM by far the only player out there, though they are the 3rd largest CRM vendor out there with over 1 million active users, 80,000+ organizations use it and 30,000 registered developers.

Their view, reiterated by Larry Augustin, CEO and Clint Oram, CTO of SugarCRM, is the USER is what is most important. Again, just like Lotus Notes wanted to help the user do more, share more and grow more. It's a great parallel.

Sugarcon grows each year and next year will be in New York at the Waldorf Astoria, April 7-11, 2013. If you want to be part of this great run, join now, try it out. You can download the mostly full installation, called Community Edition, and try it on your own.LAMP or Windows your choice. Go get it from www.sugarcrm.com

If we, as partners, can leverage SugarCRM to augment our IBM solutions it may help IBM Connections grow similarly to how Lotus Notes grew years ago.

My session tomorrow discusses this and more from a practical angle, not a sales/marketing pitch. looking forward to this future and greater information to be coming from this relationship.

The Parallel Life of Notes/Domino and Connections

In response to a few people today, this theme kept coming up.

I expect others to add to this list and some to detract from it, but it's a basic view of a situation which if you have been on the fence lately, still, this may help you.

If one views IBM Connections in parallel to IBM Lotus Notes and Domino you see these parallels:

Both:

• have picked up some steam with the advent of release 3.x
• are a platform to run your business, or some aspects of it
• provide for messaging integration in one form or another
• are extensible and expandable
• are/were not so friendly to build at their earlier points in time
• Domino(with R4) was an answer to the Internet, Connections to Social, both paradigm shifts

Then companies had green screens and dumb terminals for email making Notes a great alternative plus it had a built in designer client to make your own apps! 

Connections uses widgets or plug-ins or apps that could be found almost anywhere and put to great use.

Notes really made one believe in sharing or collaboration and that information did not have to be locked away on an as need basis.

Connections helps you find the persons or things, and don't forget the analytics, that will help you get the most out of your project, sales pitch or budgets.

Simple view? Yes. But do you want the 3 pages version when you are explaining it to the execs or the "Twitter" size?

There is an elegance to simplicity.

Me vs. We and how one Database is the difference

On my flight back home last night, LATE last night, we were discussing the way of the world and how it affects Lotus and IBM.

Sometime after 9/11(my guess, but truly it changed many things in the world)many people began to see the world differently.

Instead of standing by on the sidelines or going with the flow, people instead wanted to be heard or known or be an ASW (attention seeking whore) or on reality TV, thanks Andy Warhol. Many also have chosen to go very high minded ways to change the environment or laws or get into space commercially and as IBM says help become a Smarter Planet. So all is not lost.

BUT, prior to 9/11, there was much more willingness on behalf of everyone to share and be open rather than closed or finding their own way amid the traffic or chaos as some say exists.

Even social networking/media is a community, but a silo at the same time. Take twitter or Facebook as an example. Yes we all have many friends and followers but do we truly take part in 1,000's of conversations? Or do we instead focus on a few or only a select group of those friends? Do you reach out to others you do not know on those sites to share experiences or help them?

The answers to these questions say a lot about you and the choices you will make regarding nearly everything else in your world. Many readers of the Lotus faithful, I would hope, are openly social and encourage others to do so as well. It is in our nature to want to help people or at least share our knowledge, for better or worse, with others. After all it was what we found so exciting about some bits of code called Lotus Notes in the first place. Developers may have fallen in love with the openness of the solution or it's close relationship to 1-2-3 back then or a million other things. Either way, when we all go to Orlando for Lotusphere or a LUG event or whenever our paths cross, we are able to work together and discuss different ideas and accept it as a good thing to do.

When one has the perspective of not wanting to share information because it has a value or it could hurt or help someone but doesn't extend that effort, what choices will they be making?

Many times I have posited that executives that choose Microsoft are not true sharing people, just because the product is called Sharepoint does not mean you will be sharing, more likely you will share anything ...up to a point, thus its name. In a world about me and what I want or what I say or that everyone wants to be on a reality TV show, is it any wonder someone would prefer to go with a line of products that is focused on silos and individuals or making someone a fiefdom inside IT a data center or a business line?

(Small digression, sorry but I do not understand the Reality TV interest or those that watch it. Having said that I enjoy watching the Miami Dolphins, win or lose, so what does that say about me I guess?)

Yes, I hear you say, but what about Google?

Google is a socialist organization masquerading as a capitalist one. Some may argue it in reverse as well. What they promote is not the team collaborative effort, although Buzz and Wave and other pieces seem to point to that direction, they really are providing the individual the ability to be unique, grab attention and have people pursue more ways to promote themselves.

Now how does all this compare to Lotus Connections? Isn't Connections just another IBM me too in the world?

On the surface, it may appear that way. And for good reason, if you have been reading this post until now. IBM is not stupid, they understand where the minds of the people are and they built Connections based on the new paradigm. Yes I realize it was put together by a bunch of pieces from IBM but the integration is what makes it come alive as by themselves they would be meaningless. Like instant messaging in Lotus Sametime without presence awareness.

However, the underlying connectivity of Connections to integrate to your calendar or email or phone or IM and nearly anything else is what proudly and undeniably stamps on it's forehead "Lotus Notes Lives". Sure, Notes and Domino are not even part of it's installation. But when one looks at Connections you can see how that lotus Notes R1 version of a discussion database, which still is alive and well inside Iris, is still at the core of the world today.

The lowly discussion database where anyone, with access, could post, comment, diatribe, link, attach or just say yes or no, is still the heart and soul of Lotus products like Connections or Quickr. Even if Lotus is now a brand inside of IBM, the yellow heartbeat is there just underneath a blue layer of Websphere.

So while the truly religious will argue "But it's not Domino!" We never fell in love with Domino(don't get me wrong, we did and do all the time), we fell in love with Lotus Notes before Domino even existed in beta. Splitting hairs perhaps to some but I think you get my point.

A little discussion database that could, and look where that little database took us all 20+ years later?

So when you hear about Project Vulcan and are trying to grasp it all and what it will mean, I believe the vision IBM has for it's future, is still that same vision as in R1. Namely that sharing of information or data and providing more and more ways to get access to it in a simple and easy fashion, is not a way to do something, but THE way to do it and the world seems to be agreeing.

Why use Lotus Notes?

A post from March 2008 continues to get hit on regularly.

At the time it was my views comparing Outlook and Notes R8.0.1 and why I still prefer a Notes client.

Now, 18 months later or so, with R8.5.1 coming out, and still no new Outlook versions in the interim, my thoughts have changed.

No, I don't prefer Outlook, but the reasons for why I prefer Notes have increased.

1) Webmail - If you don't like the Notes client because it's too busy, then use the iNotes (was called Webmail or Domino Web Access as well) client which comes in 3 flavors to meet all needs. Full has everything and requires the most bandwidth, Lite is just the basics and uses minimal bandwidth, ISP mode for pure email people and UltraLite which is really for an iPhone user. From the people perspective, it provides options, from the admins perspective it reduces footprints(1 database for both notes client and web), diskspace (shares format from one place not multiple versions) and works across browsers, not just IE and FF, although mileage may vary depending on versions.

2) Mac and Linux fans rejoice - While not helping me per se, this is a huge thing to our clients, many of which are seriously looking at Macs, aside from the iPhone push. Notes clients that run on both these platforms just means more potential applications to be built.

3) Customization to the client have gradually expanded with each revision and in many cases can be controlled by the administrator so changes could be pushed out. The ability to change my interface the way I want it to look is priceless. The joy of client faces when I show them it really is drag and drop and they are bewildered why Microsoft never did this in Outlook. Lotus wants you to play/enjoy your time while working, Microsoft wants you to work then play. I'll take the Lotus way every time.

4) You are the designer again. Lotus has made the Designer client free for everyone. Now that budding designer inside you that wants an expense form or HR document database or workflow from your factory to your desk could be done...by you! Years ago we could all do this inside the Notes client and we loved it! But the design pieces moved to their own client and the new generation of employees can get cracking on their own applications. So don't say why do we do it this way, write the code, break the cycle, enjoy your work!

5) Cell Phones - iPhone users now have excellent push email, corporate directory lookup and calendar/contacts synchronization. No iPhone? Any windows mobile device can get all of this(except corporate directory look up, available via Mobile Connect) natively from using Lotus Notes Traveler which is FREE as well inside every Domino Server. Blackberry users? You still need a BES, but...

6) Sidebar applications - Widgets? Sure any can be imported and used. But there are also plugins from Linkedin, Tripit and even a Bookmark plugin to synch your online bookmarks down to your client. Also for new Notes people, an online learning plugin from IBM which is full of information.

7) Sametime is built-in to the client(has been since R5) and is built in to your licensing, again for free. Hard to imagine when I joined Lotus in 1998 I wondered what this would mean for the future, it meant reduced telephone costs, less email abuse, faster answers to questions and a truly flat planet.

8) Simpler licensing - NO CALs for this, that and 4 other things you never use. 2 licenses, messaging (email/calendar basics) and designer/enterprise which includes applications. We just saved one client a huge amount of money by reducing their licensing count from one type to the other.

I could go on more, and other bloggers have, so I encourage you to read them as well. Start at planetlotus.org or www.lotusknows.com if this has whet your appetite.
Have your own ideas IBM should think about to improve Notes even more? Post them at ideajam.net.

IBM wants to help you with what you need and the Lotus brand is there to help you attain it.

Fud Buster Friday #34 - My Blackberry is FASTER than my Mail Client

Notice I didn't say Lotus Notes or Exchange. Yet how many complain about this and trash their mail server to go elsewhere?

I got asked this question in an interview once by a company which I really would love to work for some day.

A company was debating their future infrastructure, typical Exchange vs. Domino and asked what affects Blackberry notifications? Why do some execs (it's always execs isn't it? even my CEO has one) get email seconds or minutes before their mail client? Why would 2 people in the same meeting get notifications seconds or minutes apart?

Admittedly a loaded question, but it gets to the core of understanding messaging, telecom, wireless, devices, infrastructure and customers.

Here is my answer: As much as RIM would like to be able to say it's faster, it just isn't. Well not exactly. Where do you think your email is going first? Usually to your corporate email.

No matter what your email server, your admins, if they are smart enough, limit how often you can hit the server to replicate or for those MS impaired, synchronize. This helps server performance, network bandwidth and other aspects of performance in general. What it doesn't help is the user who absolutely, positively MUST have his email in seconds of it coming in to their inbox.

So let's say you can replicate every 5 minutes. Your Blackberry polls every (EDITED per comment)20 seconds. Now if you use Notes or Exchange on a server, and not locally, you will get notified, although not necessarily that it shows up in your inbox until refreshed. Blackberry wins.

If you run your email locally you must wait for the server to send you the email and that can be at anytime as specified by the admin or your client. Again Blackberry wins.

What about 2 people in the same meeting? Let's put aside they might have 2 different networks(Verizon, AT&T, etc.) and use the same devices. Which by the way is almost impossible as each carrier has tweaked the devices and use different networks. The next point of delay is the BES itself and it's proximity to one's mail file. Perhaps the 2 execs are on different machines for BES and even their mail and one is a slower machine or busier. There is also the possibility that each user has a different size inbox which can also affect the time to arrival on a device. You get the idea.

What astounds me is the executives who say this never happens in Outlook. Forgetting they mean Exchange, of course. I remind them that Exchange would not like their 20GB+ mail file they love in Lotus Notes. Imagine trying to search it on Exchange, if it could handle it at all efficiently.

What does one have to do with another anyway?

BES is slow, must be Lotus fault? And that logic would lead you to believe sales are down we should fire all the sales people and get new ones. There may be some truth in both opinions, but not much sense.

So is Blackberry faster than your email client? Do you really care? Is that really where you want to be spending your time and resources right now?

In the future you may only be using wireless as your medium of choice, if you are not already, and you will never know if it is fast or slow.

But you probably still hate it when someone gets an email before you....don't you?

An error you can't find in Google, SPR however

Do I like this? Oh No I do not!
My apologies to Dr. Seuss fans but weird errors that don't even exist on Google can be rather hard to troubleshoot don't you think?

Fear not, we have screen shot it, although you may need to expand them to better see it.

Before I begin, the situation is this:
R8.0.X client was updated to 8.5 Standard, but because of older equipment made an ini change to run in Basic mode.

The errors only appeared today, not of course last week when I updated them.

The error shown above is what was happening when the client first opened Notes. I was able to "break in" so to speak and get her connected again to the server and replicate her mail.

Problem was if she opened her PNAB(personal names.nsf) on her machine it would start with the error above. Then after clicking ok, you would see this error:

Loading Applications Status
CWPCA4006E: Exception while attempting to load application:nrpc:/__852572890061A02B/composite.xml?file=names.nsf&name=Notes%20Contacts%20Application.xml&caxmlts=Fri, 13 Feb 2009 19:37:00 GMT&launchUrl=notes%3A%2F%2F%2F852572890061A02B%2FContacts%26Groups%3FOpenFrameset%26or1flg%3D32%26hashId%3D05842910E1AACE76230B0F7F7603E854

How odd I thought, an Eclipse error in a Basic client. Hmm. On top of which it looked like a Standard client. Searching Google for CWPCA errors and such showed zero as did IBM support and some fellow colleagues. Stump 1, stump them all....BLOG it.

Called IBM support, John (Thanks for the quick reolution too) worked on it for me and what we found was the notes.ini setting was entered incorrectly to run the client in Basic mode. The proper line entry is:
UseBasicNotes=1 ours, while close, was incorrect.

This resolved the error.

Now there is an SPR out on this error and although I am one of few who received it, nothing as yet has been published about it nor that it is being fixed in future releases. No wonder as we created the problem, a hybrid Basic/Standard client.
But a technote would be nice, so until then, I guess this is your Technote.

As an aside we discussed the possibility of deleting the Workspace folder which would be recreated when running Standard mode as a fix for some other Eclipse corruptions. Which is good because it just so happens my 8.5 installation has some issues, which while I reported them, have not been found by others. Maybe it's just Vista :-)

Fud Buster Friday #27 - Administrators are Expenses

If you were offered a Ferrari for a one year lease with the stipulation you had to pay for gas and insurance and any repairs or maintenance, would you still do it?
I see.
Those of you out there that said yes, you are the Fortune 50 companies of the world.
Everyone that said no, you are every other company.

I chose this, aside from being most people's dream cars(mine is still a Corvette AND I owned a 1962)it is representative of how we see the world from an IT window.

Now let's imagine instead of just leasing the Ferrari, you also got free maintenance with it? Now how many would do it? And what if that free maintenance included someone or something that would proactively record and analyze your habits to help with future driving or gas mileage? Now would you do it?

And so we come to the admins of the world. The picked on, hated/revered, always say NO people who are basically firemen/women who rarely get any respect let alone bonuses have been slaving away to keep your infrastructure flowing and prospering on the small budget you gave them.

You want to cut more corners, reduce expenses, yet have you (executive title person) ever once gone to your admins and asked what they can do to enhance usage, reduce bandwidth or expenses in any way shape or form? Even wondered how changing the way a process is accomplished could save you over $750,000, repeatedly, as I submitted for one client recently?

Your admins can make or break your business, future and finances so treat them with respect, encourage them, give them bonuses and then create a Lotus consulting team and go call a non competing company using Lotus Notes and ask if your team can manage their infrastructure.

What you say? I'm crazy? Who would do such a thing? Someone who trusts their staff, knows what they are doing and appreciates that they work 8-9 hours a day, 5 days a week(occasional off hours items may come up of course but in general..). Because with Lotus Domino you really don't need to work that hard, if your admins know what they are doing.

Your admins can and will save you money, but you never ask them do you?
PS - Developers can help too, but that is for another post.

Why is there no Runtime way to run nsf files?

Go vote for this if you want it, someone inside Lotus reads these things, sometimes.

Years ago I lamented this, when I was inside Lotus. But here it goes again.

I believe in most major programs there is a way to run your application on its own, except in Lotus Notes.

A friend of mine wants a demo of a db/app to give to his customer and asked me to mock something up. Naturally Lotus Notes being a RAD type of environment and my appdev skills being so excellent, ahem, I figured why not just make the main form, a main view and a "report" and see what happens.

The problem is my friend, and the client, do not use Notes. So, wihtout my being there, how can my friend do the demo(he knows nothing of Lotus, he's in construction) without a Lotus Notes client.

In fact, how can anyone demo an nsf file without a Lotus notes client?

I have only come up with 2 ways and a 3rd which I have yet to test. Oh and a 4th but it's a sort of hack.

1) HTTP is your friend in this case. BUT they may not want a browser based app, my friend says, I said it doesn't matter, it's "The Cloud" and laugh like Vincent Price.

2) Sametime meeting and I can demo it for them. Perhaps but something tells me in this case its not going to happen.

3) DOLS? Maybe. Lars suggested this but I am not sure, in the 24 hours i have to do this task, that it can get done in a way that makes sense,

4) Kiosk mode. Yes, quiet and unassuming this has been out there for years, just add /kiosk at the end of the notes.exe run statement properties.
Like so: C:\Lotus\Notes\Notes.Exe /Kiosk demogod.nsf

Pedrorq suggested having my browser be autoloaded for the nsf from my HTTP server. Problem is browsers don't read .nsf extensions anyway so this goes back to #1.

I had at least 5 different responses on twitter which either asked for the answer or were stumped themselves.

So to all my readers out there, even you guys at Microsoft, any ideas are appreciated for this conundrum of a project.

Even if there was a program 10 years ago to do it, let me know I will find it and make it happen.

Fud Buster Friday #4 - eMail is a Commodity!

It has been said by many people and companies. Yet few of those really understand what they are talking about. In revisiting a posting from February
this has been a continuous discussion.

The definition of a commodity, per Merriam-Webster is a
1) a mass-produced unspecialized product or
2)a good or service whose wide availability typically leads to smaller profit margins and diminishes the importance of factors (as brand name) other than price.

Do you think Lexus, Mercedes or Porsche see cars as a commodity?
What about GM or Chrysler?

As discussed previously, price is not the issue, really it isn't.
If it were, everyone and their subsidiaries would be using Gmail.

But they don't. Why? Because on the surface to a "end user" it's just a client getting email or sending it. But from an infrastructure view the list is long: archiving, backups, discovery, anti-virus, spam, malware, retention, international languages, calendaring and scheduling, security, management, access, integration, legal requirements, you get the idea.

Profit margins lower? Perhaps, but if the cost to create R8 for instance was so high, why would IBM spend the money if there is no margin or return?

Yes you could argue the Lotus Domino Server is just one piece of a puzzle which Lotus Connections, Lotus Sametime, Lotus Quickr or even Lotus Foundations and Websphere Portal complete and that's why they spent the money. Lotus gained about 13 million seats last year since Jan 2007 to the most recent announcements from Ed in April 2008.
There has to be some margin on that, even at a $1 a license, which has some benefit. Of course services brings in a lot of money so it does all balance someplace.

Today, and probably still for years to come, email runs your business in many ways. From workflows to simple approvals or sales ads. Email will come to blend more into voice sometime in the future. Imagine how much disk space you need, and processing power, to handle recording of all streams of audio/video for your VOIP lines?

Unified Communications is the key but it is just another method of transport, just like email or postal mail. But without the other pieces and parts to put it together in an efficient way, you are missing the opportunity.

The equivalent setup with Microsoft requires much more hardware and software over the Lotus and IBM approach, discussed previously here and here. If spreadsheets are a commodity, why isn't everyone using Lotus Symphony?

Are cell phones a commodity? Evidently not, if you watched the iPhone, Bold and other device launches lately.

So the next time you hear a client say email is a commodity, remind them how they use it and take advantage of it is NOT a commodity and having a system which can enhance their communication and collaboration securely is just as important.

Middle Initials? Not in Traveler?

While I tend to prefer sticking to other topics. Many readers knwo I love being mobile and especially enjoy using Sametime Mobile and Traveler from the 8.0.1 package.
So my quest for help has met no answers so I ask all of you this question:

If you receive notes mails on your phone(windows mobile 5)with a middle initial in the name, example: "James T. Kirk", in our case it is coming in as "James T.Kirk" with no space after the middle initial's period.

Thus when you reply, the lookup on Domino directory is invalid and you get a dead message error email.

Perhaps it is a configuration issue we have made but as it started to happen out of the blue I am not sure.

The implication is Domino is forwarding the email incorrectly. It arrives fine in my notes client inbox, just not on my phone.

Anyone with similar experience or pointer to resolve it let me know.
In the meantime I took out the middle initials of users names and that resolved the immediate problem.

Long Live Lotus Workplace

Yes I said it and I stick to it.
Although not the way most people are thinking.

I was so happy to see it come out, finally an effort was being made to rebrand Lotsu Notes in some way, any way. How bad could it be? right? OK, so the technical side may have had some issues.

But finally someone in Marketing or Sales or Product Management at IBM or Lotus or Iris came up with the idea to rebrand Lotus Notes. If this was Mike Rhodin or not I can't say but hopefully this was the intent, although it seemed to everyone the Websphere people had a heavy hand on it.

You see, how many other products exist in the technology market place for nearly 20 years with the same moniker/name? Not many.

Microsoft is excellent at this gamne. IBM has not always been so good at it. Websphere was an excellent idea for a brand name for a half dozen products to be together and work, with some customization. Rebranding Lotus Notes or Sametime or Quickplace the IBM Communication suite or whatever thoughts really was not so helpful.

Microsoft reinvents it's own every few years or 2-3 versions. Looiing at tyhe client side alone:
Ms Mail? gone.
Jet mail? Who? Gone(check your Outlook and Exchange files and the updates to it's engine in EVERY version since MS Mail).
Exchange Mail 4,5,5.5 gone.
Outlook Express....gone but still in existence.
Outlook 2003 must still exist because few went to office 2007 or outlook 2007 without upgrading their whole infrastructure to Windows 2008 first and 64 bit too. W
Outlook 2007 may be the last time you hear about it.

Next up MS Live, Live Mail or whatever MS will call it. But I am fairly sure it will not be Outlook in name(although will be under the covers just as Jet and Msmail and exchange mail still run pieces of the Outlook client code.

The bottom line is if we want Lotus Notes and Domino to find a new base in a new era within a time frame web 2.0+ we must rebrand it and give up the name we so love and cherish.

Alan Lepofsky's recent post touches on this and it would be interesting to see where this goes.

DAMO demo provides a list of reason to go Lotus

Must be careful, clients now read this :-)
So I am doing my DAMO demo and in all honesty, why would someone still say they prefer Outlook?

After seeing a Notes R8 client, in this case 801, and an Office 2003 Outlook client running DAMO (which the R7 DAMO runs on currently as I eagerly await the beta of Damo FOR R8 for Vista/Office 2007) how could one sit there and still think Outlook is superior.

Sure, I am biased, but really, can Outlook:
1) go modular? Notes R8 standard client can if you click on the drop down of a sidebar option and select open in new window. My favorite function. Why is this important to me? Because sometimes I want the item seen while mail is minimized.

2) Stop adding tons of tabs to my screen for every task? Notes has had a tabbed interface sine R5(I believe) and even Microsoft finally gave in that it was a better choice, just look at IE7.

3) Do anything beyond email? Enough said.

4) Can you open a browser from WITHIN Outlook so you don't have to go out to another screen/browser? I can in Notes clients since R4 which is going on 10 years ago!

5) Provide an ROI out of the box? Notes can and has! Now with R8 the client does make life easier, no longer do I need to open extra applications, multiple sites or services, they all can run from within my Notes client, perfectly happy and waiting for my time of need. Need to look up a client's info, invoice someone, forward pricing or look it up, I can do it all from one client license fee.

6) Create a spreadsheet or presentation or contract on the fly? With the built in Symphony suite I can. In fact, if you had configured it years ago, even in the time of Office 2000 you could do this from within a Notes client or application without looking for your icons. OK, some poeple who know how to edit their toolbars could have done this, but few ever did which is why Microsoft created that mini toolbar that floats on top of everything.

From the "about this database" of the Office Library found in Notes clients.
What does this database do?
This database gives Notes users the ability to seamlessly create and save documents using Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Paintbrush, without leaving Notes.

Is there more? Sure, but this will keep you going for a little while.

Evangelism is fun, especially within your own organization.

So few people ever think out of the box, and now there is a software communication client that allows one to stay in the box.

What if Notes & Domino didn't exist?

Or to put it differently, you go out on your own and start a new company selling widgets.(Textbooks need a new mcgufin as Alfred Hitchock would say)

What do you do for email or a website or a database or a portal or a financial system or a spreadsheet or word processor even?

When posed with this question I thought, great question!

The answer is not important. No, really, it isn't. The thought process is.

Maybe this is why Google, Apple and some creative agencies thrive, because they see things from this angle outside the box.

In doing so, we can all learn more about who and how we are selling solutions to clients.

Messaging or rather communication DOES matter, email, IM, UC, Twitter, Phone, PDA, voicemail, blogs, wikis, postit notes, FEDEX, semaphors, television, radio, telegraph, morse code or smoke signals we keep evolving so should our solutions and always be looking ahead of the curve.

This is why I prefer Lotus solutions, because pushing future ideas is always a better way to live, even with occasional mistakes, than not pushing any advancements at all.

So what would I be using if Domino didn't exist?
Probably whatever existed that let me share my data, projects, funding or functions among all my employees or clients in a secure, yet open, way and did it all on a personal level so my databases or mail files or whatever would not or could not affect others in an adverse way.
Something which Hosting is getting closer to accomplishing slowly but surely.

Trolling through the 801 Readme

Aside form the usual ini settings which you can add to your lists, there are many new changes, one which I know will take weeks for me to remember is this:

F5 is no longer used to lock your Notes ID F5 is no longer used to lock your Notes ID; this key is now used to refresh your screen.

To lock your Notes ID, the new key combination is "Ctrl+F5".

MOre I am sure will be added ot this post.