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November 16, 2007

From Poppy day to GIS day

I received a communication wishing me a Happy GIS Day; hoping today is productive for me and will help raise the profile of GIS and Geospatial technologies. It came from a Gavin at GIS specialist recruitment agency http://www.ashton-consulting.co.uk.

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December 18, 2007

Collaboration 2.008

thumb_white.gifIBM (and through its proxy Lotus) has for the last twelve years been a leader in the ‘art’ of collaboration. Notes, Domino and Sametime and latterly Quickr and Connections are some of the most widely used collaboration tools in the market with the last two truly addressing the ‘2.0’ generation.

With Lotusphere 2008 one month away I thought I would consider where IBM and the industry is heading

Continue reading "Collaboration 2.008" »

January 17, 2008

MacNotes - its not an iTune for bagpipes

thumb_white.gifNext week I will be blogging from IBM's annual Lotus software jamboree in Orlando. Traditionally the big announcements are made at the Monday morning plenary session but I am not sure that they will be able to top the news that emerged yesterday. Apple has been doing its thing this week with the usual set of 'must have' components. Yes I too would like a mobile PC that is so thin it is almost translucent. Amongst all this IBM and the boys from Cupertino have announced a product that could really put the feline in with the pigeons.

Continue reading "MacNotes - its not an iTune for bagpipes" »

January 18, 2008

Arriving on a Jet Plane

thumb_white.gifThis is my first Lotusphere 2008 blog and I have a captive blog source. As I travel from London to Orlando there are a number of delegates on the flight who I have asked to share with me their expectations of next weeks IBM event.

Continue reading "Arriving on a Jet Plane" »

January 21, 2008

Computer Weekly requests and Lotus delivers!

thumb_white.gifAccording to Antony Savvas recent article in CW, a group of surveyed users indicated ‘E-mail is the most desired service for mobile phone users’. Today at Lotusphere IBM announced immediate availability of business grade email for the iPhone.

Continue reading "Computer Weekly requests and Lotus delivers!" »

January 22, 2008

Its a box Jim, but not as we know it

thumb_white.gifLotusphere is not for the the faint-hearted, as I move into day two I have already been to four presentations, two one-to-ones and a couple of receptions. However I think I understand what is really important here today.

Continue reading "Its a box Jim, but not as we know it" »

January 31, 2008

We have the group, now we just need the users

thumb_white.gifI went to the second ever Groove User Group meeting last evening. We were entertained by Microsoft at their plush offices in Victoria. The space, furnishings and location makes my IBM friends location on the Southbank look positively East German!

Continue reading "We have the group, now we just need the users" »

February 29, 2008

The Apple does not fall far from the corporate tree

thumb_white.gifOne of the big rumous prior to January's Lotusphere was the imminent arrival of some sort of Lotus Notes integration with the iPhone. When the annointed time came we were dissapointed with just a 'light' version of the web client being touted as the Apple solution.

Rumour had it that someone (high up) in Cupertino had thown their iToys out of the collaborative pram as the timing of the announcement did not suit them.

Continue reading "The Apple does not fall far from the corporate tree" »

March 7, 2008

I can't help but watch the progress of Ray Ozzie

thumb_white.gifI have known Ray (very slightly) for a long time now and I have watched his progress as the legendary progenitor of Lotus Notes moved from Iris to IBM and then from Groove to Microsoft (maybe he will get to rename it 'MicroRiff').

Continue reading "I can't help but watch the progress of Ray Ozzie" »

March 12, 2008

Your application platform is obsolete - you just have not been told

thumb_white.gifIt is unlikely that you will know Cartercar, LaSalle, Nash and Haynes, they are all examples of car marques that although popular when they we first introduced - in time (some short, some long) died out.

Similarly Digital, MicroPro (Wordstar) and Dbase are just a few examples of shining stars that have collapsed and have only left memories held in small alleys of the internet and of course Wikipedia

Right now I imagine there are lots of HD-DVD advocates telling anyone who is willing to listen how much better a standard it is compared to Blu-ray. Hey guys you are obsolete and it was the PS3 that killed you.

Some of the above simply failed and we are only left with examples of the brand, sometimes the innovation they introduced is revered or sometimes we are left with just a name as they were gobbled up and then maybe re-gobbled up by some large faceless corporation that did not care too much about what they represented.

Continue reading "Your application platform is obsolete - you just have not been told" »

April 1, 2008

Lotusphere comes to Wembley - liveish blog

thumb_white.gif In the great scheme of things Lotusphere comes to you comes a distant second to Lotusphere in Orlando. For instance at 10:12 in the US we would be twelve minutes into the starting session not running twelve minutes late.

Currently we have two talking heads on a video loop from HSBC telling us why they love Lotus technology in the Bank - I am now watching this for the second time and I expect in a little time if it loops again I will know the script.

Anyway why is the interviewer American, it seems to at odds with an in-country event.

David Farrell (VP Software Europe) starts off with a bunch of questionable statistics about this event, the Orlando event and Wembley (those are probably accurate). Enough now - get off and let us get to some meat.

10:23 and we are still doing house-keeping - 10:24 Bruce Morse gets going at last ! - VP of Sametime (UC really)

Continue reading "Lotusphere comes to Wembley - liveish blog" »

April 3, 2008

Lotusphere comes to Manchester - liveish blog part 2

thumb_white.gif As promised (threatened) I am picking up the live blog from Tuesday morning lengthy proceedings.

First things first, both Wembley and Manchester give good food - this fairs very well when compared to the stodge we get in Orlando.

For the afternoons presentation I have decided to attend 'Social Networking - fad or business value', delivered by Brendan Tutt (IBM) and Jon Mell (Trovus).

Interesting chairs in here, they rock (as in 'move' as opposed to being 'very good')


John has kicked off by telling us why Social Networking is good for business, because of Innovation and Change

We have been introduced to Digital Natives and Immigrants - I am supposed to be in the latter but want to be in the former !

Continue reading "Lotusphere comes to Manchester - liveish blog part 2" »

April 4, 2008

Small things (BBC, Twitter and black is black)

thumb_white.gifBBC, Plaxo and Twitter - sounds like the name of a new game show or kiddies TV political analysis series.

Collaboration and Web 2.0 (and all of the other 2.0 stuff) are they really connected? - what with Lotusphere comes to you and the dis-jointed week I have been experiencing it seemed a good time to reach out to some of the other cool bits of technology that are out there but which I have been avoiding that might(??) make my life a bit easier!.

So each week (for the near future at least) I am going to adopt one Collaboration 2.0 technology and give it a whirl, additionally I am going to review my other tools and their state of play.

Continue reading "Small things (BBC, Twitter and black is black)" »

April 14, 2008

No, I don't hate Linkedin

thumb_white.gifI just prefer Plaxo. Hey I am a member of both!

Last week I commented on the comparison between Plaxo and Facebook. This generated a couple of 'what about Linkedin' comments which seemed to warrant a response on my part.

LInkedin is described in Wikipedia as 'a business-oriented social networking site' whereas Plaxo is described as 'an online address book service'. Both interestingly (if not unsurprisingly) are based in Mountain View and more significantly both are at least part funded by venture capital specialists Sequoia Capital.

Continue reading "No, I don't hate Linkedin" »

April 15, 2008

More on Linkedin (less ads please)

thumb_white.gifAfter recent blogs on Plaxo, Twitter and Facebook I thought I was duty bound to spend some time on Linkedin. To be honest the UI has improved greatly over the last few months but it still feels a little bit of a mess. I can't help wondering about these types of inline advert supported sites and their ongoing viability in a business world.

My contention is that instead of charging money for additional features, the revenue should be generated as an incentive for the delivery of an ad-free environment. The BBC is considering this model for outside of the UK access to its web content, free access with ads, clean access with subscription.

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April 17, 2008

If you work with IBM or MS collabarative technology in the Enterprise, you may be out of work

thumb_white.gifI don't want to alarm my Quickr, Sharepoint, Notes or Exchange readers but to more than paraphrase the Barak Obama mantra (sort of): SaaS is going to deliver 'Change we can believe in' .

Whether built around the Microsoft 'Mesh' vision, Google Enterprise Apps or IBMs SaaSpace, the technologies we all have traditionally had our arms around (both physically in the form of servers, and metaphysically in the form of platforms) is about to exit through the Corporate front door.

Continue reading "If you work with IBM or MS collabarative technology in the Enterprise, you may be out of work" »

April 22, 2008

Another world, another time

thumb_white.gifA long time ago in a galaxy far away.... (yes I am reading too much SF on holiday) Ray Ozzie invented Notes, then he invented Groove and now (we believe) he may be re-inventing Microsoft.

Last week Ray and Steve Balmer shared a platform together in-front of an assemblage of Microsoft MVPs.10 years ago this would have been heresy, it would have been like Luke Skywalker being related to Darth Vader - whoops he was, my error, too much sun.

One of the key questions asked was 'wither Sharepoint and Groove?' Considering Groove was purchased more than three years ago now by MS it seems a bit slow to sort out both its tactical and strategic direction for the acquired software. Commentaries seem to point to Office 14 as the key point in the synergy of these two products so for now Groove will remain an excellent but narrow team enablement tool and Sharepoint will continue to have limited off-line capabilities.

I reckon once together they could be quite formidable.

April 23, 2008

Where are you IBM? (we now know where MS is!)

thumb_white.gifIf you talk the talk you have to walk the walk (or so they say). My eye was caught by this posting on the BBC technology page:

'Web 2.0 is set to be embraced by Enterprise 2.0 as businesses prepare to spend nearly $5 billion by 2013 on social networking tools.....The news comes as San Francisco plays host to the Web 2.0 conference on next generation of the web.'

and

"This is where we see the future of the web," said conference co-chair Jennifer Pahlka. "The companies making announcements here are building that future."

Today at Web 2.0 we have seen Microsoft's pre-emptive strike (or is that 'we can do that too' strike) at all of its competitors (read this posting for details) however its all been avialable to see in bits for some time, considering this has been so predictable its doubles or trebles my frustration with IBM.

Continue reading "Where are you IBM? (we now know where MS is!)" »

May 6, 2008

Lowest Common Denominator

thumb_chapman_pincher.gif If you're considering a business application from the glut of collaborative technology coming into the mainstream, you need to adopt a "lowest common denominator for those people who are not quick to adopt new technologies.” Once you've established a baseline on how to determine to introduce these new tools there's a chance of success -- neglecting the laggards means the application will fail as people with experience have the most to give and contra wise, the most to loose.

May 20, 2008

Its the end of the Web as we know it

thumb_white.gif The big buzz over the last few days has been the 'news' that Microsoft might be purchasing both the Yahoo search business and the Facebook everything business. MS have the cash however they need to radically improve their presence in the Web 2.0 environment and without doubt they have the management cohones to do both deals.

Scoble has an interesting and maybe persuasive argument why these might be a couple of great transactions for Microsoft and potentially bad ones for the rest of us. His argument centres on the spat between Facebook and Google. Facebook is stopping Google spidering some public content it is publishing. Robert postulates that with so many people (especially the Net generation) using Facebook as a principle method of communication if a MS/Yahoo/FB search engine was the only one that could include key FB content this would be of massive 'us and them' significance in the way the Web and our relationship with its players pans out over the next few years.

In the meantime no deal has been announced, so it is just a game of wait and see for the moment.

Update

Many apologies for grammatical and spelling howlers this morning (most of which I hope I have removed) a result of a hastily composed and published blog entry. Mea culpa

PS comments don't get published without a valid email address (not my choice) so for the person who pointed out my pile of poo today - thanks for taking the time

May 28, 2008

Mightier than the sword?

thumb_chapman_pincher.gifI was an early convert to the digital pen, the device that stores what you are writing in your day-book and uploads it to your laptop, PC, etc., via a cradle or mobile phone. I've recently upgraded and am again convinced it's a real killer app. Not only does it give digital power to your handwriting and sketches/plans (the software trains itself to your writing style) but it allows you to share minutes, notes and actions you take away from meetings very quickly. Digital pen and paper technology is general cheaper than other mobile technology and is inconspicuous. If you write stuff down take the time to pilot/try one - it's a simple cheap step to real-time collaboration. However, if you work in an organisation where knowledge is power the idea won't catch on.

June 9, 2008

Twitter - how far is too far

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for thumb_white.gifTwitter service levels over the last few weeks have been appalling, as I write Instant Messaging service is AWOL. The core service has been famously unreliable for months mostly due to runaway success combined with issues associated with scaling  of the chosen platform, to the extent that this rather amusing web site have been created istwitterdown.com (which itself is fairly slow). 

But has it gone too far? Has the reputation of the service diminished to a level to which other service will be able to a take advantage of  user unhappiness such as Plurk?

June 17, 2008

I'm a tag cloud

thumb_white.gifAdam Gartenberg has just brought my attention to a great site for generating tag clouds. Wordle.net is just fun, simply paste some text or link to a del.icio.us user name and see what pops out. I thought I would put my CV/Resume through as did Adam and see what come out.
Ian as a tag cloud


June 19, 2008

Have you got the 'invisible blog'?

thumb_white.gifThere are many tools around the web that validate and suggest improvements to web pages and blogs. 

I ran into Websitegrader yesterday and was suitably impressed. I think this makes a good addition to my 'unloved blog' post from a couple of days ago.

Its free.

June 24, 2008

Savaged by a dead sheep

thumb_white.gifThe Register has just reported on a Salesforce.com  'attack' on the Notes installed base. If this was coming from SAP, Oracle or even Microsoft (again) then it might have some credence. But its the typical ' yeah, we'll just convert the applications' crapola. 

Many have tried, few have succeeded and I really do not believe Salesforce are going to be the ones to deliver a Notes coup de grace.

IBM has many problems protecting its Notes/Domino market but this is 2008 and I remember having a breakfast meeting with Steve Ballmer in 1995 when a group of us were told that Exchange (4.0!) was going to kill Notes. We have all passed much water since then and like ol' man river, Notes keeps rolling along. 

Death will not be announced, it will be sudden, swift and from an unexpected direction - but not from Salesforce.com


June 25, 2008

Come back later - Twhirl just has to go

Its not all rosy in the Web 2.0 world. Some of my colleagues have been waxing lyrical about the value of Twhirl. This tool describes itself as follows:

'twhirl is a desktop twitter client, based on the Adobe AIR platform.

Some of twhirl's features:

  • runs on both Windows (2000/XP/Vista) and Mac OSX
  • connects to multiple Twitter and Friendfeed accounts
  • notifications on new tweets
  • shorten long URLs (using snurltwurl or is.gd)
  • cross-post updates to Pownce and Jaiku'
plus, plus, plus

I have noted that my MacBook Pro has taken a hit recently and it turns out that twhirl is taking up a constant 10% of my CPU usage. BAD. According to Seesmic:

'The constant CPU usage is a problem of Adobe AIR on OSX, unfortunately. We have contacted Adobe about this, and they have confirmed that they are aware of it and working on a solution.
 
indifferent I'm sorry to tell you
Sprite_screen The company says this solves the problem'

No its does not solve the problem, it just passes the buck elsewhere. I wonder what the Adobe response to this would be?

June 27, 2008

Foundations and IBM, The Empire strikes back!

thumb_white.gifIBM reckons Microsoft has had it to easy in the Small to Mid Market sector. Back in January they bought Nitix, a small Canadian outfit, that have built a self propelling server (Lotus Foundations) around a customised Linux disti. The Nitix box does everything (and more) that the corresponding MS product does:
  • Full featured software appliance 
  • Self-managing, self-healing system 
  • Email and advanced webmail 
  • Office productivity tools 
  • Network level firewall, antispam & antivirus protection 
  • Remote connectivity and VPN 
  • File and print services 
  • Central file management 
  • Automated disk backup 
  • Disaster recovery
IBM pronounce that the whole think can be up and running in 30 mins via a Web UI and can support up to 500 individuals. Good stuff. My colleague Gareth is blogging on this so it will be interesting to see through him how it progresses. 

I don't think MS will be quaking in their boots, however it does offer small businesses a fully featured offering that hangs together as a logical entity rather than the mish-mash of services they are struggling with at the moment.

A key do this will for someone to to some realistic comparative pricing, the wallet is a great motivator for most small companies. 

Lastly, if IBM can do a deal with Dell then the show will truly be on the road.

July 9, 2008

This could kill Notes, Domino, Sharepoint and Groove

thumb_white.gifThat got your attention!

I received an unsolicited email from a start-up in India called Vimukti Technologies. These smart guys have built a Web 2.0 version of something that looks remarkably like Groove ('inspired by' shall we say, don't want them to be sued) using Eclipse.

If anyone wants to take a look at it and give it a try (they are looking for feedback) comment to this mail and maybe we could set up a small closed group and see what a standards based collaboration tools could look like.

Check out their site here http://www.collaber.com

ps
I have no investment in them or any axe to grind other than curiousity

August 7, 2008

Don't turn the page

Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for Thumbnail image for thumb_chapman_pincher.gif Ian just blogged about Microsoft, in one of the links, Steve Ballmer goes on to say that Microsoft intends to keep investing in search to become the market leader.

 

"In the coming years, we'll make progress against Google in search first by upping the ante in R&D through organic innovation and strategic acquisitions.... We'll introduce new approaches that move beyond a white page with 10 blue links...."

 

This could be a good thing. I have just completed an unscientific experiment about Google Search. None of the participants could ever remember ever finding anything relevant or useful on Page Two or thereafter. So how come those 10 Blue links Ballmer referred to are the only relevant ones, even though Google's mighty search engines might have found 1,5000,000 references to what you're looking for. If Microsoft can solve this riddle for me I'll give it a try.

 

August 18, 2008

Getting on the Radar - why is IBM not registering? (edited)

thumb_white.gifMy attention was brought to the Web 2.0 site Upcoming over the weekend by good old Scoble. This is a Yahoo site that is an excellent source of information on all sort of events from around the world. From London's Notting Hill Carnival to New Zealand's Webstock it all there. Well, er, no it isn't.

I thought I would check out to see if September's UKLUG (Lotus User Group) in London had been added - no, OK then what about the massive Lotusphere in January in Orlando, nope, not there also.

I thought I would try for all events based on the keyword 'Lotus' in all geographies. I got 14 hits, unfortunately none were for Collaboration, I did however find an event titled 'The Flesh Burlesque at the Factory' in New York which seems kind of interesting. 

Worldwide I got hits on 15 events that had some 'IBM' participation although non seemed to be IBM sponsored, when I searched on 'Microsoft' 107 popped up. 

In a world where getting noticed is nearly as important as what you deliver then IBM better wake up a smell the coffee (and that goes for User Groups as well). 

Upcoming is not going to suddenly make all the difference to attendance levels but it is part of the greater 'shaking of the trees' which needs to be done if IBM Lotus wants to be thought of as contemporary.

Update
The UKLUG and Lotusphere are now both on Upcoming (thanks Mike for UKLUG)

August 27, 2008

IBM wants a piece of the Mac market

Ed Brill has blogged overnight as part of an effort by IBM Lotus to attack the putative thumb_white.gifEnterprise Mac market with the launch of the Lotus Notes 8.5 client which takes better advantage of the OSX environment.

It is good to see that this under served sector getting some attention but the blog post highlights the problem that IBM has always had....  corporate firewalls often restrict platform owners from understanding on which environments their software is deployed.

This contrasts dramatically with SaaS model where the application provider can track at an intimate