Collaboration Matters! News and views on collaboration and innovation by Stuart McIntyre http://blog.collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/ en-us Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:50:21 +0100 Two domains going begging Thu, 17 Jul 2008 16:50:21 +0100 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/two-domains-going-begging notes Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/two-domains-going-begging?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/two-domains-going-begging
notesanddomino.com
notesanddomino.info

If you think they'd be relevant to you personally or to your organisation, then please drop me a line. ]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dxcomments/two-domains-going-begging http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/two-domains-going-begging?opendocument&comments Not so much a "trend"... Thu, 17 Jul 2008 14:41:43 +0100 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/not-so-much-a-trend... lotus Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/not-so-much-a-trend...?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/not-so-much-a-trend... ... perhaps "changing of the guard" is more appropriate? ]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dxcomments/not-so-much-a-trend... http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/not-so-much-a-trend...?opendocument&comments Organising an event? Thu, 17 Jul 2008 11:12:05 +0100 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/organising-an-event events Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/organising-an-event?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/organising-an-event post:
Promoting an event like Going Solo is a huge amount of work  often more than what youd imagine (and more than what I imagined initially). Thats why everything the community does to help counts.

So, Ive tried to make it easy for you to do something to help get the word out about Going Solo Leeds (to your readers/network/community/friends) if you feel like it.

First, logos and blog badges which you can easily insert in a blog post or a sidebar by copy-pasting the code we provide, like these two for example:

Going Solo Leeds logo.

Going Solo Leeds Badge.

(You can find others on the Promote Going Solo page.)

Second, the Going Solo Leeds home page provides you with the main information and links, as well as a brief description of the event if youre looking for some stock text (we encourage you to speak in your own voice, of course, but sometimes its handy to know what the key points are).

Third, the videos and photos of the Lausanne conference are available (and embeddable  Flickr and DailyMotion) as illustration material. I guess this is particularly relevant if you were present in Lausanne and want to point out one of the highlights of your Going Solo experience to tempt others to follow in your steps.

Fourth, there are events on Upcoming and Facebook (as well as a Facebook group) to which you can invite your friends very easily (you certainly know how it works if youre on one of those two services).

Fifth, if youre into offline stuff, you can ask me (steph at going-solo dot net, or @stephtara on Twitter) to have a box of Going Solo MOO cards sent to you, or print out our posters and plaster them all over your neighbourhood:



And sixth, so that you dont have to figure it all out for yourself, there are two links you can use to point people to registration:

 * http://goingfar.expectnation.com/gsleeds08/public/register/order is the direct link
 * http://leeds08.going-solo.net/registration provides some extra information.

While were at it:

 * http://going-solo.net is the Going Solo blog
 * http://leeds08.going-solo.net is the Going Solo Leeds website

Happy blogging, thanks in advance, and let us know if you dont see your post appear in the coverage list soon!
Isn't that great? Everything you would need to blog about or to help promote the event.  I think this could easily be a template that we should all use in the future for any event we organise or wish to tell others about.  Great work @sephtara.  Oh and by the way, the conference sounds great! ]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dxcomments/organising-an-event http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/organising-an-event?opendocument&comments My Tools - the laptop Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:10:48 +0100 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/my-tools-the-laptop mytools Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/my-tools-the-laptop?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/my-tools-the-laptop
A rather obvious start to proceedings, but probably the most important item in my kitbag - my laptop.  

Like most of the folks in this industry, I've spent most of my working life sat in front of a Windows PC - I was on an IT placement from University when Windows 3.1.1 for Workgroups was released, then had just started at my first proper full-time job when Windows 95 became available.  The company I started out with, Dyadic Systems, were a Microsoft development partner, and so I played with most of the Windows betas as they came along, then adopted the gold versions as soon as they were available.  So, I can almost mark the key moments in my working life my the beta or gold code I was running at the time - scary that Microsoft has had such an influence really.  

However, as Dyadic was inherently a Unix shop - we designed, implemented and supported high-end IBM RS/6000 (and then pSeries) systems running AIX - I spent a lot of time sat in front of a Unix command line too.  I always liked the ease of use of Windows, but adored the power of the Unix command line - I still think in terms of greps, pipes, redirects, awks and seds even now.  That lead me into playing with Linux, right from the early 0.99 kernel days, through many versions of Redhat, SUSE and now Ubuntu.  I'm comfortable on that platform and push it as our server platform of choice, particularly for smaller businesses, but have never truly adopted it as my desktop during all these years, mainly because of lack of application or device support.

Then, of course, there is the Mac. I first spent time on the Macintosh platform back at school, probably c. 1989/90, writing up my A-level reports on MacWrite and adoring the Wysiwyg interface when everyone around was still fighting with text based word processors. However, I then didn't touch another Apple product until a colleague, David Hiley,  joined Dyadic back in 2003. He had an adorable Powerbook 12", and proceeded to show me the OS X user interface, the great Mac apps that were out there, and why this really was the client platform of choice.  While there were certainly some major issues with using the Mac in an IBM BP environment (Notes 6 for the Mac anyone?), it certainly opened my eyes to the possibilities.  When my wife needed a new laptop later that year, I bought her a Powerbook G4 15", and since then we have had many more Macs through the household.

So, the point of this story... When I came to set up Collaboration Matters at the start of this year, I needed to buy a laptop that would be with me for the first 2 years or so of running the business, consulting for my customers, designing solutions, testing new products, blogging, developing new ideas and generally as my main sidekick whilst earning my living.  What would it be?



To be honest, even after evaluating a lot of the options, there really was only one choice:



My Macbook Pro 17" with 2.5GHz CPU, 250GB disk, 4GB RAM, high-resolution 1920 x 1200 screen.

Why? Well, of all the time I've spent on Windows, Linux and OS X, there is really only one choice when it comes to my overall productivity.  I simply get more done, more quickly and with less stress on the Mac.  It's a fast machine no doubt, but I could have got a fast machine from Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba or any of the others.  What really makes it right for me is OS X. It really does "just work".  It doesn't crash, doesn't have a load of unnecessary functions and features (and 3rd party add-ons) that I don't need, doesn't need any time to manage or keep up-to-date, but does support my ways of working brilliantly well.  The tools I need are either part of the basic OS/iLife package (things like Garageband for producing podcasts) or else are available free or at small cost elsewhere.  Underneath the great UI, there is the power of the BSD-based Darwin Unix kernel - hence I still have the ability to get to the command line and script my way through any tricky problems.  I have VMWare Fusion installed with images of all the Windows and Linux environments that I do need access to, so there is really nothing that this machine won't do that I need on a daily basis.  

The 1920 x 1200 screen was a no-brainer for me too - the screen real estate is these days more important than ether CPU or RAM - so many of the interfaces I use daily are now "peripheral vision" - Twitter, FriendFeed, Sametime etc. - and you really can't beat those extra pixels.  The 4GB is advisable, particularly when running VMs - as many others have said, don't buy it from Apple - mine came from Crucial and was only 50GBP for the full 4GB.

This spec sounds pretty high-end, and as Macs are generally thought to be expensive anyway, surely this must have cost a fortune?  Well actually, no. Firstly, when you really compare apples with apples (particularly w.r.t the screen resolution), the MBP quite often comes in cheaper than an equivalent Lenovo or Sony system. Secondly, Apple do some great leasing deals for small businesses, and so this system costs the company less than 50GBP  a month - about the same as a single cappuccino a day - a worthy trade if you ask me!

In addition to the technical aspects, and in some ways this is just as important, this machine helps to create the right impression. As a consultant, particularly one who deals with Web2.0 and social software regularly, I need to be ahead of the game, moving along with (or preferably just that one step ahead of) my customers.  I am seeing these organisations adopting Macs (and to a lesser extent, Linux) at an ever increasing rate.  Unless I am using, abusing and living with these products and technologies day-in, day-out, then there is no way I can properly advise them of the possibilities, issues or implications of making these investments within their businesses.

Lastly, there is nothing better (except perhaps the iPhone 3G this week) at starting conversations in an open plan office!  Get the MBP out, and it's amazing how many folks wander over to have a look, or to ask how I do X, Y, or Z on the machine.  These conversations often turn into discussions about their work environments, issues with the applications they use, or areas where things could be improved.  Perfect information for any consultant ;-)

So, my first tool - the Mac Book Pro. ]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dxcomments/my-tools-the-laptop http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/my-tools-the-laptop?opendocument&comments My Tools - an occasional series Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:41:04 +0100 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/my-tools-an-occasional-series mytools Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/my-tools-an-occasional-series?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/my-tools-an-occasional-series @grahamchastney) over at Oak-Grove.  I've been a fan of Graham's for a while now, as he blogs beautifully and covers a a wide area of topics that really interest me.

So anyway, this post is to launch a series on "My Tools", the hardware, software, sites and technologies that allow me to do what I do - running my business Collaboration Matters, consulting for my customers, delivering quality collaborative solutions, publishing the blogs, and generally keeping my life on track.  There will be some that will be obvious, and a lot more that you may not be aware of.  Hopefully either way, you'll get some benefit from the posts and maybe find some tools that will help you do what you do even better, and I'll realise just how many important (or not) some of these items are to my daily existence.

As always, feedback is the key, so please do leave comments where appropriate - I'd love to know whether you use the same tools as I do, or if not, what do you use instead?

First post to follow later today! ]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dxcomments/my-tools-an-occasional-series http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/my-tools-an-occasional-series?opendocument&comments Where’s the bear? In the big "BlueHouse" of course ;-) Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:16:17 +0100 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/wheres-the-bear-in-the-big-bluehouse-of-course- bluehouse Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/wheres-the-bear-in-the-big-bluehouse-of-course-?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/wheres-the-bear-in-the-big-bluehouse-of-course- BlueHouse at Lotusphere 2008, their new midmarket-directed SaaS hosted collaboration solution.

Since then I have been following the progress of the BlueHouse closely, and was delighted to be invited to take part in the "high-touch" beta programme over the past couple of months.  Since then, I have moved a significant portion of my company's collaborative interactions onto the platform, including sharing documents and folders, running webconferences and much more.  It really is coming on very nicely indeed.

Back in June IBM announced that the beta version of BlueHouse was now open to all US-based organisations that wished to try it out, and I am pleased to pass on that this has now been extended to UK-based companies as well.  So if you are over this side of the pond and interested to experience what BlueHouse has to offer, then get over to the website and request access.

In the meantime, the BlueHouse team are running a series of webinars covering the offering in a lot more detail.  The first one is coming up TOMORROW, Wednesday 16th July, so if you are interested, it would be well worth making the time to attend.  It's a great solution, with huge potential, so I do recommend you get onboard ASAP.

Webinar details:


Image:Where’s the bear? In the big "BlueHouse" of course ;-)




Come and Learn More About "Bluehouse" By Attending The Upcoming Webinar!

“Bluehouse” is a future Software As A Service offering from IBM.

"Bluehouse" links meetings to essential collaboration tools and
facilitates business relationships between companies.

A series of three hour-long webinars have been scheduled this month to introduce "Bluehouse" and explain a little
about how it works.  Please go to http://bluehouse.lotus.com

select Upcoming Webinars to see a list of  webinar dates


The first webinar is scheduled for Wednesday July 16, 2008  -11:00 AM Eastern Time (4pm UK)


More details over the fold:

Meeting details for the Wednesday July 16, 2008 - 11:00 AM Eastern Time Webinar:
When: Wednesday July 16, 2008
Time: 11:00 AM Eastern Time
Duration: 60 Minutes
Subject: "Bluehouse" Introduction Webinar
Web Conference: https://bluehouse.lotus.com/meetings/join?id=758-660
Dial-In Details
Participant Passcode:  109547
ITN:  2-421-0033 (Participants from countries not listed in the table below should dial the ITN, Tieline or one of the Toll numbers.)
Country Toll-free (IBM Pays) Toll (Caller Pays)
Australia 1-800-24-2283
Austria 0800-292-738 +43 179576264
Belgium 0800-7-3026 +32 22006114
Canada see the USA number see the USA number
China North
China South 		10800-711-0770
10800-110-0713
Czech Republic 800-143-241 +420-272-133-001 or
+420-533-413-001
Denmark 80-888377 +45 38323070
Finland 0800-914-630 +358 972519061
France 0800-902366 +33 157323040 or
+33 157323041
Germany 0800-181-6323 +49 6951709081
Greece 00-800-11-004-9793
Hungary 06-800-16-381
Ireland 1800-558728 +353 16569209
Israel 1-809-317-098 +972-3-9165956
Italy 800-788634 +39 0269430413
Japan - KDD
Japan - Cable & Wireless
Japan - Softbank Telecom
Japan - NTT 		00531-11-3180
0066-33-801263
0044-22-112668
0034-800-900155
Mexico see the USA number see the USA number
Netherlands 0800-022-8558 +31 20513 4100
Norway 800-18373 +47 24159528
Poland 0-0800111-1712 or
IBM PlusGSM 85400 		+48 22 366 5400 or
+48 22 609 5400
Portugal 800-8-11111
Russia 8-10-800-2-172-10-44
Slovakia +421 2 4954 6539 or
+421 2 4964-9935
South Africa 0800-981-078
Spain 900-95-1089 +34 912754171
Sweden 020-799414 +46 850163259
Switzerland 0800-564-331 +41 58 333 7337
United Kingdom 0808-234-1969 +44 2070260533
USA 877-421-0033 770-615-1250






]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dxcomments/wheres-the-bear-in-the-big-bluehouse-of-course- http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/wheres-the-bear-in-the-big-bluehouse-of-course-?opendocument&comments Superhuman! Tue, 8 Jul 2008 11:06:27 +0100 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/superhuman lotus Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/superhuman?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/superhuman
You all remember the great R5 ads, right? That multi-million dollar campaign back in 1999/2000 that we all regard as the heyday of Lotus marketing? (If you don't, check the ad here.)

Well, what did I come across as a full page ad in the Telegraph yesterday?

Image:Superhuman!

Any ideas? I'll give you a clue, it's a technology company... Click through to find out.



Image:Superhuman!
Image:Superhuman!
Come on Blackberry, think up an original tag line ;-) ]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dxcomments/superhuman http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/superhuman?opendocument&comments Ooooh, I want one... Tue, 8 Jul 2008 06:21:33 +0100 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/ooooh-i-want-one blackberry Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/ooooh-i-want-one?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/ooooh-i-want-one want need so much ;-)

1. The new Blackberry "Thunder"
Image:Ooooh, I want one...
That's right folks an anonymous tipster has sent us shots of the highly anticipated BlackBerry Thunder. The Thunder also known as BlackBerry 9500 will feature a huge 360x480 touch display and will apparently run on OS 4.7. This device will be a great multimedia player and could bring CDMA carriers true iPhone competition. The Thunder will run a carrier music store which similar to the iPhone's iTunes store and will allow users to purchase songs from their device. The display on the Thunder most likely will be a glass surface similar to the iPhone.
I so want an iPhone 3G, but can't have one for a couple of reasons - first, cos' I really couldn't give up my Blackberry for email purposes, and secondly, I wouldn't touch O2 (the chosen iPhone carrier here in the UK) with a very long barge pole. This might just provide a very nice alternative - at least if Blackberry sort out their Mac syncing issues.

2. The "YellowCube"
Image:Ooooh, I want one...
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?
Now, this is a great idea, Keith, and one that I can see being very very popular.  Nice one! ]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dxcomments/ooooh-i-want-one http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/ooooh-i-want-one?opendocument&comments Collaboration Matters Podcast Episode 3 - Lotus Connections 2.0 Sat, 5 Jul 2008 08:28:24 +0100 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/collaboration-matters-podcast-episode-3-lotus-connections-2.0 podcast Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/collaboration-matters-podcast-episode-3-lotus-connections-2.0?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/collaboration-matters-podcast-episode-3-lotus-connections-2.0 Heidi Votaw and Suzanne Minassian join Neil Burston and I to talk about the newly released Lotus Connections 2.0 social software solution.  During this episode you will learn about:
  • What is Connections? Why is it important?
  • What's new in the 2.0 release?
  • How successful is Connections as a product?
  • Who has deployed it, and what benefits did they gain?
  • What did happen in the Enterprise2.0 shootout with Microsoft?
  • What's next for Lotus Connections?

This podcast is 22.6mb and runs for 49 minutes at 64kps. Enjoy!

Collaboration Matters Podcast - Episode 3 - Lotus Connections 2.0

(for iTunes: http://feeds.feedburner.com/collaborationmatterspodcast ) ]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dxcomments/collaboration-matters-podcast-episode-3-lotus-connections-2.0 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/collaboration-matters-podcast-episode-3-lotus-connections-2.0?opendocument&comments Waiting for the next big thing... Wed, 2 Jul 2008 11:53:29 +0100 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/waiting-for-the-next-big-thing geekandpoke Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/waiting-for-the-next-big-thing?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/waiting-for-the-next-big-thing

Courtesy of GeekandPoke ]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dxcomments/waiting-for-the-next-big-thing http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/waiting-for-the-next-big-thing?opendocument&comments Twellow, hello... Sun, 29 Jun 2008 06:23:51 +0100 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/twellow-hello... twitter Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/twellow-hello...?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/twellow-hello... Twitter nut these days, and am always on the lookout for good new folks to follow.  Most of the time I find them via other contacts' replies, or else using some of the recommendation engines that are out there, but there is definitely a place for a new tool or two.

So say hello to Twellow ;-)

Twellow :: Twitter Search Directory, Twitter Search Engine

This is a Twitter directory - type in the name of a contact to find out more about them (e.g. the Brillmeister):

Image:Twellow, hello...

or else browse by category to find others you aren't aware of:

Image:Twellow, hello...
Whilst there are definitely a few rough edges to be smoothed, this is definitely one I'll add to my 'twoolbox' :-P ]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dxcomments/twellow-hello... http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/twellow-hello...?opendocument&comments Arithmetic, Population, and Energy - you should watch this... Wed, 25 Jun 2008 06:35:55 +0100 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/arithmetic-population-and-energy-you-should-watch-this energy Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/arithmetic-population-and-energy-you-should-watch-this?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/arithmetic-population-and-energy-you-should-watch-this @vruz:
The Most Important Speech EVER - by Prof. Emeritus Dr. Albert A. Bartlett on Arithmetic, Population, and Energy.

It starts slow and conventional, but it takes off in the 2nd segment. If you only have time to watch one single segment, skip to Segment #4

Segment 1 : http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F-QA2rkpBSY

Segment 2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb3JI8F9LQQ

Segment 3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?vÏyOw9IgtjY

Segment 4: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yQd-VGYX3-E

Segment 5: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qHuwgxrTKPo

Segment 6: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-3y7UlHdhAU

Segment 7: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RyseLQVpJEI

Segment 8: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VoiiVnQadwE

STOP DOING whatever you are doing and WATCH.
I MEAN IT
I don't normally listen when folks tell me "you MUST watch this!", especially on YouTube, but this is well worth spending at least 10 minutes of your time to watch.

]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dxcomments/arithmetic-population-and-energy-you-should-watch-this http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/arithmetic-population-and-energy-you-should-watch-this?opendocument&comments Lots of new Lotus announcements today... Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:48:04 +0100 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/lots-of-new-lotus-announcements-today... lotus Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/lots-of-new-lotus-announcements-today...?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/lots-of-new-lotus-announcements-today... IBM Lotus Web Content Management V6.1 adds key enhancements for building next generation Web sites

IBM WebSphere Portal V6.1 leverages Web 2.0 to provide exceptional user experiences

WebSphere Portal Express 6.1: Easy-to-deploy solution includes application integration, document management, Web content
management, and collaboration capabilities in a single package

IBM Portal Pack for SOA Configurations V6.1 enables you to leverage an SOA-based portal

IBM Lotus Mobile Connect V6.1.2 expands Nokia device support, enables authentication chaining, and offers an API-only client

IBM WebSphere Portlet Factory 6.1 supercharges application development and delivers high performing applications faster by
providing a significantly improved developer user experience

IBM Lotus ActiveInsight V6.1 helps organizations communicate and achieve performance goals and objectives

IBM Lotus CEO Community Collaboration Bundle delivers a complete communications collaboration solution (now including Sametime Advanced)

IBM Content, IBM Collaboration, and IBM Enterprise Suite Accelerators 6.1 help organizations gain more business value, faster,
from IBM WebSphere Portal

IBM Mashup Center 1.0: Empower your business

IBM WebSphere Dashboard Framework V6.1 adds new business intelligence systems integration; new tutorials and samples for
WebSphere Portal and WebSphere Application Server, and deployment to a range of clients including Lotus Notes 8More info to follow as time allows ;-) ]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dxcomments/lots-of-new-lotus-announcements-today... http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/lots-of-new-lotus-announcements-today...?opendocument&comments Shame on you, BBC... Mon, 23 Jun 2008 12:35:10 +0100 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/shame-on-you-bbc... wimbledon Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/shame-on-you-bbc...?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/shame-on-you-bbc...

Wimbledon 2008 (starting today) is offering full live online video coverage via their "(IBM hosted/managed)Wimbledon Live" site, and at the good value of 12.90GBP ($24.99) for the two weeks:
Wimbledon Live Video Service Information

Wimbledon LIVE
Watch live action from Wimbledon 2008 on your PC with Wimbledon LIVE - a online subscription service offering unprecedented video coverage of The Championships.

High-Quality Live Streaming Video
Watch live coverage of all matches from Centre Court and No.1 Court and up to six other courts throughout the Wimbledon Fortnight.

Video On Demand Library
If you miss a match, you can download or watch it online later. We'll be recording every point, game and set we show live to our Video On Demand area. Choose the matches you want to see, when you want to see them.

Classic Wimbledon Moments
For the 2008 Wimbledon Live service we have expanded our classic area. Re-live all the best historic moments!
Sounds good, doesn't it? And it's avaialable pretty much globally.  Only, the following small print might just get in the way:
# Windows OS: 2000, XP (Preferred) or Vista - Unfortunately Apple Macintosh and Linux is NOT supported. This is due to the digital rights management and sharing technology used.
# Internet Explorer 6.0 or higher with cookies enabled (default setting) and security settings set to "medium"  
# Windows Media Player 10 or 11
Yup, delivered via Windows Media to MS platform only. And I'd thought they'd learnt their lesson after the iPlayer debacle.  Shame on you, BBC... ]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dxcomments/shame-on-you-bbc... http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/shame-on-you-bbc...?opendocument&comments Credit where credit’s due... Fri, 20 Jun 2008 18:54:42 +0100 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/credit-where-credits-due... connections Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/credit-where-credits-due...?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/credit-where-credits-due... issue earlier this week regarding Connections 2.0 compatibility with the newly launched Firefox 3.0 and Flock 2.0 beta browsers, effectively causing the Home Page and Profiles modules to stop rendering.  At the same time as posting the entry, I also emailed a number of members of the Connections team in IBM to make sure they were aware.

To their credit, the response was instant, with several comments on the blog post, plus a number of IMs, tweets and emails to discuss the problem.  Adrian Spender has now responded formally on the Synch.rono.us blog:
Hopefully many of you are now exploring the features and capabilities of the newly released Lotus Connections 2.0. We are very proud of it and we think you'll like it too.

I suspect many of you are also enjoying the newly released Firefox 3 browser. I know I am. I have been very impressed with the speed of the Gecko 1.9 rendering engine in particular (I'm not so sure about the way it handles self-signed certificates though.)

Those of you at the bleeding edge have probably tried running Connections 2.0 in Firefox 3. If you have you may well have noticed that there are some problems, particularly with the new Home Page and when viewing people's profiles. In fact that is putting it mildly - Home Page in particular just won't render much of its content.
He goes on to admit that:
Yes, we knew about this before the product shipped.
and>So, guilty as charged. The good news however is that there will be an ifix to resolve this particular issue in the very near future. What we cannot promise is that every aspect of Connections 2.0 will work seamlessly on Firefox 3, because at the end of the day it hasn't had the level of testing we give the supported browsers. After all, we did actually ship before they did!So, on the positive, IBM have reacted very quickly this week, and are promising an ifix "in the very near future".  Well done guys.

So what about the "we knew about this before the product shipped"...  I personally hope that this relatively minor issue may have changed a few attitudes in IBM.  In my opinion, it is no longer acceptable for this kind of problem to be kept quiet within the IBM walls, particularly when it relates to Web2.0 software such as Connections.  This isn't a product that will sit entirely within a carefully managed customer network, with 100% locked down PCs running a set build of Windows XP Service Pack 2 with mandatory IE7 browsers - it will be accessed by users from home, on mobile devices, on hotel internet kiosks and far more places besides. It is a different ball game now.

As Adrian points out in his post, IBM has made great strides with their support for the other browsers (Firefox, Flock Safari etc.) and platforms including Linux and Mac OS X. However, sites such as Facebook, Del.icio.us, Wikia and Linked In aren't in a position to solely support a small number of browser devices, they must be continually on the lookout for the next one on the horizon and be dealing with whatever issues arise. More important than that however, is that sites like these look to be open to their users in identifying problems before they become an issue, informing them via blogs etc. and then fixing them ASAP.  In short, they need to be one step ahead the whole time.

I don't think we can reasonably ask IBM to support every browser or platform that is out there, much less every new release and/or beta from the day they are available, and I'm not targeting the Connections team with this - I think that it relates to all the Lotus products and many more IBM SWG products besides.  However, we can ask that they tell us as soon as they know of a problem (in this case as soon as they downloaded and used the first FF3 betas), and forewarn us of the likelyhood of issues that can be avoided or workarounds that can be used - in this case suggesting that regular users of Greenhouse, www-949 or internal Connections deployments hold off upgrading to FF3.  This is the era of the collaborative vendor/partner/customer relationship, and we need IBM to lead the way. ]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dxcomments/credit-where-credits-due... http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/credit-where-credits-due...?opendocument&comments On another topic altogether... Thu, 19 Jun 2008 23:59:50 +0100 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/on-another-topic-altogether... home-education Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/on-another-topic-altogether...?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/on-another-topic-altogether... I just wish these folks would stop and think about what is REALLY bothering them, what their concerns really are. Usually, their objections are based on assumptions they have never seriously analyzed.

Like this one. If I had a nickel for every time someone has said to me, But youre not a scientist. How are you going to teach them biology, chemistry, trigonometry? I could pay my mortgage and have change left over. I always answer, quite seriously, Well, I took those classes in high school. Didnt you?

Of course, the skeptic will say, but its not like I REMEMBER any of it.

This cracks me up. Sometimes Ill say, if Im feeling snarky, Then surely I can do a better job than your teacher did!Great post - go have a read!

2) Sometimes in the Lotus community we get a little introspective, and think how big we've got, how many readers we have, and how, like, "everyone who uses Notes must know about all these great blogs out there!"  Well, sad to say that just isn't the case, and I know others have realised that and are taking steps to change this perception.

Well this brought it home to me... My wife is an avid reader of blogs herself, typically of "Moms" that home-educate or else just have interesting things to say on topics that she finds relevant.  Well, you should see these blogs published by supposedly non-IT folks, using beautiful blog templates, clever widgets and web elements, and with huge readerships.  Take this one, Rocks in My Dryer.  It looks great, has super content, and oh boy, gets huge numbers of readers and comments.  

Rocks In My Dryer

For comparison, what's the most comments you've ever seen on a Lotus blog?  100, 120 maybe? Probably on Ed's or Nathan's blog?  Well Rocks in My Dryer gets an average of 100 comments, and has been known to get more than 1000.  And this isn't unusual for this kind of blog.  They are hugely popular and really engage their audience even if you and I might find the topic of conversation a little... mundane?

So, as John and others have been suggesting...  I think we need to all step it up a bit.  How do we get our blogs up to that kind of readership and engagement by those out side the 'clique' we live and work in? ]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dxcomments/on-another-topic-altogether... http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/on-another-topic-altogether...?opendocument&comments Lotus Sametime and LDAP - a lesson learnt in testing Thu, 19 Jun 2008 12:26:25 +0100 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/lotus-sametime-and-ldap-a-lesson-learnt-in-testing sametime Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/lotus-sametime-and-ldap-a-lesson-learnt-in-testing?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/lotus-sametime-and-ldap-a-lesson-learnt-in-testing
Don't try, even in very small scale test mode, to set Sametime to use itself as an LDAP server - it doesn't work.

You get errors such as this:
19/06/2008 12:29:34   Error attempting to access the Directory *[127.0.0.1]:389 (no available alternatives),  error is LDAP Server is NOT available.

It appears that the issue is that the LDAP service and the Sametime-configured DA.NSF cause a loop.  This technote gives more detail:

If you are running the LDAP task and the "Directory assistance database name" field is pointing to the directory on the same Domino server where Sametime resides, Directory Assistance is not needed, and causes problems.

Sametime should not, under any circumstances (in the stconfig.nsf or da.nsf), point to LDAP on the local server. When this is done, an infinite loop occurs through da.nsf because LDAP does a lookup against da.nsf when web authentication occurs.
So if you want to use Sametime and LDAP for test (e.g. to test the migration from Domino Directory to LDAP authentication), you will need two servers as a minimum. ]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dxcomments/lotus-sametime-and-ldap-a-lesson-learnt-in-testing http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/lotus-sametime-and-ldap-a-lesson-learnt-in-testing?opendocument&comments Web2.0 goes to work, except in the Notes client! Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:43:40 +0100 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/web2.0-goes-to-work-except-in-the-notes-client web2.0 Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/web2.0-goes-to-work-except-in-the-notes-client?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/web2.0-goes-to-work-except-in-the-notes-client
Lotus has been dealing with Web2.0 technology for what, a minimum of 18 months - 2 years?  Blogs and wikis have been around for 5 years+, yes?

So why-oh-why does the Notes client spell check not recognise such common terms as web2.0, blog, wiki and mashup?  Even worse, why does it not recognise Lotus' own trademark products, Sametime and Quickr?

Notes web2.0 spell-check

(Oh and I'm running the latest greatest Notes 8.5 Beta 1 here).

Surely it's time for an update of the standard spell-check dictionaries for the Notes client? ]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dxcomments/web2.0-goes-to-work-except-in-the-notes-client http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/web2.0-goes-to-work-except-in-the-notes-client?opendocument&comments IBM Provides Free Online Training in Hot Technologies Wed, 18 Jun 2008 23:19:25 +0100 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/ibm-provides-free-online-training-in-hot-technologies ibm Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/ibm-provides-free-online-training-in-hot-technologies?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/ibm-provides-free-online-training-in-hot-technologies IBM Provides Free Online Training in Hot Technologies

 WALTHAM, MA - 16 Jun 2008: IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announced it is helping to prepare the next generation of business and IT experts at no charge with online resources designed to educate students about hot technologies. Six offerings are now available, providing students access to tutorials, forums, games and other resources, and helping them develop marketable skills in hot job areas such as enterprise computing, Web 2.0 programming and database management.

Additionally, through the Student Portal on the IBM Academic Initiative web site, students can access a three-step tutorial on Service Science Management and Engineering (SSME), a new academic discipline that brings together ongoing work in the fields of science, engineering, and business management, combined with the study of social and legal sciences. The SSME resources prepare students to take advantage of a growing field of "hybrid" technology jobs that require multi-disciplinary backgrounds, such as environmental engineering, information analysis and urban architect planning.

...

IBM customer MIB is moving toward a Services-Oriented Architecture extended with Web 2.0 to better serve its 500 member life and health insurance companies. Therefore, it is looking to attract emerging talent in Massachusetts who can continue development of Web 2.0 capabilities and Rich Internet Applications to assure secure data exchanges.

"IBM is demonstrating leadership by providing supplemental Web 2.0 learning resources where students play -- the Internet. At the same time, by working closely with universities to deliver those relevant skills, we're confident we'll have the talent pool we need to succeed," said Alexander Klevitsky, Director of Architecture and Enterprise Software for MIB. Whilst there is no direct  Lotus link here (the courses use Websphere Community Server, DB2 and Jazz) it is clear that any positive input to student training from IBM has to be a good thing, especially if they leave college knowing and having enjoying using IBM software.

Read the full press-release here. ]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dxcomments/ibm-provides-free-online-training-in-hot-technologies http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/ibm-provides-free-online-training-in-hot-technologies?opendocument&comments Connections 2.0 and Firefox3 Wed, 18 Jun 2008 15:03:57 +0100 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/connections-2.0-and-firefox3 connections Stuart McIntyre http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/connections-2.0-and-firefox3?opendocument&comments http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/connections-2.0-and-firefox3
It appears that Connections 2.0 is not compatible with the released version of Firefox3 and its sibling Flock2.  Go to my profile on the new Connections2.0 site and see what you get.

Safari renders it fine (for once), as does IE7.  Whereas Firefox3/Flock2 give the following:

Flock

at least four times before completing the page.  This happens on many of the sections of the Connections 2.0 site, whereas BleedYellow (Connections 1.0.2) is fine.  Unfortunately the Greenhouse also suffers the same errors.

I kinda feel sorry for IBM as there is little they can do to legislate for changes in browser configurations, but at the same time, the Firefox3 betas have been around for several months, so I am surprised this hasn't been seen before.  Does anyone have a pre-GA copy of FF3 they can use to test? ]]> http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dxcomments/connections-2.0-and-firefox3 http://collaborationmatters.com/blog/cmblog.nsf/dx/connections-2.0-and-firefox3?opendocument&comments