Thursday, August 30, 2007

Lotus Connections 1.0.1


As Ted Stanton, IBM Product Manager for Lotus Connections, has announced, Lotus Connections 1.0.1 is now available.

  • IBM Lotus Connections 1.0.1 for Windows English (C13UTEN)

  • IBM Lotus Connections 1.0.1 For Windows Multilingual (C10HEML)

  • IBM Lotus Connections 1.0.1 For RedHat Linux English (C13UUEN)

  • IBM Lotus Connections 1.0.1 For Redhat Linux Multilingual (C10H9ML)

  • IBM Lotus Connections Pilot 1.0.1 For Windows English (C144TEN)

  • IBM Lotus Connections Pilot 1.0.1 For Windows Multilingual (C10HDML)


With that comes the Application Programming Interface documentation.

dW Lotus Connections Article - Branding and customization


Deploying IBM Lotus Connections: Branding and customization

<quote>
Part 5 in our article series demonstrates how to brand and how to customize the IBM Lotus Connections user interface. Learn how to make changes to ensure that Lotus Connections has the right look and feel for your enterprise.
</quote>

dW Lotus Connections Article - Troubleshooting


Deploying IBM Lotus Connections: Troubleshooting

<quote>
Part 4 in our seven-part series about deploying IBM Lotus Connections focuses on tips for troubleshooting during installation. It describes how to diagnose an installation problem, how to recognize which components cause the problem, and how to solve the most common problems.
</quote>

dW Lotus Connections Article - Maintenance


<quote>
This article, part 3 in a seven-part series on deploying IBM Lotus Connections, focuses on system maintenance, backup and recovery strategies, and tips to protect your environment from unexpected data loss or corruption. This article also covers practices for policing your Lotus Connections content.
</quote>

Thursday, August 23, 2007

Using your Lotus Notes 8 sidebar

Enjoying Notes 8 yet? Good.
Now let's configure it to work with the Lotus Greenhouse.

The IBM Lotus Notes 8 sidebar comes with four extensions:
Sametime Client
Activities Client
Day-At-A-Glance
RSS Feed Reader

Setup and config is simple through the Notes Preferences dialog.
For Activities simply enter your user information and your credentials:



If you have a Lotus Greenhouse account use your username and password provided for web authentication. The Activities server will be - https://greenhouse.lotus.com/activities/.
Paxos users can do the same with https://paxos.lotus.com/activities/

Once configured, the sidebar should show your Activities Dashboard with the same functionality that you find in the web interface.


Now let's setup the Sametime client.
This is also done through the Preferences dialog. We'll need to setup a new Community to connect to. To do this, expand Sametime, select Communities and click on the 'Add New Community...' button.

Give the Community a name and again enter your Lotus Greenhouse username and password:


The server value will be sametime.lotus.com with the default port of 1533, for the Lotus Greenhouse:


Add any required proxy information and select a fun icon and you should be good to start chatting with your Lotus Greenhouse friends:

(yes, I am on-line)

Now while we're at it why don't you add this blog to your RSS Feeds:

http://macguidera.blogspot.com/rss.xml

Don't have a Lotus Greenhouse account?
Tell your Lotus Sales rep you need one!

Wednesday, August 22, 2007

The Sametime 8.0 Family


IBM Lotus Sametime Entry 8.0
A new offering, planned to help companies get started with enterprise IM, cost-effectively. Lotus Sametime Entry 8.0 software is designed to extend the capabilities IBM Lotus Notes users have been enjoying to users of other e-mail systems -- such as Microsoft Outlook. Planned availability: 1H 2008.

IBM Lotus Sametime Standard 8.0
The follow-on release to Lotus Sametime 7.5.1 and will include broader platform support, an enhanced user experience, increased performance, and easier administration. Planned to be available in 4Q 2007; will continue to be the entitlement path for all Lotus Sametime customers current on maintenance.

IBM Lotus Sametime Advanced 8.0
A new offering, planned to include all of the capabilities of Lotus Sametime Standard 8.0 software, plus additional, ground-breaking capabilities that will make it easier to find information and share expertise, persistent group chat, share desktops instantaneously and automatically reuse geographic location information. Planned availability: 1H 2008.

IBM Lotus Sametime "Unified Telephony"
An add-on product to help organizations access and manage telephone communications from directly inside their Lotus Sametime or Lotus Notes clients -- for example allowing users to make phone calls with an integrated softphone. Lotus Sametime "Unified Telephony" software will also help simplify the process of deploying unified communications in environments containing mixed telephone systems. Planned availability: mid-2008.

I am most interested in Entry. Hopefully, it will be what some have been looking for (including myself).


IBM Lotus Sametime

Tuesday, August 21, 2007

Lotus Notes 8 - New Message


I love the fact that I am no longer sending Memos from Lotus Notes.

Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Lotusphere 2008 - DXL Sessions?



Last year I had a great time with the DXL JumpStart. I've been thinking of what to do in oh-eight on this extensible topic and have been kicking ideas with other DXL presenters. Now that the Call for Abstracts is out, it's time to get serious.

Hoping to present relevant content that will help you in your application development, I'd like to know what DXL topics you'd like to see covered?
My favorite idea right now centers on great transformations, what's yours?

WTF is DXL? - start here

Monday, August 13, 2007

Lotusphere 2008 - Call for Abstracts


Call for abstracts - All submissions must be received before 12 pm EST on Friday, September 7, 2007

JumpStart Sessions
Audience: Developers, system administrators and technologists/IT Managers

Lotusphere JumpStart sessions are designed to get developers and administrators up and running on products, techniques, and technologies that Lotus offers. Get ready for the rest of Lotusphere by jumping into that AJAX, Web Services, Web 2.0 or JavaScript class you always meant to take.

And NEW for Lotusphere 2008: We're sub-dividing the sessions in the JumpStart track into the traditional, technology-oriented sessions, and a whole set of product-oriented "QuickStarts" for all of the new Lotus products that we shipped during 2007: Lotus Notes and Domino 8.0, Lotus Quickr 1.0, Lotus Connections 1.0, Lotus Sametime 7.5, and so on. Whereas the "traditional" sessions will continue to cover important tools and technologies, the new QuickStarts will be immersion style overviews of the new products, focusing on features and functionality.
Sessions will begin on Sunday, January 20th, and are two hours in length.

Hands-on Sessions
Audience: Developers and administrators of all levels

Wildly successful since being added to the agenda in 2006, the Hands-on track presents a unique opportunity for you to not only hear the talk, but you get to 'walk the walk' as well. Comprised of two hour sessions, our top experts will spend part of the session teaching you the latest about Lotus Notes and Domino, Lotus Sametime, WebSphere Portal and of course Lotus Quickr and Lotus Connections, the newest additions to the portfolio (and much, much more!) -- and then you will have the opportunity to work 'hands-on' with the software and complete exercises live in the session. If you're the type that "learns by doing" then you do not want to miss this popular Lotusphere experience!

Track One: Futures and Innovations
Audience: IT, MIS and business managers and architects, developers and admistrators of all levels

Back with even more for Lotusphere 2008, this track concentrates on the brand-new, "hot-off-the-press" technologies and innovations coming from the engineers at the IBM and Lotus Research labs, including exciting new technologies and glimpses of the future from industry gurus. With "sneak peeks" at every turn, this track will be full of sessions that you won't be able to see anywhere else, we promise!

Track Two: Application Development
Audience: Developers of all levels

The focus of this year's App Dev track is on enhancing the efficiency of developers so that you can be more successful with your applications in less time. There is exciting news about improvements with every Lotus Software tool - from visual development to easing the integration between Lotus collaboration products. It's now going to be easier than ever to create new applications and update existing applications while at the same time making them attractive -- and lightening fast. You'll find a broad selection of sessions about application development tools and technologies for Lotus Domino and beyond, WebSphere Portal, Lotus Quickr and Lotus Connections. You'll leave with lots of ideas, helpful hints and new skills to make your applications better-than-ever!

Track Three: Planning and Managing Your Collaboration Infastructure
Audience: System architects, administrators and integrators of all levels

Sessions in the infrastructure track tell you the "what's what" of the "how-to". These sessions dive deep into product architecture, features and capabilities, deployment, as well as system management topics such as administration, directory, security, and performance. You'll pick up top tips straight from the developers who wrote the code, product managers, or 'in-the-field' experts. Whether it's Lotus Notes and Domino, Lotus Quickr, Lotus Connections, WebSphere Portal, or Lotus Sametime, you'll find the 'how-to' and the 'when & why' right here.

Track Four: Best Practices
Audience: Business and IT managers, application developers, system administrators and integrators

The Best Practices track is designed to be the track where "the rubber meets the road" - where you learn all of the tips, tricks, and even how to avoid traps to help you keep your environment at its best. In order to ensure we provide the best content possible, this track is delivered by the best and brightest minds in the Lotus community - you! So, what exactly are we looking for? Well, the Best Practices track is targeted towards the "widely deployed" versions of the Lotus family of products - obviously Lotus Notes and Domino 6.x and 7.x, as well as Lotus Sametime 7.5.x and WebSphere Portal. We'll also sprinkle in some Lotus Notes and Domino 8, Lotus Quickr, Lotus Connections, and more. And we're not just focused on the technology - we're also interested in all the goings-on before you dive into the technology. Things like design concepts, controls issues, SarbOx Regulations, and more. But what if you've read through all of this and you don't see something you want to present to 8,000 of your closest friends? Fear not - we're always open to new ideas! The Best Practices track itself was a "new idea" at one time not so long ago, we're always looking for something new, exciting, and different. Put on your thinking cap, sit down at your keyboard, and blow us away with your ideas - and you too could be on a stage in Orlando in January!


Track Five: Customer Case Studies

Audience: Business and IT managers and professionals

Are you a Lotus Software customer who has implemented solutions that returned real business value? Have you discovered new methods to help cut costs or strengthen your infrastructure? Then we invite you to tell your story at Lotusphere 2008. These sessions will feature leading companies from a variety of industries, and will detail how they're utilizing Lotus Software to drive business results and empower people. They'll showcase how customers adopted Lotus technology solutions to enhance the effectiveness of their work force, to increase collaboration and to take full advantage of the collective knowledge within their organizations. Direct and candid, these sessions outline both successes and challenges - in the areas of collaboration, messaging, application integration, portals - and much more!

Business Development Day
Audience: IBM Business Partners

Lotusphere Business Development Day is the kick-off event for IBM Business Partners - the only place that delivers IBM Business Partner strategy and opportunity for 2008 and sets the stage for your successful year. Submit an abstract and help us design an agenda that helps YOU, and provides you with the key information on the latest technologies from Lotus Software: IBM Lotus Notes and Domino; IBM WebSphere Portal; document management, real-time collaboration as well as unified communications, social networking - you name it!
Focus areas for this year's program will be: 1) Providing you the business skills needed to identify new revenue opportunities for product sales and services, 2) Providing information on key marketing programs and best practices in order to maximize the market opportunity and win over competition; 3) Outlining product plans and marketing strategies for selling into the SMB market and 4) Covering new ways for you to expand your business offerings to include other emerging markets.

Birds-of-a-Feather Sessions
Audience: Any and all Lotusphere attendees

Come one, come all! Birds-of-a-Feather sessions are a popular feature of Lotusphere, bringing together communities and individuals with similar interests. These sessions are informal, interactive discussion groups for like-minded attendees to share ideas and experiences in an small group, open forum setting. Feel free to submit topics that interest you, that you would like to lead, or topics and discussions that you'd like to participate in! Once again, due to last year's success, Lotusphere attendees will vote and choose the best, and those topics will make the cut - so make your submission a good one!

Tuesday, August 07, 2007

dW Lotus Connections Article - Post-installation tuning


Deploying IBM Lotus Connections: Post-installation tuning

<quote>
This article, part 2 in a six-part series about deploying IBM Lotus Connections, focuses on post-installation tuning tips to ensure that your deployment does not suffer from common performance pitfalls. Learn from an expert on recommended practices to perform after the initial installation of Lotus Connections is complete.
</quote>

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

dW Lotus Connections Article - Planning and Architecture Considerations


Deploying IBM Lotus Connections: Planning and Architecture Considerations

<quote>
This article, part 1 in a six-part series about deploying IBM Lotus Connections, focuses on planning and architecture considerations to ensure that your deployment is built properly. Learn from an expert on recommended planning and architecture practices.
</quote>