Thu, 18 Dec 2008 10:11:09 +0100 ]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/wow.-68-of-business-say-theyll-add-macs-in-09 apple Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/wow.-68-of-business-say-theyll-add-macs-in-09?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/wow.-68-of-business-say-theyll-add-macs-in-09 ComputerWorld says:

Businesses double down on Apple; 68% say they'll add Macs in '09

Apple's having its best enterprise showing in 20 years, says analyst

The number of businesses planning to add Apple Inc.'s Macintosh desktops and laptops to their corporate mix has doubled since earlier this year -- part of what an analyst calls the "consumerization" of IT.

In a just-published survey, 68% of some 700 companies polled said they will allow their end users to deploy Macs as their work systems in the next 12 months. That's exactly double the percentage of businesses that answered the same question eight months ago, said Laura DiDio, an analyst at Information Technology Intelligence Corp. (ITIC).

"And Apple hasn't done anything to actively promote this," DiDio said. Instead, faced by users "begging to use a Mac," IT managers are reacting to the "consumerization" of technology in the enterprise, she explained.

"It used to be that business computers were more powerful than the ones at home," DiDio noted, "but just the opposite is happening now. The computers at home are more powerful than those in the office." And users want that power where they work.

Is your organisation looking to add Macs in 2009? Will a full release of Notes 8.5 and Symphony 1.2 make a difference to your plans?
]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dxcomments/wow.-68-of-business-say-theyll-add-macs-in-09 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/wow.-68-of-business-say-theyll-add-macs-in-09?opendocument&comments

Session track                  Track Five: Communities of Interest
Session id                 BOF409
Session date                 01/19/2009
Session time                 6:15pm - 7:15pm
Session location                 SW Toucan 1
Session name                 Lotus Connections and Beyond
Session abstract         Come and share your experiences of IBM's ground-breaking Social Computing Platform with enthusiasts and experts alike. Hear about what the product can do from people who have used it, how they have implemented it and why organizations can benefit from using it. Learn how you can use Lotus Connections to support interactions within your organization and beyond with topics on integration with other platforms and real-world experiences. Expect a very interactive session with the now famous Buzzword Bingo and "What's the connection?" to keep you entertained and informed.
Speakers                 Neil Burston & Stuart McIntyre

]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/a-wish-for-lotusphere lotusphere2009 Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/a-wish-for-lotusphere?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/a-wish-for-lotusphere


A simple wish for Lotusphere (and I know this is extremely unlikely to be granted, but you can only ask)...

I wish that IBM would give Portal a Lotus logo and a Lotus name.

IBM doesn't even have to remove the Websphere Portal version, just create a new licence and product called Lotus Portal.  We can buy cars that have been 'badge engineered', identical consumer electronics technology that is OEMed by different vendors, why can't we have a software product that comes from two brands?

Let's give the black sheep at least a chance of being one of the family, eh?

CUPERTINO, California—December 16, 2008—Apple today announced that this year is the last year the company will exhibit at Macworld Expo. Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Product Marketing, will deliver the opening keynote for this year’s Macworld Conference & Expo, and it will be Apple’s last keynote at the show. The keynote address will be held at Moscone West on Tuesday, January 6, 2009 at 9:00 a.m. Macworld will be held at San Francisco’s Moscone Center January 5-9, 2009.

Apple is reaching more people in more ways than ever before, so like many companies, trade shows have become a very minor part of how Apple reaches its customers. The increasing popularity of Apple’s Retail Stores, which more than 3.5 million people visit every week, and the Apple.com website enable Apple to directly reach more than a hundred million customers around the world in innovative new ways.

Apple has been steadily scaling back on trade shows in recent years, including NAB, Macworld New York, Macworld Tokyo and Apple Expo in Paris.

Linux and open source will start to chip away at Microsoft Windows desktop software thanks to their popularity on netbooks, those ultralight, low-cost laptops. IBM Lotus strategy director predicts this as a major trend in 2009, as well as the proliferation of messaging and collaboration technologies asa function of UCC, SAAS, cloud computing, enterprise social networks and Web services.

With just a little over two weeks to go until the New Year, technology strategists and pundits are revving their prognostication engines to predict what 2009 will usher in.

...

IBM is one of the vendors that sees the harsh economic climate as a catalyst for opportunity, particularly for Web 2.0 software in the workplace. Doug Heintzman, director of strategy for IBM's Lotus collaboration software unit, discussed technologies and trends that will change the way we work in 2009.

The answers comprise the usual mixed bag we've come to expect from IBM. UCC (unified communications and collaboration) is getting stronger, supported by SAAS (software as a service), cloud computing, mashups, Web browser technologies, free software and, of course, Linux and open source. Expect to hear more about all of these at Lotusphere 2009 next month.

However, Heintzman said IBM has changed its tune with regard to Linux, noting that the emergence of netbooks -- those cheaper, tiny laptops -- have opened a crack in Microsoft's Windows operating system hegemony. Indeed, given Microsoft's Windows control "we've been pretty cautious about declaring Linux as viable on the desktop," Heintzman told eWEEK, adding:

We may well be at an inflection that, with distributions like the Ubuntu distribution, with the rise of popularity in the Mac OS platform, maybe the market starts to fragment and the monopoly loses its power. The Vista launch didn't help matters much. Netbooks, where people are using a basic set of capabilities on the desktop but are storing photos and music files and editing their documents in much more in an online way.... All these factors combined suggest that this may be an important inflection for this new class of ultralight laptop computers, the Asus Eee PCs and Everex CloudBooks of the world. You're dealing with price points and memory- and processor-size restrictions that make them extremely attractive for a Linux operating system as opposed to a Windows operating system.

Heintzman, who admitted to being won over when one of his colleagues let him play with it, predicted that as more and more people begin to use netbooks for play, more robust netbooks and even desktops based on Linux will rise up as more cost-effective, secure and durable machines.

Microsoft faces other threats from free or close-to-free software suites such as IBM's Lotus Symphony and Google Apps' productivity and collaboration applications, will pave the way for the first serious "fissures in the world's largest monopolies," and downward pricing pressure on incumbencies that can charge monopolistic rent,"  Heintzman said.

Support for Lotus Domino Server and companion products on 64-bit operating systems (OS)
 
Problem
Since the introduction of Lotus Domino support on 64-bit operating systems, you require support information regarding other Lotus products that run on top of Domino (companion products), such as Lotus Sametime, Lotus Quickr, Lotus Workflow, and Lotus Enterprise Integrator (LEI).
 
Resolving the problem
To date, the following matrix represents the 64-bit operating systems that support the 64-bit enabled versions of Lotus Domino-based products.

NOTE:

   * Domino 64-bit platform is not intended to interoperate with Lotus extended products such as Lotus Sametime and Lotus Quickr.
     For example, you cannot have run Lotus Sametime (a 32-bit application) on Domino 64-bit.

   * The only Lotus products that support running using 64-bits on 64-bit operating systems are Lotus Domino Server and Lotus Enterprise Integrator (LEI) for Domino

   * The 64-bit version of Lotus Domino does not support DB2 integration. Read Domino and DB2 or more information

VMware product support information for IBM Lotus Domino-based server products

Question
This document clarifies the type of customer support provided by IBM Technical Support when Lotus Domino server operates in a VMware environment. This support statement applies to Domino server, and to Domino-based products including Lotus Enterprise Integrator, QuickPlace, Lotus Quickr, Sametime, and Domino Document Manager (Domino.Doc).

Answer
When a customer calls in with a standard usage or defect-related service request, and indicates that they are running on VMware ESX Server, IBM Technical Support will make best efforts to resolve the problem. We will assume that the problem is common to both native and VMware environments, and we will only require the customer (or the VMware SupportLine team) to recreate the problem if there is an indication that the problem may be unique to the VMware environment. If the client has purchased an IBM ServicePac Agreement (for VMware), the IBM VMware support team can assist in reproducing the problem in accordance with the terms of that agreement.

No capacity planning work or quality engineering testing has been done for Lotus products in this environment. Customers should work with their account team to ensure that proposed VMware based configurations have adequate capacity to meet the demands of the target environment. We recommend caution in running large production workloads on VMware, due to likely performance and scalability issues that are inherent in VM-type environments.

If the use of VMware is required for a customer solution, IBM provides support for VMware via Support Line.

If the question is about performance or scalability issues, the VMware SupportLine Team will make best efforts to determine if the problem is caused by the VMware environment. That determination will then guide the subsequent ownership for working the problem.

This VMware support statement applies to any VMware ESX deployment, whether it is on xSeries servers or competitive Intel-based hardware (for example, Dell). The VMware SupportLine offering covers all Intel-based hardware platforms running under Linux or Windows.

Notes:
1. The above applies to service requests within scope for Passport Advantage support as per the "Software Support Handbook."

2. The above statement is for Remote Technical Support only and does not indicate whether IBM products are "certified" to operate in a VMware environment. "Official" environment statements are made in individual IBM product announcements.

Webcast: Domino 8 upgrade requirements/implementation on System i on 11 December 2008

You are invited to attend a webcast of Domino 8 upgrade requirements/implementation on System i on December 11, 2008.
 
IBM Support is hosting a Tech Exchange webcast on Domino 8 upgrade requirements/implementation on System i on December 11, 2008. The length is 1.5 hours with a Q&A session following the presentation. Please be sure to use the RSVP link below before the webcast to register and receive the dial-in details. As always, there is no charge for participating.

Session Details:

      Title: Domino 8 upgrade requirements/implementation on System i
      Date: December 11, 2008
      Time: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM Eastern US time (3:00 PM GMT)
      Conference URL: http://www.webdialogs.com/join/?schedid=8732769

      This webcast will cover hardware, software and PTF requirements when upgrading to Domino 8 on System i. We will also cover the implementation and benefit of the new ODS for Domino 8.x.

Audio by phone:

      Please use the RSVP link to register, the dial-in and your unique pin will then be e-mailed.

      RSVP link: https://www.myrcplus.com/rsvp-index.asp?BWebID=&CID=7952274
      Please dial in 5-10 minutes early to allow time for registration of all participants before the presentation starts.

]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/ibm-lotus-foundations-server-announcement foundations Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/ibm-lotus-foundations-server-announcement?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/ibm-lotus-foundations-server-announcement
IBM Lotus Foundations Server features server-class quad-core Intel Xeon and Pentium Core 2 Duo processors for performance and stability

Features of the IBM Lotus Foundations Server include:

   * Intel Core 2 Duo E7200 2.53 GHz or Xeon X3330 2.66 GHz quad-core processors
   * Standard system memory consisting of 2 GB or 4 GB PC2-6400 CL6 ECC DDR2 800 MHz DIMMs; 8 GB1 maximum
   * Integrated Serial-ATA (SATA) controller
   * 5.25 inch removable backup drive kit with 500 GB or 1 TB simple swap SATA HDD (model dependent)
   * LCD monitor display
   * Flash drive for intelligent data backup and recovery
   * Five available I/O expansion slots
   * System management support
   * I/O ports:
         o Six USB (four rear, two front)
         o Three Ethernet ports:
               + Integrated Gigabit Ethernet with RJ-45
               + Dual-port Ethernet adapter
         o Two software-compatible serial ports
         o One parallel port supporting devices using SSP, EPP, or ECP protocols adhering to the IEEE 1284 standard
   * Integrated ATI graphics controller with 16 MB video memory and one rear portAvailable on December 5th, these new servers look to be a big step forward in scalability and performance from the older Nitix style systems.

Links to Announcement Letter in

]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/five-million-people-around-the-water-cooler ibm Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/five-million-people-around-the-water-cooler?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/five-million-people-around-the-water-cooler


What a great headline...

Five Million People Around the Water-Cooler - How the UK public sector can harness the power of social networking

Awesome! Social software on the homepage, connected to a business that everyone can understand, sounds like a really interesting article, right?  Click through...

Ah!



I think that's a FAIL.

Note that I was signed into the site already and so it should have known I don't have access to the Public Sector content.  Besides, why headline with an article that 95% of IBM UK customers/partners won't be able to read? About Social Networking too!

If I find a way to access the content, I'll let you know...

UPDATE

It seems one can access the white paper in

We have some very big news today at Pownce. We will be closing the service and Mike and I, along with the Pownce technology, have joined Six Apart, the company behind such great blogging software as Movable Type, TypePad and Vox. We’re bittersweet about shutting down the service but we believe we’ll come back with something much better in 2009. We love the Pownce community and we will miss you all.

We’re very happy that Six Apart wants to invest in growing the vision that we the founders of Pownce believe so strongly in and we’re very excited to take our vision to all of Six Apart’s products. Mike and I have joined Six Apart as part of their engineering team and we’re looking forward to being a part of the talented group that has created amazing tools for blogging and publishing.

We’ll be closing down the main Pownce website two weeks from today, December 15th. Since we’d like for you to have access to all your Pownce messages, we’ve added an export function. Visit pownce.com/settings/export/ to generate your export file. You can then import your posts to other blogging services such as Vox, TypePad, or WordPress.

Here are the bigger questions your organization needs to be asking before entering these channels:

- Are we willing to not just listen, but to respond and adapt based on the back and forth?
- Are we willing to become active participants - not just in our channels but in the other channels and spaces as well?
- Are we willing to change the focus from being on our company to being about everybody - us, them and the entire community?
- Are we willing to be participants with just as much fervour and passion when it's not good for us, but good for the community or the industry as a whole?
- Are we willing to be open?
- Are we willing to be really, really open and transparent?

What’s in this update:
    * Enhancements to Maps
          o Google Street View*
          o Public transit and walking directions
          o Display address of dropped pins
          o Share location via email
    * Decrease in call setup failures and dropped calls

    * Enhancements to Mail
          o Resolved isolated issues with scheduled fetching of email
          o Improved formatting of wide HTML email
    * Podcasts are now available for download in iTunes application (over Wi-Fi and cellular network)

    * Improved stability and performance of Safari
    * Improved sound quality of Visual Voicemail messages
    * Pressing Home button from any Home screen displays the first Home screen
    * Preference to turn on/off auto-correction in Keyboard Settings

]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/iphone-now-has-podcast-download iphone Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/iphone-now-has-podcast-download?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/iphone-now-has-podcast-download
This is the view of podcasts in the iTunes application:



and after searching for a given podcast:



So that was why the Podcaster app was banned...  I can see this being oh so useful when stuck on a train or at an airport. Thanks Apple.