tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-310452512011-07-14T21:15:21.242-04:00The long and winding road of loving Lotus and it's products.Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.comBlogger471100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-9691734437277787092008-02-11T16:50:00.000-05:002008-02-11T16:53:35.641-05:00

Realizing I need to keep business and perosnal musing seperate this will revert to my own area again.Some topics will be how to buy a ferrari with a hyundai limit and other interesting tidbits.Best to start at DealTaker, link is on the side and Deal News.Why 2? Because sometimes the grass is grener.

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-2071083461964555842007-06-01T10:54:00.000-04:002007-06-01T11:05:01.496-04:00

A good question. No, an excellent question.Sometimes you venture out beyond your scope of knowledge, for clients.And when you go asking for information you sound like a jr. tech geek.But I will always be the first one to say "I don't know" when I don't. I learned enough to know when to reach for help, rather than make something up for clients.Such is the case I find myself while asking the very

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-85271305274501026922007-05-31T21:27:00.000-04:002007-05-31T21:32:01.476-04:00

Well it's done. The first meeting came and went and the numbers were small.BUT life is good, lined up 2 more sponsors for future meetings, so I get to try again to grow the LUG.Some good conversations around R8 and the buzz at Lotusphere, was it really 4 months ago?!Motorola was great, gave away a Treo700 from a Verizon network and some nice padfolios.Hotel was excellent, I recommend it for

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-46980251453871140562007-05-15T23:16:00.000-04:002007-05-15T23:22:30.836-04:00

Well I have finally nailed a date down, May 30th.Radisson Miami for the premier event of the SLUG. Came up with some logos too. I like the religion thing. Perhaps IBM's ad campaigns can do some comparative religion courses for CIOs.:-)Anyway, now I need to find every Lotus perosn in South Florida, so please let them know if you know any to contact me.Motorola's Good technology is sponsoring,

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-31392110586265132432007-05-03T15:52:00.000-04:002007-05-15T23:29:36.086-04:00

Lotus leverage, less baggage, more functions.Lotus lives!Golf ad/commercial:Comparing golf clubs, the ball is behind a tree, but enough to pop over it, do you want the 9 iron? Or do you want an 8 iron? Your software should be as open to choices as you are.Lotus software...you've got to take a shot...we have the choice of clubs.Wall street ad:Do you buy on the gut or the computations?Sometimes

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-55293773029354067792007-05-03T15:04:00.000-04:002007-05-03T15:22:24.405-04:00

I just came back from my mom's retirement party. Nearly 25 years with the same organization.And now she says she wants to illustrate children's books.Well it's a better answer than golf in my opinion when asked what she will do after she retires.So what does this have to do with Lotus?Well, it's been almost 20 years since Notes came out and is it ready to be retired?Hell no!Businesses keep buying

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-64537480309796472832007-05-03T09:48:00.000-04:002007-05-03T15:41:29.836-04:00

I posted this on Ed Brill's blog:(My apologies to animal house)Was it over when 123 ran adrift? Was it over when OS/2 disappeared? Was it over when Exchange came out? Hell no! And it ain't over now, 15+ years later Notes is still going strong across 6 OS's, 3 client OS's and one excellent annual event.Who's with me....Lotus, we never stopped working together, when did you?And maybe some other

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-16121141825109582062007-04-26T12:30:00.000-04:002007-04-26T12:42:23.207-04:00

Finally found the gold. SpamSentinel from http://www.maysoft.com/ Mayflower is the key.Now before I or you go too far, remember I use Notes as a POP3 client without a Domino server, usually.So all those who like the other ones, I tried 3-4 already, none would work. Not mentioning names since I am sure they work in other cases not as unique as mine.You see the problem is Lotus never enabled mail

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-33526282613964490932007-04-25T20:54:00.000-04:002007-04-30T16:46:49.497-04:00

I posted at another site https://www2.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=21077086&postID=5366527023338273982 that asked where are the Supermen of Lotus. And Women.Well they exist, and like Clark Kent, do not want to be known in the public eye.It's easy for Ed, Alan and others because that is not their true job, they are high profile people and deserve to be evangelists by default. One would hope more

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-42529954747517357642007-04-24T11:27:00.000-04:002007-04-25T21:17:47.580-04:00

Evidently it is not easy to take a job outside of your local area if your wife is pregnant.I have lost quite a few jobs because the company(some small, some behemoths) could not figure out relocation for us because the family can not come until after the baby and I would have to be back and forth to home.I have no problem with travel, working remotely or managing remotely or traveling 75% of my

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-73234249563189526232007-04-24T11:17:00.000-04:002007-04-24T11:26:56.249-04:00

So what happens in this fast moving world when you encounter a problem, a bug or an issue with your favorite software?Well you file a complaint with the online feedback location.NOw, do you expect an immediate answer? Nope.Do you eventually expect some answer? Yes.Do you want to wait for a quarterly or semi-annual distribution? I don't think so.My question is why can't Lotus provide template

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-70408030147479397712007-03-24T23:48:00.000-04:002007-03-24T23:51:49.708-04:00

Going to Dublin to see the inlaws and all I can say is thank Lotus, and God for helping them, create Nomad for my USB stick. Sure I can use webmail, but my contacts are not in synch with it since it is not Lotus based like my desktop is at home.And with business opps, the lotus user group and side projects takign shape I can't be without my contacts or details should they be needed.Thanks again

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1724529687804171762007-03-24T23:32:00.000-04:002007-03-24T23:48:30.032-04:00

Yes, I went to Orlando and Lotusphere came to me, well the Hard Rock casino in Hollywood.Well a mini version actually.Run by Perficient, a BP with a new office in Hollywood. They did an excellent job, Vishal, the local Perficient rep, was very nice and helpful. Wish him the best of luck in growing business down here.About 20 or so people were there.Encouraging since I am working on restarting

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-76049776080787221722007-03-12T09:58:00.000-04:002007-03-12T10:12:14.869-04:00

Well it came out, finally, and no complaints.Sure it crashes, what beta doesn't?But the UI is fluid, cool(really) and highly productive.I haven't been able to sit in one spot to do almost everything since the days of QEMM and Direct Access Menus.(If you remember those, you like me have been doing this for a LONG time).Anyway, the sidebar is now for the first time since R5 able to much more than

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-3498390918085967092007-02-15T20:55:00.000-05:002007-02-15T21:04:43.927-05:00

The senior online editor, Esther Schindler, from CIO magazines website had posted in the Lotus forums, and probably in many other sites as well looking for insights about SPAM and LOB(Lines of Business) and CXO's.You can read the article here.There were many thoughts pushed, but the one which I htink was missed, although an obvious one, is the following:SPAM falls under SECURITY not messaging

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-54506384849368771692007-01-30T23:27:00.000-05:002007-04-25T21:15:42.391-04:00

Well at least to R8 and beyond. I should have used it in my session.Anyway, a great show, very much a Lotus focused event, with very little IBM referencing. Nice in light of the last few years where anything not IBM branded was tossed out.Where to begin.UX Lab (User Acceptance)1st of all if you never did a user experience, they are great but take time, so plan ahead and sign up for a time that

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-81321918939071168912007-01-24T11:50:00.000-05:002007-01-24T11:52:39.571-05:00

I can say, for perhaps the first time in a decade, I want to sign up as an early attendee for next year. I am sure many people would agree the future is bright and yellow and at an early fee of about $1500 it is well worth it.Now how do i get more hours in my day and days in my week to do everything here.And oh yeah, everyone is walking around on tuesday saying its been a long week!

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-27803223489928801592007-01-24T11:45:00.000-05:002007-01-24T11:50:38.113-05:00

had a whole blog done, hit send, no go. Evidently pocketpc and my blog do not work well together.I had done it all on my phone.Bummer.Ed and Julian's sessions was great, SRO.Superman looks the same as in his R5 days but Julian substituted.10 steps to selling clients and some anecdotals upfront go along way.And for everyone's benefit, ROI means "Rely on IBM".Everyone is ecstatic about R8 and the

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-8109925695489972702007-01-20T23:01:00.000-05:002007-01-20T23:03:52.176-05:00

Not leaving until sunday night, but preparing everything to go.Full agenda, up very early all week, BP work to do, client work to finish.Business is good, but business should pick up at the sphere.See you in Orlando!

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-47835134711058716122007-01-18T23:01:00.000-05:002007-01-18T23:17:18.658-05:00

Lot's of fun out there to be had over the next week. Rocky's got his 12 Lotusphere Attenders as reported by Ed Brill.My entry for the Haiku was:Microsoft is bad,Borat makes them look okay,Lotus is Brilliant!I have something just for the Ed Brill lovers out there, Ed Brill Bingo!Was gong ot have a t-shirt made up but you know how it is sometimes, getting waivers signed, etc.. Names are listed just

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1169134035033219072007-01-18T10:27:00.000-05:002007-01-18T10:27:15.460-05:00

Sure my main project disappeared last week.Bummer, "I love this place", well i do and did, but you know how it is.So I had lined up a small Domino setup for a law firm, Sametime, Domino, Document Manager, the fun and simple stuff.Now one of my recycling clients has called, last minute, to get 100 pieces of equipment. Good money but I am short on time, with Lotusphere coming up and being out of

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1168545254931800212007-01-11T14:54:00.000-05:002007-01-11T14:54:15.053-05:00

Bummer of a birthmark. What looks like Windows, talks like windows, acts like windows but isn't windows?drum roll please.....PocketPC or Windows mobile 5I copied the nomad over to my minisd on my phone click to run and error says this is not a pocketpc app.DUH!So now my friends in the development world, help me to help all lotus fans everywhere. How can I get Nomad to run on pocketpc?On the

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1168454437215187572007-01-10T13:36:00.000-05:002007-01-10T13:40:37.216-05:00

This is cool, sorry i did not get around to doing it sooner.Forget the laptop, just plug it into your phone and go.Will move my mail dbs and stuff tonight.Sadly it did take an hour to install and a few minutes for setup/config info to get sorted.Mine installed admin and designer too so I am slowly dropping pieces I don't need.So far got notes down to about 350MB.Pretty cool. And if my theory

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1168449043968467152007-01-10T12:10:00.000-05:002007-01-10T13:08:02.486-05:00

No idea what is in store for us in orlando as it relates to NOMAD, but I got my 1GB usb drive installing as I write.As the docs state, it may take a while to install, and it sure does. Mine will take about an hour.Should be worth it though.I am not taking a laptop to Orlando, no need to carry excess baggage.My Cingular 8125 handles any emergency browsing, note taking or emails I need to reply and

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1167318257920424732006-12-28T09:52:00.000-05:002006-12-28T10:04:17.933-05:00

Yes, if you don't use it, you are missing out. But if you do use it, well, you may never have a minute of free time!My client thankfully after my brief 4 months here is humming along perfectly happy.Before I came in to remotely handle the admin and management:1- Servers would fail especially the HUB and stay down until someone took care of it2- dozens of dead mail sat in the mail.box's on every

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1167317531138525602006-12-28T09:44:00.000-05:002006-12-28T09:52:11.140-05:00

While I wanted this to be about Domino administration, I find that I am not really drawn to write about the trials and tribulations found among us firemen.Instead I want to devote my time to remote admin and outsourcing of it for Domino infrastrcutures.Why?Because while many of you out there outsource your admin already, few of you have some one who really understands what is going on and

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1166752397348691222006-12-21T20:35:00.000-05:002006-12-26T04:48:33.333-05:00

If you have been reading Ed brills blog you will have seen the recent discussion about IBM marketing and the perennial "Lotus is Dead" rumor out of Redmond.While I will not sit and argue that IBM does or doesn't get marketing and advertising, I will post an example of something so basic, yet profound that I received from IBM after downloading a white paper or reading a tech article on Sametime.On

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1166535255591415932006-12-19T08:30:00.000-05:002006-12-20T15:08:34.176-05:00

An excellent way to start your day, high off my fantasy football win to find out my contract is done, Jan 15. Couldn't even get me to Lotusphere could they.Well anyway I am available for remote work or if you can afford it onsite consulting.Let me know your need and we can work something out.Otherwise I will be sitting at the Swan with a Lotus Notes empty cardboard box collecting change.

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1166535051980512932006-12-19T08:28:00.000-05:002006-12-19T08:30:52.003-05:00

Not my usual thing, but I somehow managed to pull a win in my playoffs and made it to the final round in fantasy football.I want to thank Marvin Harrison, ex-UM and current Colt for his great showing last night.Just go to beat the guy with Ladanian.

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1165855634484123152006-12-11T11:40:00.000-05:002006-12-11T11:47:14.486-05:00

As a Lotus admin for many years, this is just painful to wait for an update, but MS seems to be on an as need basis for updates.Anyway here's the info:There are several updates to support better message fidelity when routing between Exchange and Domino, enhanced Unicode support and reliability. The following information is about the updated features.Better content handling from Microsoft Exchange

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1165854999581063302006-12-11T11:21:00.000-05:002006-12-11T11:36:39.596-05:00

Let's talk for a minute about this invention.A gateway by any other name, this is from MS and is one of the ways to share messaging between Notes mail and Exchange.An excellent idea by MS to "work with" their clients to assist in migrations.The problem is when it is being used full time perpetually.Dec 7, MS released version 6.05.7879 of this connector.Hopefully some of the hotfixes MS lists in

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1164814518640825672006-11-29T10:03:00.000-05:002006-12-26T12:31:39.036-05:00

Well as you can see it will be a VERY early morning for all of us. Especially after the night before. Carl Tyler was right :-)Swan Heron room, seats 20-45, so maybe SRO will occur.Remote admin, outsourced admin, good or bad, right or wrong, we will get to the bottom of it.I do it, and have done it for others for years, but it usually is met with fears, doubts, costs.You outsource your development

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1164812625255939122006-11-29T10:02:00.000-05:002006-11-29T10:03:45.266-05:00

Now You See Admin, Now You Don't Lotusphere Session Details Session ID: BOF310 Session Track(s): BOF - Track Three: Planning and Managing your Collaboration Infrastructure Speaker Name: Keith Brooks Speaker Company: Vanessa Brooks, Inc. Session Abstract: What if you could manage your network remotely -- would you? Why should you? When would it help? Do you need a night

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1164086035739371952006-11-21T00:10:00.000-05:002006-11-21T00:13:55.746-05:00

I always thought BoF were more about the real world activities of clients, compared to say the product manager view of the world found in session tracks.Having not been in Lotusphere for 1 or 2 years I expect to see many old freinds and meet some new ones and some people in person I only get to read about or email.For the Lotus staff, hopefully someone can provide me some insights to get a

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1164071426715213692006-11-20T19:59:00.000-05:002006-11-20T20:10:26.806-05:00

Cool news, some of you and others in the Yellow world have voted my BoF session be included at Lotusphere 2007.I'd like to thank everyone who voted for it even if it was only my friends ;-0.The topic is Now You See Admin, Now You Don't!I am not sure completely what i wrote about the abstract but it probably was the one dealing with remote admin(outsourcing) or how not to let others manage your

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1163100995428250062006-11-09T14:29:00.000-05:002006-11-09T14:36:35.440-05:00

Now maybe I'm being simplistic, but are there any blogs dedicated to Domino admin or SMTP or routing or any of the infrastructure aspects of Domino which DO NOT involve appdev?Maybe us Lotus Managers, Administrators, Architects feel like Rodney Dangerfield, we don't get no respect.So any ideas?Ed Brill pointed me to Susan Bulloch's www.notesgoddess.netAnyone?

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1163012720977848342006-11-08T14:01:00.000-05:002006-11-08T14:05:20.976-05:00

The solution works but the problem remains. Why does lotuscript not perform lookups the same way as @functions for the purpose of email routing?In theory they should work the same, but that is not the case, at least in R6 and R7.If I send an email to the 'net or internal people it routes fine from a notes client.if i do the same from the webclient, it works as well.If I try it from a purposeful

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1161362961929186682006-10-20T11:55:00.000-04:002006-10-20T12:49:22.033-04:00

Where are the real managers of the network? If you manage or have managed a Domino network, or a Notes network for those of us who have been around since before Domino was born, what issues do you see still today? Are you blogging it?I see the same ones as I saw years ago.Basic issues:Person doc entries incorrect(names or domains or emails or duplicates), basic flaw but pervasively causes 90% of

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1160682650521124362006-10-12T10:44:00.000-04:002006-10-12T15:50:50.576-04:00

Mail routing mimics the real world. As long as there is a proper address, the mail, in theory, arrives at its destination.Like the real world, bad addressing either gets returned to sender or ends up in the Dead Letter Office or in Domino, the mail.box.When the mail.box starts getting full of bad emails, all mail stops.This is NOT like the real world.And so it happens under R7.0.1 FP1(some say

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1160363974540158412006-10-08T23:10:00.000-04:002006-10-08T23:19:34.550-04:00

Is there a difference? Do companies really think differently than consumers?No.But do consumers want to have workflow, or approval for posted documents?Maybe.Can Web 2.0 provide this?Maybe, maybe not.Schools come to mind as a primary target of this problem.My kids and others in the nation, require signed parental approvals for different events, from pictures to field trips to sports teams to

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1157741013148369662006-09-08T14:37:00.000-04:002006-09-08T14:57:33.550-04:00

Many times over the years I saw this happen. We would convince a client to take Lotus only to be hung out to dry during the next regime.Perhaps Lotus should get out to the CIO/CTO conferences that ARE NOT sponsored by IBM and sit on a panel or get some speaking time.The battle is won at lower levels easily but rarely at higher ones as easily when it comes to Lotus vs. MS or anyone else. Why is

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1157636226522312432006-09-07T09:17:00.000-04:002006-09-07T09:43:41.740-04:00

It's an odd bit of news perhaps to Lotus and my friend Ed Brill, but there is a boom in Notes admin positions lately. Moving to R7 you think? Hell no!These companies are plodding along and want to upgrade.....to R6!Now you can say well you see Lotus built a VW and R4.5 can last forever.So as we run up to Lotusphere 2007, how many companies out there still have R4 or R5 servers? And why have they

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1156959838879028522006-08-30T13:16:00.000-04:002006-08-30T13:43:59.076-04:00

If I ran the zoo. To paraphrase a Dr. Seuss book.But what would you do if you ran the zoo known as IBM/Lotus marketing?At this point Lotus has come back from the brink of death and comes out swinging (the boxing gloves advertising campaign) but at who or what? Some people might say at customers. "Take Websphere or we will knock you out!"The truth be told IBM has rarely had excellent advertising

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1152751660040020972006-07-12T20:39:00.000-04:002006-07-12T20:47:40.046-04:00

Now before you get all jumpy, let's try to remember this was when Lotus 1-2-3 was king of the hill, bless Iris Asociates.So when Lotus Notes 1.0/2.0 came out, sure people wanted to try it. But it was a failure of a flat database at first. BUT it did one thing really well. EmailI was blown away, here was a program I was dreaming about, one which could talk to ther people in the building or around

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1152751145762618082006-07-12T20:34:00.000-04:002006-07-12T20:39:05.763-04:00

Well I am not one to dwell on it, but my career started when Windows 2.0 came out.Ah the funny little program which came with a mouse and MS paint program.What do you do with it? Nothing, until windows 3.0.But this is not about Windows.This is about the early days of the IT world when anyone who knew how to turn a computer on was a consultant(circa 1989-1990). Did well, not even 21 and making 40K

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1152750852474391002006-07-12T20:30:00.000-04:002006-07-12T20:34:12.473-04:00

like many others it was so simple, you want a new job, you find a new job.But that was before 9/11.Since then it has been a up and down ride.Being an entrepreneur has its advantages.Started a company, found a line of business, started making money.Just as we were going to go big in the 2nd year(looking at $3 millionin sales) the supplier dropped us.Damn if we weren't dong 2-3% of their total

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-31045251.post-1152749681431842812006-07-12T20:13:00.000-04:002006-07-12T20:14:41.440-04:00

till you try, so like many others I am trying the blogosphere.

Keith Brooksnoreply@blogger.com0