Rob Wills' occasional rant http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/ en-us Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:00:28 +0100 Mon, 21 Jan 2008 21:00:28 +0100 http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/ByeByeBT.htm ISP Rob Wills http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/ByeByeBT.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/ByeByeBT.htm
OK I thought.  Deep breath.  I'll call Bombay, Bangalore, Pune or wherever their call centres are.

I ended up calling them maybe ten times.  Each time they are extremely polite but constrained by a script that doesn't have too much leeway for diagnosing the problem.  What's more they told me my mobile/cell phone number and asked me on each of those occasions to confirm that it was correct.  That's OK the first time but it gets a tad annoying after a while.

They confirmed that they thought the line was faulty but then asked me to call again in an hour so that they could escalate it to "Engineering".  Frustrating to say the least but, hey, I could live with that.

They finally decided that a visit was necessary so we decided on a morning visit (between 8am and 1pm) on the Tuesday.  I was working at a client's so Julie waited in.  At lunchtime on Tuesday, Julie started losing it.

BT's line faults are now outsourced to Open Reach.  However, you can't speak to them directly.  You have to get Bangalore to relay messages to them or to relay messages back to you.  This is an Indian version of Chinese wispers.  Unfortunately, some of the messages coming back seemed to conflict somewhat with reality.  Someone somewhere was telling porkies like that the Engineer was on the way.  We had that message a few times.  Julie waited in all day and didn't get a visit!

The next day just before Julie was about to go out, a van arrived.  No apologies.  Julie has to cancel her visit.

It turns out that the BT modem/router was faulty.  Now you might ask why I didn't try and swap it out in case.  I wish I had.  However, the Help Desk just said the line was faulty.  The faulty modem meant that they couldn't hand shake from their end but they didn't ask whether I had a spare modem.

It turned out that the Engineer didn't have a spare modem either.  Not his job.  BT would have to post one and I'd have to pay for it because my BT modem was out of warranty.

Turns out I was sick to the back teeth of BT and wasn't going to pay them a penny more.

I had been researching ISPs anyway because I needed a static IP because I wanted to host my website and mail internally.  So I am now switching to plus.net at http://www.plus.net who have a UK based Help Desk.  I'll be paying £20 a month for a 20GB up to 8MB broadband service.  I get free static IP address(es) and a free Wireless/Router/Modem.  It should be sorted this week.

The other ISP I was considering that also have a good support reputation and also provide free static IP addresses are Zen at http://www.zen.co.uk.

Oh and while I was at it we switched our land line phone service to plus.net as well.  We kept the same number and we get free evening and weekend calls for a line rental of £10 per month.

So when I said we wouldn't be paying BT a penny more, I meant it! ]]> http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dxcomments/ByeByeBT.htm http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/ByeByeBT.htm?opendocument&comments Mon, 21 Jan 2008 20:13:32 +0100 http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/Lotusphere2008.htm Domino Rob Wills http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/Lotusphere2008.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/Lotusphere2008.htm
I guess my highlight was the Designer client in Eclipse with a new class browser etc.  However, doing this was a no brainer once the strategy for using Eclipse was decided on way back before the Hannover announcement.  Making the Notes client available on Apple's Leopard and also Ubuntu has got to be a good thing and is only possible because of the Eclipse strategy.

There was quite a lot for small businesses.  This is a huge market and one that IBM Lotus Notes/Domino is under-represented in.  Hopefully that's going to change.

I am booked on a Notes/Domino three day course on Composite Applications in March.  I think that being able to tie Notes in with other desktop applications and systems will differentiate developers more and more in the future.  It can also be a huge differentiator between Notes/Domino and the competition.

The improvements coming in Quickr and Connections are going to strengthen the overall Lotus Software branding and they will start to make inroads into companies also considering Sharepoint.  I only wish that there had been some sort of announcement that Lotus Document Management (Domino.Doc) functionality could have been incorporated into Quickr.

One project I have on the drawing board is a Lotus Notes Composite Application front-end to Oracle eBusiness Suite ERP.  It was interesting that IBM are going to develop a customisable product with SAP code named "Atlantic" that will be sold by both IBM and SAP.  This seems to be much bigger than the SAP templates giveaway that didn't seem to get the same support from SAP.

So in conclusion, I am happy with the consolidation of a successful strategy and glad that IBM haven't tried to bring out a whole bunch of brand new products.  Looking forward to the Eclipse Designer release!! ]]> http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dxcomments/Lotusphere2008.htm http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/Lotusphere2008.htm?opendocument&comments Mon, 3 Dec 2007 08:55:40 +0100 http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/BESystemsAcquiredByBlueWave.htm Domino Rob Wills http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/BESystemsAcquiredByBlueWave.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/BESystemsAcquiredByBlueWave.htm s now owned by Blue Wave. The press release can be found here:

http://www.elsmore.net/warren/blog.nsf/Downloads/WELE-79HKRN/$File/Bluewave%20press%20release%20FINAL.doc

In Domino blogging circles, this means that Warren Elsmore now works for Paul Mooney.  These talented conference speakers, LUG organisers and Domino Administrators join forces.  The combined company is also better able to serve its customers - which is what it's all about.

So congratulations to both companies! ]]> http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dxcomments/BESystemsAcquiredByBlueWave.htm http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/BESystemsAcquiredByBlueWave.htm?opendocument&comments Fri, 30 Nov 2007 20:39:03 +0100 http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/NewMobilePhone.htm Blackberry Rob Wills http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/NewMobilePhone.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/NewMobilePhone.htm
Update: My Blackberry Pearl arrived earlier this week.  I'm very happy with it.  I have plenty to learn though and it will take a little while for me to get up to speed.  I am currently just using it for calls and haven't investigated getting e-mail working.  A while ago, I downloaded a ten user enterprise licence from RIM so I'll probably try and get that working.  I guess I'll need a data contract as well from one of the mobile network providers.  Anyone know what the going rate is for that?  I currently am on pay as you go with Orange. ]]> http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dxcomments/NewMobilePhone.htm http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/NewMobilePhone.htm?opendocument&comments Wed, 14 Nov 2007 21:19:18 +0100 http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/WhatNext4eTimesheets.htm Domino Rob Wills http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/WhatNext4eTimesheets.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/WhatNext4eTimesheets.htm
eTimesheets is a web based Timesheets system that I had developed a few years ago when I was based in India at a subsidiary of Inter Weavers that was called Tiger Infotech.  We learnt a lot when we developed eTimesheets and it was successful for us because one of our clients took it and we integrated in into their existing systems.

Here's the link to the eTimesheets project on openNTF:
http://www.openntf.org/Projects/pmt.nsf/ProjectLookup/eTimesheets

I decided to open source it because we weren't doing anything with it.  I decided that letting companies use it for free may provide some opportunities in the future if one of those companies want to interface it with their HR system, their ERP system or their Leave Request system.

So now the product has been downloaded about 150 times but I could sure use some feedback.  Was it easy to install?  If not what do I need to add into the installation guide?  Do you like it?  If not, what enhancement would you like me to consider adding?  Please comment away. ]]> http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dxcomments/WhatNext4eTimesheets.htm http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/WhatNext4eTimesheets.htm?opendocument&comments Sun, 4 Nov 2007 16:33:09 +0100 http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/eTimesheetsReleased.htm Domino Rob Wills http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/eTimesheetsReleased.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/eTimesheetsReleased.htm http://www.openNTF.org site as project eTimesheets.  Please download it and check it out.

UPDATE: I originally uploaded the NSF databases with local encryption!  This has now been fixed which also reduced the filesize from 9MB to 2MB.  Apologies to anyone who has downloaded the 9MB version.  Please download the 2MB version instead.  I simply edited the original release document rather than creating another.

UPDATE 2: This is getting embarrassing.  I released eTimesheets without giving Manager access to the Default ACL group despite writing the installation instructions on how to change the ACL after download.  It is now rectified.  Apologies to anyone who downloaded version 0.9 which has now been replaced by 0.901. ]]> http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dxcomments/eTimesheetsReleased.htm http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/eTimesheetsReleased.htm?opendocument&comments Tue, 23 Oct 2007 14:14:31 +0100 http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/eTimesheets.htm Domino Rob Wills http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/eTimesheets.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/eTimesheets.htm


You can see some screen shots already that I have added to the openNTF project.  I just need to decide upon a licence and finish setting up some installation documentation and I'll then upload the NSF applications.

Please let me know if you think this might be useful to you.  There are enhancements that I have in mind too but I want to wait and see what the feedback is like first.

Here's the link to the project on openNTF: http://www.openntf.org/Projects/pmt.nsf/ProjectLookup/eTimesheets ]]> http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dxcomments/eTimesheets.htm http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/eTimesheets.htm?opendocument&comments Tue, 16 Oct 2007 14:04:01 +0100 http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/SwingLow.htm Rugby Union Rob Wills http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/SwingLow.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/SwingLow.htm


God I hope so.  And if Lewis Hamilton can stay out of trouble on Sunday and win the F1 World Championship then my weekend will be complete. ]]> http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dxcomments/SwingLow.htm http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/SwingLow.htm?opendocument&comments Thu, 27 Sep 2007 21:06:36 +0100 http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/UKLUG.htm notes and domino 8 Rob Wills http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/UKLUG.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/UKLUG.htm http://www.elsmore.net/" title="Warren Elsmore">Warren and Kitty and a big band of helpers - Matt, Julian, Bill, Paul and Frank for making it so.  Also thanks to all the sponsors for making it possible.

Despite leaving home before 6:30am, I didn't make the 9:00am start but by all accounts the keynote speech by Kevin Cavanaugh went down well and was packed out.  I also had to miss the drinks reception since I had 150 miles to drive and an early start the next day.  Next time I'll have to plan it better!

In the labs, I took a quick look at a Composite App that Matt and Julian had cooked up.  The environment is going to improve fast and once Notes 8.01 starts going into the Enterprises, this technology is going to get very important.  As Volker says, Lotus Expeditor plugins for Notes and Composite Apps generally could well be a sought after skill in six months time.

I also took a look for the first time at Lotus Quickr.  I need to install this and have a better look because I have clients crying out for this type of technology.

I enjoyed getting an insight into customer experiences of Lotus Notes/Domino and related third party products.  In general very large companies like HSBC and The Salvation Army are doing things with Lotus Notes/Domino that can't be done for the same budget using anyone else's products. ]]> http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dxcomments/UKLUG.htm http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/UKLUG.htm?opendocument&comments Fri, 10 Aug 2007 20:50:41 +0100 http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/lottery.htm SPAM Rob Wills http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/lottery.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/lottery.htm  
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 I am so happy.  This keeps happening.  I can't wait for them all to start paying up.  In the meantime, I think I'll keep working. ]]> http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dxcomments/lottery.htm http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/lottery.htm?opendocument&comments Fri, 27 Jul 2007 08:33:39 +0100 http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/FillYerBoots.htm Humour Rob Wills http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/FillYerBoots.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/FillYerBoots.htm Here's how to do it. ]]> http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dxcomments/FillYerBoots.htm http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/FillYerBoots.htm?opendocument&comments Fri, 6 Jul 2007 17:27:24 +0100 http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/LotusBug.htm Travel Rob Wills http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/LotusBug.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/LotusBug.htm


]]> http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dxcomments/LotusBug.htm http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/LotusBug.htm?opendocument&comments Sat, 30 Jun 2007 20:53:30 +0100 http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/BusyBusy.htm Domino Rob Wills http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/BusyBusy.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/BusyBusy.htm
In the UK, this implementation will replace software written using IBM's UniVerse DBMS and Lotus Notes/Domino mostly written by me over the last twenty years plus a bought in Finance system called SunAccounts from Systems Union.  So I have mixed feelings about this.  They have a fully bespoke ERP written specifically for them and their US parent has decided to rip and replace it.  This is personal.

The methodology used to specify the system by the Oracle Contractors is totally alien to me and not something I'm likely to use in the future.  However, I am learning quite a bit about how the modules all interface together and will be able to use that knowledge in the future.  I am travelling 60 miles to work and 60 miles back most days which I find tiring and especially difficult last week when the motorway was closed because of the flooding.

By 1st April 2008 (yes April Fool's Day) the company intends to go live with the new systems.  However successful the implementation project goes between now and then, I believe that the new software will ultimately fail to improve the company's business.  The investment cost of the project coupled with the ongoing additional costs in maintaining the infrastructure for it will never be returned by efficiency savings or increased revenue.  In addition, however, there are big risks involved in the data migration required to drive the Projects.

Data must be migrated out of the existing UniVerse databases into the Oracle tables.  The Oracle Projects suite works completely differently to the existing systems so the data migration is complex.  To migrate data to the Projects suite, a completely bespoke interface will need to be written using the custom APIs which are basically a large number of stored procedures.  There are likely to be around 700 projects that will need their data migrating.

Once the UK has its systems in place, the ERP will be implemented in Ireland, Mexico, Brazil, USA, Canada, Australia and a few smaller installations elsewhere.  However, I expect that there'll be some additional work to be done in the UK before these projects get going.

This may be one of my last projects for this client.  I feel like a turkey voting for Christmas. ]]> http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dxcomments/BusyBusy.htm http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/BusyBusy.htm?opendocument&comments Sun, 27 May 2007 21:44:29 +0100 http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/ILUG2007_.htm Domino Rob Wills http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/ILUG2007_.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/ILUG2007_.htm Paul, Eileen, Kitty, Warren, Bill and Tom.  All sessions started on time.  That's very impressive.

The event was free to attend thanks to the sponsors.  The main sponsors were IBM and RIM.  IBM's sponsorship included a free bar on Thursday evening throughout the speed geeking and beyond.  That's my kind of event!  And if that wasn't all, Rob Novak of Collaboration University fame bought everyone a Guinness in his Free Code session.  This was my first experience of the gui.nne.ss AJAX framework but I have to say I'm impressed.

One session I was particularly impressed with was Chris Blatnick's Interface Matters.  I think that the Notes client doesn't get enough attention (at least up until release 8) and Chris is doing a lot to counter that.

The various Blackberry sessions got me excited again about building a Blackberry solution for one of my clients.  I think that there's a space in the market for a generic Domino workflow solution for the Blackberry.  Does one already exist?

I also attended a few of the Admin sessions which helped me to get an idea of Clustering, Domino Domain Monitoring and SPAM prevention.  I now know enough to be dangerous!

On Saturday we joined the Geek Trip that went out of Dublin into the country.  I saw enough to decide that next time we come, we'll drive over.

So there are big hints that this event will happen again in some form next year.  It has become a great success.  Many many of the 250 people attending weren't at Lotusphere in January so this event is reaching and educating a new audience. ]]> http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dxcomments/ILUG2007_.htm http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/ILUG2007_.htm?opendocument&comments Thu, 10 May 2007 07:46:59 +0100 http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/myfootballclub.htm Football Rob Wills http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/myfootballclub.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/myfootballclub.htm

The BBC just ran a story about a new venture where a web site is trying to get 50,000 members to pledge £35 each to raise £1.75m which will be used to buy a controlling interest in a football club.  Apparently they've already had 13,000 members register in two weeks - although registration is free so doesn't necessarily imply that they'll all pay up.  But why stop at 50,000?  Why not 500,000?  That would enable them to spend £14m for new players every season.

This is a great idea.  Move over Mr. Glazer, "here we go, here we go, here we go".

The members can vote for the club they'd most like to buy when they register and - once 50,000 members sign up - the process of choosing the right club will take place.  Price will obviously be a major consideration because they'll only be £1.375m in the buying fund which has to buy at least 51% of a club.  The club must be debt-free or have manageable debt and the club must have the potential to reach the Premiership.

Top of the list of clubs to buy so far is Leeds United which has the potential but also massive debt.  The second and third choices are Cambridge and Accrington respectively.

So if you think you can do better than your team's manager, why not own a club and help pick the team?  Real life fantasy football.  Click on the graphic above to go to the MyFootballClub.co.uk site. ]]> http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dxcomments/myfootballclub.htm http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/myfootballclub.htm?opendocument&comments Fri, 27 Apr 2007 12:16:34 +0100 http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/RSSinPlainEnglish.htm Technology Rob Wills http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/RSSinPlainEnglish.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/RSSinPlainEnglish.htm


So if you've seen the icon above when you browse the BBC website or on your favourite blog or you've heard about RSS but don't know whether it's for you, click on the picture below to visit the CommonCraft site and view the video.  You'll never look back.



If you're reading this via your RSS reader, please accept my apologies for wasting 10 seconds of your valuable time! ]]> http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dxcomments/RSSinPlainEnglish.htm http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/RSSinPlainEnglish.htm?opendocument&comments Thu, 19 Apr 2007 12:35:50 +0100 http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/OracleERP.htm Domino Rob Wills http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/OracleERP.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/OracleERP.htm Oracle eBusiness Suite throughout their business.  Their UK company has bespoke systems written using IBM's UniVerse DBMS and well as in Lotus Notes/Domino.  They have other companies based in the US, Canada, Mexico, Ireland and Australia amongst others.  The intention is to use global best practices yet adopt Oracle with minimal customisation.

This is quite a challenge especially as the intention is to go live with all systems at the same time  in the UK and Ireland later this year.  Other countries will then follow.

I have personally written many of the systems that are being replaced both in UniVerse and in Lotus Notes and my company will be helping with the migration.

I will be taking some training for both the Human Resources and Timesheets modules and liaising with the Oracle Consultants who actually configure the applications.  I am also responsible for the data migration strategy and for actually making data available from the existing systems.

I am quite looking forward to the experience.  I will learn a lot of new technology and will be able to apply it in the future with new clients.  I will also be able to adapt some of my existing products to integrate better with the Oracle ERP.

Do I see a quick return on investment?  Absolutely not. ]]> http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dxcomments/OracleERP.htm http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/OracleERP.htm?opendocument&comments Sat, 24 Mar 2007 06:44:15 +0100 http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/MindYourPsAndQs.htm News Rob Wills http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/MindYourPsAndQs.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/MindYourPsAndQs.htm

I think privately both Blair and Bush would recognise that going into Iraq a second time was a mistake.  I wouldn't expect either of them to admit that of course but I do hope that they can at least learn something from their mistakes.

We now have trouble with Iran.  Perhaps the saying should be "Mind your Ns and Qs".  Look before you Leap. ]]> http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dxcomments/MindYourPsAndQs.htm http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/MindYourPsAndQs.htm?opendocument&comments Mon, 12 Mar 2007 15:43:15 +0100 http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/Notes8FirstImpressions.htm Domino Rob Wills http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/Notes8FirstImpressions.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/Notes8FirstImpressions.htm
I haven't had much time yet to do too much.  I upgraded a Notes 7.02 client to 8 and left the server at 7.02 to start with.

I subscribed to the Notes/Domino 8 forum using the in-built RSS reader and read through what was there.  The default window that the RSS content goes into was quite small and I found that I needed to view everything in a browser.  It would have been nice to be able to resize that window and get the same window size the next time you read a feed.  The visible feed was also truncated which might technically be right but meant that every feed needed to be opened in the browser.  When I viewed content in the web page, it created a new window every time (which is what Notes does) but I quickly found that I had an unmanageable number of windows open.  Closing these windows was time consuming too.

I'm now using the feed reader without the preview window which can be turned off in preferences / feed.



This seems better but will be using more bandwidth which will be important in a big company.

That all sounds a bit negative but RSS feed readers need to be ultra efficient.  The number of feeds I'm reading is going up all the time and - just like e-mail - it can easily get in the way of my development activities.  I need to be able to get through it as quickly as possible.  At the moment, most people still haven't heard of RSS but fast forward a year and the number of people using RSS will have mushroomed.

The feed reader doesn't support OPML imports and exports either.  That's a shame because by the time Notes 8 goes gold, I won't need one.  I will have painstakingly had to subscribe to all my feeds manually.  In a corporate environment, it will be essential that administrators can also add feeds using policies.  I was hoping for subscriptions and feeds at a server level (a bit like shared mail).

The Productivity Editors look quite good and I think were undersold a bit during the recent "Lotusphere Comes to You" sessions.  They are little slow on my current test laptop but this is running with only 500MB of RAM so I expected that.  I opened a few Office documents with no problems and think that existing Notes shops could certainly save a few bob by ditching Office for 80% of their staff.

The mail template looked fine although it wasn't my mail file so I haven't used it in anger.  The same Notes 8 mail database also opened fine and looked good when viewed from a Notes 7.02 client.

I've not done anything in the Designer or Admin clients yet other than check that they start up OK.

I'm not going to report any bugs here (certainly not now anyway).  I'm more interested at the moment in the overall picture which looks fairly rosey.

I plan to install Notes and Domino 8 as a new organisation/domain onto new hardware as and when I get time.  I cannot upgrade my main laptop yet until I know more about what problems that might cause me :-> ]]> http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dxcomments/Notes8FirstImpressions.htm http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/Notes8FirstImpressions.htm?opendocument&comments Mon, 12 Mar 2007 10:34:41 +0100 http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/Notes8Install.htm Domino Rob Wills http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/Notes8Install.htm?opendocument&comments http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/Notes8Install.htm
Lotus Notes 8 supports the English US OS locale only. You must install and run Notes in an English locale.

IBM productivity tools and Property Broker Editor support the English US OS locale only. You must run IBM productivity tools and Property Broker Editor in an English locale. ]]> http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dxcomments/Notes8Install.htm http://www.inter-weavers.com/0/RobsBlog.nsf/dx/Notes8Install.htm?opendocument&comments