Posts Tagged 'microsoft'



What has changed since Lotus Notes 6.0.x

Thanks to Lotus Notes product team for putting this deck together (and Ed for sharing!) showing how the Lotus Notes client has evolved since version 6.0.x. The short deck, 17 slides, covers almost every aspect of the client, including:

  • Productivity features
  • Personalization
  • Ease of use
  • Replication and Mobility
  • Collaboration
  • email and calendaring
  • supported OS and more.

Whether you’re a Lotus Notes customer looking for the added value in upgrading to newer releases or you’re using a competitor’s platform and looking for other options – this is what Lotus Notes has to offer. It also shows IBM’s commitment to the product – which in these days, is not something to be taken lightly.

Links:
Ed Brill
Lotus Notes client on ibm.com

Tweaking my Lotus Notes 8.5 Client

Getting a new HDD for my laptop was an excellent occasion to upgrade my Notes client to the latest version, 8.5, announced last month. Even thou I downloaded IBM’s internal installation package for 8.5, there are couple of tweaks I needed to do, gadgets to add, live-text to create.

Luis Benitez is usually my source for Lotus Connections stuff, but his latest tweak is inteneded for all you Lotus Notes and Lotus Connections users out there – enabling Lotus Connections’ Person card in Lotus Notes 8.5 Activities. The tweak is easy, no technical expertise needed, and upgrades my user experience – now I can access all the social aspects of an activity member.
Thanks Luis!

Links:
Luis Benitez
Lotus Notes and Domino Wiki
IBM announces Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5 at MacWorld

Suntel goes with Lotus Notes/Domino, migrating from Exchange

Being without a laptop has its advantages, but also some disadvantages. One of them is not being able to keep track over my Google Reader and check what’s happening in the community (Yes, I know GReader is available for mobile – not the same).

Ed already posted about Suntel’s migration ages ago, but since my Google Alert linked to the CIO.com article, thought this story’s worth another mentioning in the blogosphere.

The main reasons Suntel (Sri Lanka) migrated away from Exchange/Outlook were:

  • lower licensing cost (50% lower than Microsoft) and lower TCO
  • strong value of Lotus Symphony integrated in Lotus Notes
  • strong collaboration and web 2.0 technologies
  • scalability, poised to grow with Suntel

In addition to Lotus Notes and Domino, Suntel will also deploy Lotus Sametime for instant messaging and UC capabilities, as well as Lotus Symphony for creating, editing and sharing documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

TCO, licensing costs and integration of Symphony are some of the answers for ‘what’s the difference between IBM and Microsoft?’ Every company nowadays, especially SMB (small-medium businesses) are looking into ways to cut expenses, improve productivity and increase revenue – and examining your licensing costs is an excellent first step. Three months ago I spoke to CIOs/CTOs of local hi-tech and start-up companies on IBM’s collaboration portfolio, specifically tailered for SMB. Slide 18 showed the difference in licensing, between IBM and Microsoft, in the collaboration space – Lotus full collaoration suite starts at $151 per user (Linux, no support package). How much do you pay for your Microsoft deployment, per user?

You can download that presentation at my slideshare.net space, or view it below.

Links:
CIO.com – Suntel bids adieu to Microsoft, embraces IBM
Ed Brill
Lotus Notes and Domino at ibm.com

Gmail Labs adds Lotus Notes Replication Capability

One of the many things I love about Google Reader is its Offline mode – which comes in handy especially during flights. I can read (a lot of) feeds and blogs, marking for later the things I want to tag/dogear/post/delicious. This story at Calcalist.co.il caught my eye, talking about Gmail Labs adding offline capability to the popular e-mail service. Wow.

Don’t get me wrong, I do love Gmail (much more than Yahoo! Mail), and the Labs have some cool products, BUT, two things bugs me in this story:

The first, Lotus Notes has been sporting this ‘offline’ mode since its inception, some 16 years ago. It’s called ‘Replication‘, and allows you to take everything (not just emails) offline, including composite applications, calendar, emails with attachments – and syncing with the Domino server when such a connection is available.

The second is the total disregard to Lotus Notes and Domino as a desktop email client/platform. The reporter, Dora Kishinevsky, mentions that such a feature is similar to what desktop email clients do, like Outlook. Israel is a Microsoft country, but there are other vendors, and some journalists know that.

Links:
Gmail Labs adds offline capability – Calcalist.co.il
Google unveils beta of offline Gmail option – NetworkWorld (via Ed Brill)
Gmail Labs adds a decade old Notes feature – Alan Lepofsky

Lotusphere in Hebrew

Yesterday marked the 3rd day of IBM Lotusphere 2009, the annual customer conference on Lotus and WebSphere Portal solutions. Day 1 and 2 of the conference brought exciting new announcements, unvielved new solution and upgraded versions of Lotus products.

Unlike recent years where we had little exposure in Israel about Lotusphere, this year is very different. The reason – Or Yaacov, editor at The People – every day Or publishes one or two separate articles from Lotusphere, reaching a wide audience of IT professionals, and making the necessary noise in the local online media. Case in point – the title of today’s article (page 1) was ‘Exchange is not the solution to every problem and need’, a quote by Bob Picciano, Lotus GM.

So, for those looking for Hebrew articles on Lotusphere, here’s a list of articles I found. If you want to contribute, feel free to comment with the link and I’ll insert it to this post (along with the contributer of course.. ;-).

Efrat Kotler – IBM Lotusphere 2009 (TheMarker Cafe)
Ed Brill Interview – Lotus Notes for Mac and Mobile (The People)
Bob Picciano, Lotus GM Interview (The People)
Alloy, by IBM and SAP (The People)
IBM goes to the clouds and takes partners for the journey (TheMarker)
IBM announces LotusLive – Lotus portfolio in SaaS model (The People)
Lotusphere 2009 opens today (The People)

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Mobile & Media Consultant. I help startup companies launch products to the consumer market. Reach out: dvir.reznik [at] gmail.com
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This is my personal blog. The postings here do not represent the thoughts, intentions, plans or strategies of my past employers or of my clients. It is solely my opinion.