OT: MS Outlook has a messy outlook

IMHO the best computer games are those which influence the player to continuously re-evaluate the strategic decisions they made in previous turns. The everpresent temptation to tweak (or even reverse) your game plan can put a strain on even the strongest will - and along the way give the player a great gaming experience.

By that criteria I think IT managers for companies that have standardized on Microsoft products must feel like they are in the biggest computer game ever designed now that Microsoft has decided to charge seperately for client access rights to Exchange 2008 and for the right to run Outlook 2007. You can read the gory details here and probably in half a dozen other places, but the short answer is that buying MS Exchange no longer entitles your users to run a "free" copy of Microsoft Outlook unless you are a long term subscriber to Microsoft Software Assurance.

Apart from the fact that Microsoft wants to make more money, there's a strong message here that it's financially worthwhile to be a long term subscriber to Microsoft Software Assurance. This message does need to be reinforced given the lack of tangible financial benefits from that program in recent years.

The other message is that it makes good financial sense to consider alternative mail clients to MS outlook.

... or not upgrade your old copy of Outlook.
... or to consider other email solutions.

Paying the extra money to Microsoft would be my last choice.
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The Lotus Foundations Server viral video hits town...

After seeing the new viral video I have concluded that Lotus Foundations Server is either some kind of asteroid shield for buildings or a new antiperspirant that makes overweight middle-aged guys irresistible to hot young blondes (where was this product when I needed it?).

The video was OK as a comedy clip but I don't see how it's going to help spread the word about Foundations. I guess that's why I don't get the big bucks as a marketing mogul.
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More marketing for Foundations?

Apparently Lotus is starting to put some marketing ooomph behind Foundations. I caught one blog posting today talking about '...a "brand-new IBM (Lotus Foundations) viral video campaign" that will launch on Monday'.

Anyone seen the videos yet?
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Free access to kb.nitix.com

kb.nitix.com is the public address of IBM's Foundations/Nitix knowledgebase. There is no log-in required so every man and his dog can freely access the information.

It's a great bookmark to have, but make sure that the articles you rely on are flagged as relevant to Lotus Foundations server rather than just the legacy Nitix products.
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OT: damninteresting.com is d@mn interesting...

... at least I think so. Check it out here.
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OT: Where have all the computer stores gone?

I need to get a new battery for an old laptop. Half an hour of surfing the web identified a dozen or so sources which boiled down to two pricing models. I could buy a battery locally from an Australian company for c.$65 (+$12 shipping) or source it from China for $50 (+$25 shipping). I accept that all of the batteries are probably made in the same factory in China and I don't have a problem with that and neither am I disturbed by paying c.$75 for the battery.

What does peeve me is that I don't have the option to to walk into a computer store anywhere and pay cash for the battery. I need to send money to Paypal or do a Direct Deposit into the bank account of the webtailer and send them the details and they will then FedEx me the battery.

I appreciate that bricks and mortar is on the way out and that if I bought the product through a store outlet I'd probably pay an extra $10 for the privilege, but there is something frustrating in losing the option of walking into a computer store and browsing the shelves for a while and then maybe buying a couple of extra network cables while I'm there. Don't any of these webtailers have a factory door?

Maybe the store-sold batteries are out there somewhere but the store owners just don't advertise on the web.

Maybe Toshiba Satellite laptops are a niche market. Damn... I have two of them!

Maybe I'm just getting old...

grumble grumble
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How to 'Foundationize' your shrink-wrapped Domino application

Johanna Cook is the key contact for Lotus Business Partners looking to tweak their shrink-wrapped applications to run on Lotus Foundations server.

Johanna has posted a new entry in the Lotus Foundations wiki detailing the steps to download the 'IBM Smart Business Developers Kit'.

I'm not in the shrink-wrap application market myself, but I recommend that those of you who are look to expand your market reach by converting your product into a 'native' Foundations application.
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Digging for VMWare images

Since VMWare will be available on Lotus Foundations Server from early 2009 it makes sense to start checking out some of the prepackaged VMWare options that are available. A good starting point is VMWare themselves. Linux installations are available at ThoughtPolice and Chrysoar and doubtless half a hundred other sites, while some sites sell VMWare images of commercial applications.

In addition to their download area,Virtualisation.info provides a comprehensive blog and news service about what's happening in the virtualisation industry. Since they had ads for both Microsoft Hyper-V and for VMWare on their web page then I guess they qualify as unbiased :)

Of course you always have the option to create a VMWare environment from your own PC using the free VMWare Converter so here's a chance to convince your significant other that all of the time you are spending playing Fallout 3 is actually work related "Sorry Honey, I'm still getting a sparodic flutter in the video drivers running in the VMWare session but I should have it nailed down after playing this game for another three hours... or maybe by tomorrow... or by February at the latest".

These sites are the tip of the iceberg. There's plenty more out there.
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Please read This then kill yourself...

Under the restrictions of IBM's beta program I'm probably not allowed to tell you that I'm now enrolled in the IBM Lotus Foundations Start 1.1 beta program with support for Microsoft® Windows® applications through the use of the VMWare® Server technology. However if you kill yourself before you pass on that information to anyone else then IBM will probably be just as happy :)

What I can tell you is that I've already identified two of my four Windows-based work machines which I'll be retiring when I get VMWare up and running.
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Microsoft = Jack of all Trades and Master of Marketing

Ever driven past one of those ramshackle ancient mechanical workshops with a sign out the front saying "We specialize in everything"? Not really the kind of place that you go to if you have a choice.

The same marketing philosophy seems apparent in a recent job posting for a Marketing Manager at Microsoft which gives one of the responsibilities of the position as "Communicate and generate Partner excitement for Windows Vista Business, Windows 7 for Small Business (future)..."

Windows 7 for Small Business? An operating system specifically designed for Small Business? I've got to keep my eyes on this one.

That's Microsoft for you - they specialize in everything.
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SBS 2008 obviously wasn't built on a secure Foundation.

Duffbert et. al. have already blogged about Microsoft killing off their "One-Care" subscription security service but I'd like to chew on the implications for SBS2008 for a couple of paragraphs.

So Microsoft spends five years and umpteen gazillion dollars to research and develop their replacement for SBS2003 and only ONE WEEK after releasing the product they find it necessary to declare End-Of-Life on a key component of the bundle and announce its replacement by a new software package that won't be delivered for another seven months. Microsoft Watch quoted Microsoft as saying:

“Microsoft will continue to support Windows Live OneCare for Server on SBS 2008 through June 30, 2009. Windows Live OneCare for Server subscribers will be supported for the duration of their subscription.”

So pick your favorite theory:

• Microsoft discovered some impossible-to-fix code cancer deep in the bowels of OneCare and decided to put it out of its misery before some geek publicly exposed the flaw.
• OneCare was never more than smoke and mirrors and was only kept around long enough for Microsoft to fulfill its SBS2008 upgrade pledges for customers who couldn't wait to get off SBS2003.
• Microsoft installed a copy of Lotus Foundation server and realized that their own products were so far behind the technology curve that their only chance was to throw some FUD into the market.

Actually all of these theories could be true. Whichever way you look at it, there are some serious questions to be asked about whether SBS2008 is "Ready for Business".

EDIT: D'oh!... I left out the traditional Microsoft strategy. Since they can't beat Macafee and Symantec in the marketplace then they'll just develop a freeware version of their products and erode their revenue until either (or both) of the competitors go out of business. Just like they did with Netscape Navigator ...
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Foundations: No Port in a Storm?

The TCP/IP architecture which underpins modern networking can handle up to 65535 ports per IP address and port allocation is co-ordinated by the IANA (Internet Assigned Number Authority) registry.

The Webadmin console for Lotus Foundations Server uses port 8042 and 8043. These ports fall into the range of ports 1024 through 49151 which is IANA’s category of “DCCP Registered ports” and according to IANA those ports SHOULD NOT be used without IANA registration (their emphasis).

Two days ago (16th November 2008) the IANA registry was updated and now shows port 8042 allocated to “FireScope Agent” and port 8043 allocated to ‘FireScope Server’. Firescope has been around for two years and make software products which “…provides a real-time view of the health of IT operations by collecting and processing security, performance and availability data from nearly any server, router, security point solution or other networked device.”

So where does that leave Lotus Foundations Server? Apart from the bleedingly obvious fact that you can’t run Firescope on Foundations, I think Firescope has the Legal High Ground here and IBM/Lotus will eventually need to change the port address for Foundations.

In the end, its no big deal if Lotus has to do that, but after having the product in the market for ten years I do find it amazing that another company has beaten Nitix/IBM/Lotus to the punch and registered those ports for its own use.
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Foundations and Tivoli - A marriage made in Marketing

IBM Thailand has announced a new 'set' of software consisting of IBM Lotus Foundations Start and Tivoli FastBack. When I see announcements like that I get the impression that the only integration between the products is that you get billed for both of them on the same invoice. I know that Lotus Foundations is a great product and I'm sure Tivoli FastBack is a superb piece of coding, but I don't see how the two packages are meant to work together. Let me quote from the IBM announcement:

IBM's new Tivoli FastBack software - the first new product resulting from IBM's recent acquisition of FilesX - provide SMEs with improved business continuity and comprehensive recovery of data and applications, as well as the ability to address compliance across customer data centers and remote offices. Part of IBM's Tivoli Storage Manager line, the new software expands IBM's existing enterprise data protection solutions with new capabilities to help protect data that resides outside managed servers, on remote networks.

From that I read here, FastBack is primarily a Windows-based Enterprise backup solution which can protect data on remote servers - Tivoli Gurus are welcome to correct me on that. So where is the technical integration with the Linux-based Lotus Foundations? Are you supposed to ignore the ground-breaking native Foundations idb backup technology in favor of the Tivoli enterprise solution? Where is the market overlap between the Lotus Foundations SMB consumer and the Tivoli Enterprise purchaser? I don't see it.

Sorry IBM, but that particular product marriage just doesn't make sense.
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Pricing for Foundations Appliances

More details are emerging about the Lotus Foundations appliance. The Boston Globe Business Team lists a price of USD$3,348 for the appliance (including a server licence and five user licences). They may be right about the price and also right about the December availability of the product, but I'm not so sure of their prediction of the inclusion of VMWare in the released product.

In my recent discussions with Lotus HQ the People-Who-Would-Know were predicting a Q1 release for that functionality. By all means buy your Foundations appliance next month, but you might be waiting until 2009 before you can start retiring your Windows servers.
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Will Diablo III run on VMWare in Foundations?

At home I have:

• a nearly-new XBox running Lotus Foundations server;
• a permanently moored laptop (dead screen) which I use as an XP workstation;
• a desktop running as a Linux SUSE testbed, and
  
• a KVM joining them all together.

(plus a PC for my lovely wife and a laptop for use when traveling to/from work on the train).

I must admit my homemade server rack is kinda crowded.

While coming home today I started thinking about getting rid of my semi-dead laptop and my desktop and running those environments as VMWare sessions on my Foundations server. I'd probably have to beef up the servers ram from 2GB to 4GB but if it worked then I can clear a lot of the clutter from around my desk.

The big question is whether Diablo III will run in that environment.
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PC World's review of the Lotus Foundations Applicance

PCWorld wrote a good article in response to the IBM announcement of the Lotus Foundations appliance. A couple of the points they made could benefit from further clarification:

• The Foundations software runs on a 100-megabyte Linux kernel that starts from a solid-state chip - Yes, that's the way it works for the appliance, but the same OS is available as a software only solution for installation on third party hardware.
  
  
• Also, while IBM's announcement heavily stresses the appliance's reliability, it does depend on a high-speed Internet connection, Speyer said. "All the management and software downloading is happening remotely over the Internet." - Yes, you do need internet access for your initial software activation (a one-time, two minute exercise) and for downloading software patches from time to time but that only needs a standard connection speed, especially if you download the patches at night. Server management is done through a browser but that is normally routed across your internal network. You can also do server management across the internet if required but the bandwidth load is trivial.
  

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So what the heck is a Hypervisor?

Wikipedia's description of a Hypervisor as " ... a virtualization platform that allows multiple operating systems to run on a host computer at the same time" is a pretty good answer. Putting it at its most basic level, you can minimise your maximum exposure to Windows Server failures without losing any Windows functionality. Here's an example:

1. You run up a Lotus Foundations Server which can create VMWare sessions as required.
   
   
2. You want to run Active Directory on a Windows Server? No problem - kick off a VMWare session, load Windows Server and start Active Directory.
   
   
3. You want your Lotus Foundations server to be a member of that Active Directory Domain? No problem - register your Lotus Foundations Server on the Active Directory running on the Windows server which only exists in the VMWare session running on the Lotus Foundations Server which you are joining to the Domain.
   
   (Yeah, my head is starting to hurt too)
   

So now we are running an encapsulated MS Server with Active Directory where it can't hurt anybody. If that Windows server pulls a BSOD then you can close that VMWare session and restart your Windows server with Active Directory in a new session. Lotus Foundations won't mind and your users probably won't even notice. You can run other MS server tasks in their own VMWare session - even MS Exchange Server if you are so inclined. Suddenly you have the option to pick and choose which Windows servers you let out of the sandbox. Maybe after a few months you'll notice that the Emperor Has No Clothes and you don't actually need Windows server at all.

My completely unauthorized uninformed SWAG (Scientific Wild-Assed Guess) is that we'll see the Hypervisor slipstreamed into Foundations in Q1/2009. If you are an existing Foundations customer or Lotus Business Partner then you can request to sign up for the beta code.

I'd say the addition of VMWare to Lotus Foundations Server is potentially one of the most significant threats to face the Microsoft Windows Server quasi-monopoly since Linux first started poking its nose into the corporate market. Be afraid Microsoft... be very afraid.
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'Microsoft Watch' bloopers

In his latest 'Microsoft Watch' blog post Joe Wilcox led with the line that "it's Linux versus Windows, baby" and I probably shouldn't blame him for that approach - even if you only drink bottled water over there, the fumes from the open kegs of Microsoft Kool-Aid must be overpowering. That is exactly the way that Microsoft want to see the SMB battlefield. When Microsoft defines the SMB market in terms of the base O/S they get an enormous marketing boost by specifying the system deliverables in terms of brand rather than functionality, and the Microsoft Windows brand is one of the strongest on the planet. IMHO "Linux versus Windows" has got nothing to do with the problem. They are both key components in some potential alternative solutions, but let's not muddy the waters by pretending that having Microsoft on the label automatically means a better answer.

Here's a hint Joe - SMB owners generally don't give a proverbial about what's under the hood - they just want to give their users the application services they need to get the job done. Sometimes those applications are from Microsoft and sometimes they are from IBM and sometimes they are from other vendors. The Lotus Foundations value proposition doesn't need the hardware component (or even Lotus Domino) to be an attractive investment for a SMB.

I don't understand why you are suggesting the IBM approach is different to Microsoft because IBM has announced an appliance (software plus hardware) while Microsoft is releasing a software package. Remember that Lotus Foundations Server software was originally released, and is still available, as a software package to install on third party hardware. The appliance offering is an option for those SMB who prefer that integrated model, but you don't need to take it if you don't want it. So at this point IBM is just offering a wider range of solution configurations than Microsoft. I guess Microsoft could eventually start bundling SBS on re-engineered HP hardware that provides the O/S on flash memory and includes intelligent Backup and Restore, but right now I'd say the Boys from Seattle are a looooooooooooooooong way behind on that kind of technology.

Perhaps you missed some key point on a few other issues:

• Office alternative Symphony is bundled along with Lotus Notes. - Yes, but Symphony is also available as a free download. You don't need to buy Foundations in order to install Symphony.
  
  
• IBM cut a virtualization deal with VMware—for businesses needing to run Windows applications. - Look a little deeper Joe. VMWare on Foundations allows a SMB to run Windows servers as well as applications. Are you fed up with your Server 2003 BSOD taking out your entire network and internet access? Does reinstalling or restoring Windows Server take your whole system off line for the whole day? Then run your Windows Server session inside a VMWare session on Lotus Foundations server and the only thing that a Windows Server malfunction can kill is itself. Lotus Foundations Server will keep right on running and apart from the people who need a Windows server application (accounting?) your users won't notice that it's gone.
  
  
• The business model is more subscription-like, which should appeal to channel partners and customers, particularly in these times of economic uncertainty. - Where the heck did this one come from? Sure you pay annual maintenance on the Foundations software and antispam/antivirus modules but that's the same with any server software. IBM has recently announced hosted Notes/Domino but that has nothing to do with Foundations. A SMB can opt for a hosted Foundations and Notes solution but they can do that with any server software if they can find a Business Partner who wants to sell them that service.
  
  
• Domain hosting is one of the service hybrids IBM offers with its Foundations appliance. - That depends how you define Domain Hosting. If you have an existing Domain name (say, www. acme.com) but you don't have a static IP address to nail the Domain Name to, then you can use the Lotus Foundations DynamicDNS service to ensure that your server can always be reached at www.acme.com. First, you instruct your ISP to point your Domain Name record to the Lotus DynamicDNS servers (which have a static IP address). Then when you reboot your Foundations server it takes note of the new IP address that it has been allocated and sends that information along with its Domain Name information to the Lotus DynamicDNS servers. All enquiries for www.acme.com will first go to the Lotus servers and are then automatically redirected to your own server. I don't consider that to be Domain Hosting since all Lotus is providing is a Domain Name redirection service.

You compared the pricing of Microsoft's Small Business Server 2008 "standard" edition as $1,089 for five users and the the "premium" version as $1,899 against the cost of a Lotus Foundations applicance as $2,499. That's hardly comparing apples with apples. If you are looking at a software-only sale then the cost of the appliance is irrelevant and Lotus Foundations Server software is cheaper at $849 for five users. If you want to include the the cost of the Lotus appliance hardware then we need to add in the cost of the hardware to run the Microsoft solution and I think 10gb of ram on a 64 bit architecture was the starting point for SBS2008 (times two if you want the Premium edition).

You've done some excellent reviews in the past Joe but you let yourself down with this one. However apart from the creativity in comparing prices, I put most of your mistakes down to your unfamiliarity with Lotus Foundations Server. I'll be watching to see what you have to say with your next product comparison after the Microsoft's SBS 2008 launch.
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The business proposition: Lotus Foundations v. SBS2008

My post of October 31st generated a lot of discussion which meandered far from the original topic but did show that the business proposition of Foundations Server isn't clearly understood by everyone.
* It's not just the Lotus answer to Microsoft Small Business Server (but it matches MS SBS quite well in a feature by feature comparison).
* It's not just a Lotus Domino server running on Linux (but it does run Domino applications and email).
* It's not just a File and Print server (but it can do those things as part of an existing Windows network and can even run as a Directory server if you want to completely remove all Windows servers).

Lets look at a Small Business and ask them what they want. If they mention a product name then slap them around a bit, throw them to the floor and tell them to start again. We want to focus on the business needs rather than the possible solutions.

SMB needs:
* Identity management to control secure login to the network.
* File and Print services.
* Backup and Restore capability
* Firewall security
* Email
* Spam control
* Virus control
* Accounting and payroll applications
* A database engine.
* Productivity applications (Word Processing and spreadsheet)
* Line of Business applications (home grown or shrinkwrapped)
* Document control
* Maybe a web server.

Did I miss anything? Possibly, but remember that we're looking at core requirements here. Each SMB will always have their own additional unique requirements. I covered the feature set of Lotus Foundations server in a previous post and apart from the accounting and Line of Business applications, there's nothing in my list that Foundations server can't provide (you can nit pick that Symphony isn't part of Foundations but since it's a free download it won't affect my customer's budget).

If you bundle together Microsoft SBS and Microsoft Office you can get certain parts of that solution. Like Foundations you miss out on the accounting and Line of Business applications but you also have:
* a crippled version of Document control (no Sharepoint server)
* no Backup and Restore
* no Spam/virus control
* no Firewall

Add in the requirement to buy 64 bit hardware and to upskill internally so you can run Windows Server 2008, plus the complex migration path and suddenly you are charging your customer twice as much for a Microsoft solution that's only half as good as the Lotus Foundations package. Why would you do that?

Remember, if the answer is Microsoft then you're asking the wrong question.
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Lotus Foundations - where is the IBM marketing?

It didn't take a Nostradamus to predict that IBM would throw in a few spoilers during Microsoft's Launch Week for SBS2008. After all, if Microsoft can repeatedly use the first day of Lotussphere to re-release their plans to take 'x' million Notes customers away from IBM, then why shouldn't IBM return the compliment and try to crash Microsoft's party. It's all good, clean predictable fun. Announcing the inclusion of VMWare Virtualization in Lotus Foundations is one of those spoilers. Stand by for a few others as this week unfolds.

Now the serious bit. The launch of SBS2008 and EBS2008 means that the battle for the hearts and wallets of SMB is well and truly joined. Microsoft is the defending champ but for this round IBM had a ten month head start with their January 2008 acquisition of Nitix and subsequent release of Lotus Foundations Server. So did the IBM Marketing team use that time effectively?

My answer is no.

From what I can see, for most of 2008 IBM SMB Marketing have been flopping around impotently just like the US Army did in Vietnam in the 1960's. (That particular analogy can be stretched a bit further). IBM is a technical and financial powerhouse with a wealth of experience in classical IT marketing. Show them an opportunity to re-architect and replace the core database of a Fortune 500 company and they'll throw in enough marketing and technical firepower to win the battle. Unfortunately dealing with SMB opportunities is more like chasing Vietcong insurgents - they are small, mobile and each local cadre writes their own tactical rulebook. Microsoft has excelled at building a large Business Partner community to track down and nail these SMB opportunities while IBM is still trying to figure out how to adjust their existing marketing ploys to win this new war. To make it worse, IBM/Lotus seems to be treating Foundations like a sideshow product - it would be good to get a few sales but let's concentrate on the Notes/Domino market first.

Prove me wrong IBM. Show me that you have a worldwide marketing plan and that you're going to use it. Show me how my company can work with your marketing plan to build our common client base. It's strategically unwise and financially inappropriate to expect existing Lotus Business Partners to develop and pay for developing their own strategies to create the Foundations market. We need to see IBM leadership in this space.

(At this point I'm not addressing the IBM technical direction for Foundations - that's a much happier story and we'll look at that in another post.)
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Another opinion on Foundations v. SBS 2008

Here's an interesting post comparing Lotus Foundations and SBS 2008.
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Foundations marketshare predictions

The last Poll asked what SMB marketshare Lotus Foundations Server would achieve by December 2009:

• 4 people voted for 50% market share.
• 2 people voted for 33% market share.
• 3 people voted for 20% market share.
• 9 people voted for 10% market share.
• 30 people voted for 5% market share.

I was interested that 4 people see Foundations toppling Microsoft SBS as the King of SMB software by December 2009. I'm pleased that the IBM Marketing managers visit my site from time to time but I don’t really think that result is going to happen. My money is with the 80% of respondents who topped out at 10% of the market. The December 2010 market shares could be a whole different result but I’ll leave that poll for next year.

I agree that Foundations is the better product for SMB (for a whole bunch of reasons) but I don’t see Microsoft giving up this market without a fight. IBM can’t build the worldwide partner channel for Foundations overnight, and even after they have done that there will still be the traditional corporate inertia to overcome.

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OT: Halloween Headcount

I'm not really into Halloween but my Better Half thinks its cute and so we provide little candy bags for the legions of made-up munchkins who beat a path to our door around this time every year. This year we we made up thirty candybags and were short by about five bags in the final rush c. 8:30pm (remember that this is Sydney time so you US folk are probably not even out of bed yet).

For those of you who do play the Halloween game, how many candybags do you give out?

Just curious.
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Here's one way to spend 1,500 euro...

Got 1,500 euro to spare? You might want to get a copy of this report titled "Lotus Foundations: first steps towards the lower end of the SME market"

It's written by Ovum, the people who suggested that Foundations should not have been branded as a Lotus product in the first place.

Probably mandatory reading for the IBM Marketing Manager types but I think I'll give it a miss.
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More training in Sydney

I spent all of last week learning Linux (courtesy of IBM) and what I learned is dovetailing quite nicely into my eight months of working with Lotus Foundations. My immediate reaction after completing that course is that Linux certification will be what separates the high value Foundations consultants in the marketplace. You don't need Linux skills to install and support Foundations but everything makes a whole lot more sense when you have those skills on board.

On 13th and 14th November I'll be attending another (free) training course at IBM in Sydney to go through the official Foundations training and after that I'll be feeling ready to take on the world. Anyone else out there booked into the Sydney Foundations course?
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Microsoft mantras...

It's amazing that the Microsoft fan base still chant the same mantra:

Most small businesses still need a Windows server to be the foundation for their file and printer sharing.. not all.. but many do.

So why do you need Windows if you want File and print sharing? That's as dumb as saying you need Microsoft Office if you want a spreadsheet or Word Processor.

For File and Print you can use Lotus Foundations Server or Linux with CUPS.

For spreadsheet / Word Processing you can use Lotus Symphony or Open Office.

All without paying any money to Microsoft.
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All the Linux training I can eat... for free!

I'm spending this entire week at IBM's Innovation Center in St. Leonards in Sydney having my brain overloaded with 13 days of Linux training crammed into five 12-hour days. Today was day 1 during which we covered the entire 3 day 3071 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Fundamentals Course. Tomorrow should be easier since we only have to cover 2.5 days of training (the first half of the 3072 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Administration Course). Then on Thursday and Friday we do the five day 3073 SUSE Linux Enterprise Server 10 Advanced Administration Course.

Total cash cost = $0

Thank you IBM.

BTW... anyone out there done the SUSE Linux certification exams and want to share some pointers on what are the hot topics?
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Foundations and Cloud Computing

According to this story Lotus Foundations is coming soon to a cumulonimbus near you...

In September, Vietnam Technology and Telecommunications Joint Stock Company (VNTT) signed a contract with IBM to build a cloud computing environment using IBM software, services and hardware. IBM will build a cloud computing center using IBM System x, BladeCenter and System Storage managed by IBM Blue Cloud technologies. In addition to data center services, VNTT will provide its customers with cloud-based collaboration services such as email on Lotus Domino, intranet service on WebSphere Portal Express and company server on Lotus Foundations, managed by Tivoli software.
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Engineers need good Foundations

The Boys from Pittsburgh have done it again. Baerware have announced the release of businessPRO AEC for Engineering Project Management.

I haven't reviewed this product - engineering isn't really my specialty - but I was certainly impressed with their earlier businessPRO and docuPRO products. If engineering is your thing then check it out.
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The easy way to learn the nuts and bolts of Lotus Foundations

If you're just starting out with Lotus Foundations Server then make sure you have the Foundations Wiki near the top of your Firefox favorites. Jennifer Bloom has been updating the wiki with some short tutorials on key topics:

• How to install PHPMyAdmin to your Lotus Foundations Server
• System Recovery: Recovering from a failed disk (practice)
• Using WebConfig for adding muliple users and setting up permissions.
• Install and Configure the Lotus Notes Client - on Lotus Foundations
• Install and Setup IBM Lotus Foundations Start (Domino)

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Have some fun with your old servers

If you're wondering what to do with an old server then you could get in the queue to download the free trial package for Lotus Foundations and see if you can beat the 30 minute install.

Go read Bilal's blog about the upcoming free trail for Foundations. The original Nitix product allowed a free 30 day trial so its great to see Lotus moving back in that direction.
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Before you migrate to Microsoft's SBS 2008 ...

... you might want to consider these issues:

"EVERYTHING starts on the C: drive. You can move it later but it starts on C: so have a big C: drive."

"Also have LOTS of RAM. 4 GB is the minimum. The more the better. Obviously a good fast CPU(s) is (are) best."

"Seems the Microsoft migration takes quite a long time because it has to do a MOVE on each Exchange mailbox from SBS 2003 to 2008."

"It also changes the original SBS 2003 box so there is no roll back in case there is a 'problem'."

"The SBS MVPs attended a week long deep dive training on SBS 2008 just before the conference and the consensus was allow 4 days for the migration."


Of course, the cost of the migration is in addition to the cost of the new hardware and SBS Server Licences and Client Access Licences so even an entry level system for SBS 2008 is starting to look like a $20,000 investment.

So tell me again, why would you want to do this?
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Certification for Foundations

If Microsoft can get their certification exams ready prior to product launch for SBS/EBS then why can't IBM/Lotus do it for Foundations?

And don't tell me this sucker is so simple that it doesn't need Certification. I've Seen The Elephant for this stuff and there's a lot happening under the hood. And BTW, where's that improved product documentation you were supposed to be writing? Can we have an ETA for that?

grumble... grumble...
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Lotus Foundations as a Desktop operating system?

Ever had a piece of sticky tape stuck to your fingers and nothing you do will get rid of it?

• You roll it up into a ball and it stays stuck to the palm of your hand.
• You pick it off with your other hand and it's now stuck to that hand.
• You wrap it up in a tissue and throw the bundle in the bin but the tissue tears and it's still stuck to your fingers.

I think Microsoft must feel that way with Windows XP. Every time they try to wrap it up and throw it away they are forced to extend its service life for another six months. Anyway, that's the story if you read Mary-Jo Foley's blog. On the other hand, if you believe what Joe Wilcox is typing there has been no extension of XP service life since Microsoft is just providing additional access to the XP media.

Either way, Windows XP is going to be hanging around as a mainstream OS a lot longer than Microsoft would like. I don't have much love for Microsoft as an organization (although I know some really great people who work there) but I am starting to feel a bit sorry for the Vista marketing team. Vista's replacement (Windows 7) will probably be available sometime in late 2009/early 10 at which point it might be going head-to-head with a Foundations OS for the desktop.

No, I don't have any inside information. Certainly IBM haven't made any noise about a Foundations-based desktop OS. Foundations is a server OS and while it could be redeveloped for the desktop, it would be a lot of work. I mean IBM could certainly package up a Foundations OS for the desktop and Lotus Symphony and make the whole thing available as a free download (or preload on new computers), but IBM has never announced such a strategy. Why would they want to cripple both of Microsoft's cash cows? Have they no shame?
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Bluehouse model avoids Facebook foulups

IBM Bluehouse offers social networking tools including web conferencing, instant messaging, document sharing, directory and profiles, all delivered via the web. That sounds a lot like Facebook... so why should you pay for something you can get for free?

Reminds me of the (possibly apocryphal) story about how one of the Big Four Banks in Australia encouraged its corporate sales teams to become involved in Facebook to facilitate their interaction at work. The sales team was enthusiastic adopters of this new technology and this year-long team building exercise culminated in the annual sales awards followed by the inevitable discussions on their Facebook Forums. Unfortunately for the Bank, four of the top five sales performers were immediately offered (and subsequently accepted) jobs with the Bank's competitors who had been devotedly monitoring the Sales Team's Facebooks throughout the year.

Ouch!

That issue won't be a problem for the Bluehouse model which provides security controls to limit casual browsing by The Great Unwashed. You can get more information about Blushouse here

BTW: Did you know that BlueHouse runs on Foundations? There had to be a reason I was talking about it.

Foundations = IBM's Linux-based Operating system
Foundations: Start = Lotus Domino server running on Foundations
BlueHouse = IBM's social networking tool running on Foundations
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Webcast - Introducing Lotus Foundations

Hey Lotus...

While poking around the IBM site I found a techtalk from 30 April 2008 titled "Introducing Lotus Foundations". Unfortunately when I click on the link get the following error:

We're sorry, you are not authorized to access the page you requested.

Since the event was a Webcast Replay it seems to my poor brain that you should be able to bundle this file up for download by tragic people like me who don't have a life and want to spend their evenings watching webinars about Lotus Foundations Server.

How about unlocking that cupboard?

FYI - I was logged in with my IBM Partnerworld ID at the time
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It costs how much to install Microsoft EBS???

Here's an interesting point of view about the entry cost for an installation of Microsoft's Essential Business Server:

"...however I don’t envision even the most basic EBS environments being deployed for under $15,000 when both hardware and software are considered."

And don't forget to read the fine print in the article:

"There is no upgrade path from SBS 2003 to SBS 2008..."
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Shootout between MS Exchange 2007 and IBM Domino 8

ITComparison.com have published the results of a comparison between MS Exchange 2007 and IBM Domino 8. This comparison was last updated a month ago. Either I missed the Lotus community blogging about it or the entire Lotus community missed blogging about it. Either way, Good News can always stand a second reading :)

Here are some of the highlights:

• IBM Lotus Domino has implemented replication for ages to be one of the most reliable and efficient replication methods available.
• MS Exchange 2007 is the first Exchange version to support replication. The replication was not reliable in the RTM release and got a bit better with SP1 but still not the best. In addition, Exchange 2007 replication is not efficient and requires a large amount of dedicated bandwidth which can be expensive.
  
• IBM has kept again the Install & Forget approach. After Domino has been installed you only need to visit the box if you need to add or enable a feature. It does not mean administrators will lose their job, but will have an easier life.
• Microsoft as usual has kept their product maintenance quite time-consuming doing updates for exchange, operating system fixing failures and recovering data stores. It seems they are trying to help administrators look busy to keep their jobs.
  
• IBM has release Lotus Domino 8 as a solid product fully tested and ready for production, but was a bit late to market.
• Microsoft as usual early to market with half raw product at the RTM version of Exchange 2007 with many bugs and features missing few examples:
• - Public folders Management GUI
• - Replication was not working unless implemented directly by Microsoft with some secret hotfixes.
• - Single Copy Cluster was not working unless installed with certain hotfixes in certain orders which was not mentioned any where on Microsoft website and not applying the fixes will make the cluster resources jump from a node to the other.
• - Note: these were few of the issues Microsoft fixed with SP1, but even SP1 had its own issues that Microsoft admit in the release note of SP1 and the installation of SP1 has not been smooth for many customers.


• Exchange 2007 get to be cheaper only if you calculate the initial licenses for non redundant setup. In all the other calculation and TCO Exchange 2007 will be in a loss situation. Exchange 2007 require newer 64-bit hardware and more servers (at least 6 server in case of redundancy) where Lotus Domino can reach full redundancy with two servers only, this is due to the new roles Exchange 2007 came up with. More servers means more licenses and clustering with Exchange require windows enterprise licenses which not required with Lotus Domino. All this give Domino an initial setup advantage when you look at the full setup cost. In addition, if your setup require features like forums, portal, and instant messaging you will have to pay for an extra three separate products with Exchange where all of these are integrated into Domino server for free. All that Make Domino the TCO winner.

I thought this crowd was an IBM front until I read some of the other comparisons these guys have done:

• VMware VI3 VS MS Virtual Server 2005 R2
• VMware VI3 VS Citrix Xen Enterprise
• MS Virtual Server 2005 R2 VS Citrix Xen Enterprise
• Microsoft Windows Hyper-V (WSV) VS VMware Virtual Infrastructure 3.5
• HP Blades vs IBM Blades
• Double Take vs XOsoft WANSyncHA
• Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard VS Microsoft Windows Vista
• Ubuntu VS Microsoft Windows Vista
• Mac OSX Tiger/Leopard VS Ubuntu

Now I'm just waiting for the Lotus Foundations v. Essential Business Server shootout to appear.
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Vox Populi. The people want SameTime.

Poll Results: Which of these Lotus product should be the first one made available on Foundations?

• Connections
• Expiditor
• Forms
• Quikr
• Sametime
• Web Content Management

Of the 66 responses to the last poll some 51% went to SameTime while Quickr ran second with one third of the votes and Web Content management ran a distant third with 10% of the votes.
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Foundations is sorta like... ummm... software

Have you read how PC Authority describes Lotus Foundations?

"Foundations is a sort of mish-mash of Lotus Notes, Domino mail, file management, firewall, directory services, recovery and backup, anti virus and anti spam programs and support for Microsoft Outlook."

And you guys call yourselves an authority ?
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HP and Microsoft move in on the Foundations market

It's all been done before but HP and Microsoft have picked an excellent time to do it again. Their new competition promises a total of $50,000 (retail price) of new computer hardware and software to the two entrants most desperately in need of an IT makeover.

Of course the day after the winners are announced all of the losing contestants will receive a personalized phone call from Microsoft offering sympathy and an invitation to evaluate Essential Business Server running on HP equipment. Why the heck isn't IBM doing this kind of stuff with Lotus Foundations server on X-Series hardware?
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OT: Turning 50 today

Well I guess this post answers the question about how far off-topic this blog is willing to go :)

It's been a loooong journey since September 26th 1958. For my fiftieth birthday my darling wife said I could have anything I want (steady troops... we're not going THAT far off topic) so I spent some time thinking over my past desires and finally realized what I always wanted but would never have bought for myself.

I'm working today at my favorite client - Belinda had to work anyway so no point in having a day off by myself - but tonight Belinda, Adam and I paint the town red with some ribs and beer at a pokey little no-name pizza place and then tomorrow I get to play Air Wolf. The tough bit will be explaining to 3-year-old Number One Son why he can't have a turn at the controls.
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OT: Microsoft's Partner Base is shrinking

This article from the Redmond Channel Partner magazine points out that...

"The number of [Microsoft] Gold Certified Partners has more than doubled in the past two years, jumping from about 7,000 in 2006 to more than 14,400 today, according to Microsoft figures. (Meanwhile, the number of Certified Partners has dwindled rapidly, dropping from about 30,000 worldwide in 2006 to just more than 17,500 today as, presumably, most of those Certified companies move up to Gold Certified status.)"

So in 2006 Microsoft had 7,000 plus 30,000 = 37,000 partners and in 2008 they have 14,400 plus 17,500 = 31,900 partners which is a decrease of 14% in two years. Makes you wonder if Bill jumped ship because he saw this downturn coming?
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Moving to Linux this weekend...

For the last twelve months I've been getting my feet wet with Linux. I've installed SUSE on a spare server at home and read a few manuals and, of course, installed Lotus Foundations more than once. I've also enrolled in a one-week intensive Novell Linux boot camp in October paid for by IBM (for which I wouldn't be eligible if I wasn't an IBM Business Partner - Vaughan, you really need to wake up and smell the Big Blue Roses. There's more to the IBM relationship than just making margin on software sales.)

Anyway, I'm about done with standing in knee-deep water. Time to dive in head first and upgrade my main work PC. From what I read, Ubuntu is the friendliest desktop but since I'm running SUSE-based Foundations server and about to do a SUSE boot camp I'm thinking I should stay with Novell. So for those who have gone the SUSE route, can you give me any pointers / web-sites / tales of woe / total time estimates / Gnome v. KDE etc?

PS. And can anyone tell me the best way to run Windows games on Linux?
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Upgrading the Foundations Domino Version

Maybe I've been spoiled by always having Business Partner access to the latest software versions but I get kinda twitchy if I run too many point releases behind the bleeding edge. So with 8.02 already on the loose and 8.5 only a few months away I need to ask the obvious question.

How long after the initial release dates will we get the Foundations version of new Domino software?
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Foundations at Lotussphere 2009?

I haven't been to Lotussphere for about ten years and I probably won't be going in 2009 either. It's not that I'm not interested but the cost and the distance and turning 50 (this Friday) and having a three year old son means that my priorities are different now.

However I am interested in collecting the technical overflow that always follows Lotussphere. So Kevin, Bilal et. al. what are the chances that we'll see some Foundations-centric sessions in Orlando next January? C'mon guys... you can trust me. I won't tell too many people.
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MS EBS setup is different to Foundations

Here's one man's story of installing MS Essential Business Server.

"EBS is fine with installing into an existing network, and it's even OK if you want to keep your existing firewall / gateway in place, but you need to be a bit deceptive to prevent having to make changes to your existing infrastructure. If you want to keep your existing firewall / gateway, EBS wants to take it's internal IP (your default gateway address) as its' own and have you assign a new, unique IP address to your existing firewall / gateway. It kinda makes sense; EBS is trying to ensure that all of your existing clients go though the new Security Server, and by changing this one IP address on your existing firewall / gateway, you do not have to point every workstation to the new security server. Of course, EBS is built to be your network, not coexist with your network. "

We shouldn't be surprised at his problems since the Microsoft philosophy of One Server To Rule Them All has been around for quite a few years. This guy recommended:

"So for your test lab... Lie to it if you don't want to reconfigure your existing firewall / gateway. I told the tool that my firewall/gateway was at 192.168.1.1 even though it was really located at 192.168.0.1. This way, the new security server takes the IP I want it to, not my super happy existing firewall that the rest of my network depends upon."

I'm just wondering how far that strategy will work in a production environment. Suppose I'm quite happy with my existing non-Microsoft gateway and don't want to give that role to EBS. Does that mean I am disqualified from receiving technical support because my architecture does not conform to the Microsoft "standard"?

At least Lotus Foundations Server gives you the choice of whether you want it to be your gateway and it will work quite happily even if it doesn't get that responsibility.
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Weird IP address on Bad-Guy probe into Foundations server

I noticed this morning that a customer's Foundations server is being probed by the bad guys and Foundations is duly reporting the event in the log.

02:01:33 PM Authentication Server Error Authentication failed for Administrator@210.154. 16.12 (ftp)
02:01:41 PM Authentication Connection Warning Command 'auth' failed (user='Administrator').
02:01:44 PM Authentication Server Error Authentication failed for Administrator@210.154. 16.12 (ftp)
02:01:52 PM Authentication Connection Warning Command 'auth' failed (user='Administrator').

DNSStuff.com told me the address was owned by TOCKA-COM which is a Russian language website with some (ahem) interesting pictures on its front page.

Nothing newsworthy in that. I'm sure that everyones server gets pinged on a daily basis by Bad Guys looking for a place to load some naughty code. What I did find interesting was the formatting of the IP address. Note the space before the 16 in 210.154. 16.12

I'm not into hacker stuff generally but I was intrigued by this one. Does anyone know how you get an IP address to include a space character?
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Foundations autonomic computing and IBM support

This is a public thank you to Robert on the Foundations Support Line in Canada and to Matt Webb at IBM in Australia for helping me with my current support issue. Matt has been researching this problem in his own time (and I've got the time-stamped emails to prove it!) and together with long distance support from Robert we have almost beaten the problem.

The problem was that a customer's Foundations server suddenly stopped accepting SMTP mail. The Domino SMTP task was active and internal<->internal mail was being delivered as was internal->external mail. That server had been running fine for a couple of months and it was a complete mystery as to what had caused the problem. In the end we told the server to run a Netscan command to automatically detect its network connections and rebuild its internet access routes.

So that's what it did.

Maybe I impress too easy but I found that to be quite an elegant piece of autonomic computing. I wish organizing my personal finances was that easy. "OK Tax Return! It's the end of the Financial Year. Go away and inspect my accounting environment and fill in your blanks then tell me when you're ready to be sent to the Tax Office."

The original issue isn't completely resolved yet since the customer has switched their mail to another email server for the duration. Now we need to switch it back and run some mail-delivery tests but I think we're on the Home Stretch.

Anyway, I want to give public recognition and thanks where it's due.

Thanks again Matt and Robert. I hope your Managers read this.
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ETA for revised Foundations documentation?

A couple of months ago I blogged about the documentation that IBM had provided with the first shipment of Foundations. I know that the Foundations team have been working hard in this area since that time because some of their revisions have been slipstreamed into the on-line technical documentation available at the Nitix site.

So when will we see the final product guys? I'd love to get a finalized PDF that I can print out (call me a Luddite if you want but I do prefer working from a printed manual).
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Where is the Foundations certification roadmap?

Hey IBM...

When are you going in getting together a certification exam for Lotus Foundations? I did some of the on-line tests available at Nitix but they're obsolete now. How are we going to separate the serious players from the box pushers unless we have a certification roadmap?
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Microsoft SBS bundled with 'IBM' hardware?

The rumors of Lenovo buying out IBM's x86 server line have been around for a while now, but this article raises an interesting point.

Suppose Microsoft per$uades Lenovo to bundle Small Business Server 2008 or Essential Business Server 2008 with the ex-IBM Thinkservers. That's still not going to match a Foundations appliance on 'bang-for-your-back' but the image of SBS teaming with an 'IBM' brand and the resulting bundle competing with Foundations might be a bit embarrassing for IBM.
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When do we see Foundations and SBS go Head-to-Head?

In my last Poll I included an option to vote for ‘Technical Bake-Offs’ as a technique for marketing Lotus Foundation Server. That suggestion polled poorly but in that doesn’t mean that it was a bad idea – merely that the other options were better (or at least more popular) ideas. Some head-to-head comparisons of Nitix and SBS from past years past are available.

PCMag compared SBS and Nitix in 2004.

A more in-depth review from 2004 with some TCO numbers is available here.

In 2006 CRN put Nitix into equal first place with Microsoft’s Small Business Server 2003 R2 over Xandros and Novell. Note that this was before Nitix integrated Lotus Notes/Domino and Lotus Symphony into its product stack so I would expect Lotus Foundations Server to easily win any rematch which used the same testing regime.

Finally, if you’ve got USD$195 to spare you can invest in the ‘Small Enterprise Workgroup Server Software: Product Comparison Report’ from Infoedge.

I’d love to see a more up-to-date comparison, specifically one that maps Lotus Foundations Server directly against SBS but maybe the PC magazines are all waiting for SBS 2008 to hit the streets before they start the next round of comparison tests.

Hey IBM, how about giving those IT reviewers a prod with a pointy stick?
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Followup post on why SBS sucks

Normally I don't post on weekends - I figure most news can wait till Monday so people can read it with their morning coffee. However I am finding the David Williams series that I blogged about yesterday is becoming more interesting. Grab some popcorn and head over there now.
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Go read "How Linux is keeping Microsoft honest (and why SBS sucks)"

Here's an interesting article from one of our Italian friends.

David Williams points out that Micro$oft's 2008 Server platform is moving away from the traditional MS GUI interface and back towards control by the command line (which is how Linux admins traditionally earn their daily bread). Scripting languages are essential in modern server environments since there's only so much that you can do with point and click. I haven't used the MS Powershell interface and don't want to start, but I must admit that I prefer doing Notes admin by command line.

Part two of his article is where the meat is for the Foundations market. His argument for the historical success of SBS is:

"... you’ll find many a lone consultant who is eager to resell [SBS] and to attain their sales certificate in the product... They lack the fiscal backing to purchase the standard range of Microsoft server products so they hone in on SBS because it’s what they can afford themselves..."

Now here's the selling point for Foundations:

"Yet, SBS comes with a catch. It’s heavily restricted. You cannot have another SBS server on your network, for one thing. And while you can have other Windows Servers – using the full product – none of them can be domain controllers. Your total user count is restricted.

This may sound acceptable; you have a reduced cost setup with the trade-off of some limitations. However, it’s exasperating, to be honest. SBS is much more restrictive than businesses realise. Even if it suits today, it’s almost certain it won’t tomorrow. It absolutely offers no scalability and any organisation which intends to grow is heading off on the wrong path by using it."

Our problem lies in getting customers to recognize these limitations before they send their money to Micro$oft.
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OT: Is Vista ever the Right Tool for the Job?

The laptop I've been using for the last year is a perfect fit for the task at hand. It has a 233mhz CPU, 64 mb of ram, a couple of gig of disk space, runs Windows 98 and Office 97 like a dream and it does everything I need on my daily commute to and from the city. I never got around to installing Notes R5 on it since I use that commuting time for writing proposals and playing with numbers rather than resolving email. At the Partnerworld conference in Sydney earlier this year IBM gave away some smoothlooking pens with an embedded 256mb memory stick - thanks IBM - so I use that as the data conduit between the laptop and the network.

My reason for sharing this piece of technical nostalgia with you is this article from six weeks ago - I told you I was cleaning out my in-tray - talking of the perils of skipping the Vista OS and waiting for Windows 7. The theme of the article is that failing to upgrade to the latest Microsoft technology is dangerous for your business. Lets look at some quotes :

"Waiting another two years -- or more -- for Windows 7 is a gamble on a business's financial future. And that wait could be longer if Microsoft delays Windows 7, further complicating application compatibility issues."

"As XP gets older, you may hit more issues and at some point -- we think that point is 2012 -- you will need to bite the bullet and move all your users from XP to Windows 7. Which means you may need to hire an external service provider to help you move."

Call me stoopid if you like, but I really can't see the the gamble which the article states is being undertaken by businesses who don't upgrade to Vista. Yes I know Gartner wrote an article on precisely those points but I'm not going to pay USD$195 for a four page PDF explaining why I need to send more money to Microsoft.

Lets stick with the original article for the moment:

"... support for XP is more likely to be dropped by some application vendors before Microsoft halts its own support."

I don't think so. No application vendor will cut their own throat by refusing to support the most commonly used OS. Application support for XP will only stop after it loses critical mass in the marketplace and given the 1-2 year lead time that application vendors provide when notifying End of Life for an application version, there will be plenty of time to consider and implement an OS upgrade.

"Consider cash. Since an OS refresh of some sort is inevitable, CIOs should consider conducting on when they have the budget to do it. Waiting another two years -- or more -- for Windows 7 is a gamble on a business's financial future. And that wait could be longer if Microsoft delays Windows 7, further complicating application compatibility issues."

Why should an OS 'refresh' be inevitable at all? If the existing OS is doing the job and there is no financial or business justification for moving to an alternative system then why spend even one red cent talking about buying Vista? It gets worse when we read the tissue paper logic about a '... gamble on a business's financial future'. So where is the gamble? How is my financial future at risk if I don't upgrade? There seems to be the implication that if I have the money today then I should quickly give it to Microsoft before I get tempted to spend it anywhere else.

"Support for XP from hardware vendors could also wane by 2011 or thereabouts..."

Another bogeyman without any substance. If the world is still running on XP then the hardware manufacturers will provide drivers for that OS. Failing to do so means they won''t sell their hardware.

"Lastly, organizations working without the Microsoft Software Assurance program may also be stuck if Windows 7 does not include downgrade rights to XP, a scenario Gartner considers likely. In that case, XP users who skip Vista would be required to buy Windows 7 licenses to upgrade."

Or they could switch to Linux or Apple or Citrix technology or, if the organisation was big enough, maybe the threat of them doing that would be enough for Microsoft to relent on allowing downgrade rights.

Getting back to my laptop for the moment. That machine is the right tool for the job and it makes no financial sense for me to invest in an upgraded tool. I have the same impression about this whole XP to Vista upgrade thing. Has anyone, anywhere ever found a situation where an organization was financially worse off because they didn't upgrade from XP to Vista? As Rod Tidwell would say...

"Show me the money!"

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Foundations on Apple Macintosh?

Real life work - the billable kind - has kept me busy for the last week but I'm starting to see a bit of light at the end of the tunnel. That gives me time to purge my blogging in-tray, including this article from a fortnight ago about how IBM is reconfiguring Lotus Foundations to run on multiple flavors of Linux. There are a few d'oh moments in the article like when they call Sametime a component of Foundations, but it was still worth the read.

Migrating Foundations to other distros is quite a logical move by IBM. Their objective is to arrange for the widest possible penetration of the Foundations suite while simultaneously eroding the Microsoft marketshare for servers. Allowing Red Hat, Ubuntu and all the other Linux flavors to host those applications opens new markets to Foundations and also gives those distros additional bragging rights when pitching for new business. In fact, this move makes sense for everyone but Microsoft ... oh darn!

The most interesting point was the statement that IBM will ship Foundations for Apple's Macintosh OS later this year but given some of the other bloopers in the article I'm not going to take that event as a sure-fire thing. Maybe IBM was just flying a kite to see how the market would react to that suggestion. Maybe the reporter just heard it wrong. The source for the quote was given as Jeff Smith, Vice President of Open Source and Linux Middleware for IBM.

We live in interesting times.
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The Official Voice of Foundations?

I personally find it a marathon task to identify which of the hundreds of Lotus Forums/Wikis/websites scattered across the internet are hot and which ones are dead. Planet Lotus helps enormously but there is still a lot of work to find the golden needles in that haystack.

Since the official Lotus Foundations wiki is starting up right at the beginning of the Foundations roller-coaster ride it has the potential to become the premier source of information about Lotus Foundations server - apart from my blog of course :).

I think the Foundations wiki is a Good Thing and I'm going to be plugging it quite frequently. Head over there now to check out "How to install a Lotus Foundations Test Environment using VMWare".

Of course it would be good to have a regularly-blogging Foundations-focussed Ed Brill clone as 'The Official Voice of Foundations', but until that happens I'll just keep checking out the Wiki.
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IdeaJam for Foundations

Here's a way to tell IBM what you think. Go over to Elguji's Ideajam for Foundations and add your two cents worth.

Whaddyamean you've never used Ideajam??? Sheesh... what are they teaching kids in college these days?
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Microsoft Channel Partner site looks at Foundations

Here's an article about the SMB Market that was published on 'Redmond Channel Partner Online'. Despite their tag line of 'Driving Success in the Microsoft Partner Community' and their self-proclaimed mission to provide a "... focus on the strategic and practical needs of Microsoft IT professionals" I found the article to be well-balanced and surprisingly devoid of adjectives.

The article compares the SMB offerings of Cisco, Oracle, HP, Dell, IBM, SAP and Microsoft. It only gives a paragraph or three to each vendor but it's a good snapshot of what the different players are doing. I'd already 'been-there-done-that' with what they had to say about the IBM and Microsoft products, but I did learn a thing or two about the plans of the other vendors.

I've got the site bookmarked to see what they say about Foundations in future issues.
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The perils of outsourcing

Earlier today Stefan Krueger posted a pointer to the Microsoft's Office Live Small Business service outage that has apparently resulted in the loss of customer data.

This is not the first service failure for the Microsoft Office Live Small Business service. There was a similar incident in February and (according to customers quoted in the article) a number of smaller intermittent outages since then. I'm not suggesting that it's easy to run these data centers but if the hosting company can't protect your data then why would you hand it over to them in the first place? Would you give your money to a bank that didn't promise to give all of it back?

In this case the data loss was confined to email, but I don't see a guarantee that the next outage won't hit the data servers. Goodbye spreadsheets!

I can understand the temptation for a SMB to hand over all of their IT worries to a "big brother" who promises to look after them but IMHO when push comes to shove it'll be VERY difficult to get any sort of leverage over Microsoft to get your data back. I mean if the White House couldn't get Microsoft to provide sufficient technical assistance to retrieve all of their emails then what chance has Joe the Mechanic and his ten man team got? "Sorry about that service outage Joe. We did think about trying to retrieve your data but we compared the cost in M$ man-hours against the potential adverse publicity and decided we would rely on clause 175(b) subsection 2 of our service contract which states blah blah blah..."

The possibility of vendor (ie Microsoft) lock-in was emphasized in the last paragraph of the Infoworld article by a quote from a Microsoft customer who lost their data in the recent outage:

'Reilly says that while he's disappointed with Office Live Small Business, he doesn't plan to switch. "I'm kind of stuck with them," he said.'

Ominous words. Well, if I'm going to be stuck then I'll get stuck with Foundations Server and its automated backup so if I lose my data then I've only got myself to blame. This way I also get the choice of what OS to run for my staff and to decide whether I want the MS Office elephant or one of its more nimble competitors.

Not a very hard decision.
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Results of Foundations Poll #2

Last month I asked "What resource is most needed by Lotus Business Partners to sell Foundations (pick any two)". The thirtyseven respondants threw their darts into three rough groups of two. Top of the pops with over 50% each was:

• Plenty of IBM dollars pumped into marketing LFS (21)
• An updated LFS web site with lots of technical info (20)

The second wave was:

• Support for product demos in retail stores and trade show (15)
• Deep Dive hands-on technical training (13)

Bringing up the rear was:

• A counterpart to Ed Brill for LFS (5)
• Technical Bake-Offs between LFS and SBS/EBS (4)

I doubt we'll have much influence on IBM's marketing budget, but the newly launched Foundations Wiki should go a long way to answering the second request.
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The Lotus Foundations Wiki

Lotus Foundations Server now has its own Wiki hosted by IBM/Lotus. You can anonymously browse the Wiki content but you need a Lotus Registration user name if you want to add articles or comments. Unfortunately Lotus uses a separate registration system from the rest of IBM so you may need to generate another username/password combination if you haven't previously been involved in Lotus public discussion forums, Lotus private beta programs or Lotus and WebSphere Portal wikis.
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The Worldwide Foundations Training Tour!!!

The Mountain has come to Mohammed!!! Two days of classroom training on Foundations in Sydney!

I am one happy blogger :)

This is the Virtual workshop that I blogged about earlier, but now the Show is hitting the Road. Check out the schedule for the worldwide tour and click here to register

• 09 Sep 2008 - 10 Sep 2008, Virtual workshop (09:00 a.m. - 05:00 p.m. central time)
• 29 Sep 2008 - 30 Sep 2008, Waltham, Massachusetts
• 07 Oct 2008 - 08 Oct 2008, Toronto, Canada
• 22 Oct 2008 - 23 Oct 2008, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
• 04 Nov 2008 - 05 Nov 2008, Virtual workshop (09:00 a.m. - 05:00 p.m. central time)
• 11 Nov 2008 - 12 Nov 2008, Sydney, Australia
• 18 Nov 2008 - 19 Nov 2008, Hursley, United Kingdom
• 19 Nov 2008 - 20 Nov 2008, Paris, France

IBM Lotus Foundations Start technical workshop

IBM Lotus Foundations Start is a complete software appliance that provides the essential software you need to focus on running the business, not managing computer systems. It allows a small business to use e-mail; create, share and centrally manage documents; and ensure information is backed up and protected. If you need to know how to install, configure and use the new Lotus Foundations Start, this workshop is for you.

After attending the workshop, you will be able to do the following:

• Install and configure Lotus Foundations Start applications such as IBM Lotus Notes and IBM Lotus Domino, Lotus Domino Access for Microsoft Office, and anti-spam
• Restore and recover from a failed main drive
• Describe product features in terms of capabilities, such as autonomic behavior, backup, and fault tolerance
• Perform administrative tasks such as importing multiple users and optimizing Lotus Notes clients
• Describe the key security features in Lotus Foundations, such as Web-based administration, firewall, VPN, router support, backup, restore, disaster recovery, anti-virus, and anti-spam
• Install Domino Access for Microsoft Office and set up users
• Describe the messaging and e-mail environment of Lotus Foundations, including mail capabilities, protocols, and third-party integration with Microsoft Office
• Provide examples of the servers that are part of Lotus Foundations, such as POP, IMAP, SMTP, IP-based printing, Web, and FTP servers
• Explain the high-level architecture of Lotus Foundations Start
• Discuss integrated applications available for Lotus Foundations, such as Samba, Apache, PPTP and intelligent database backup
• Explain the hardware and software requirements for Lotus Foundations Start

Highlights

• Knowledge of product installation and operation
• Live instructor-led lectures
• Hands-on lab exercises that will:

o Install the core product on a third-party hardware platform
o Conduct package installations and configuration of server applications
o Install and configure client applications
o Administer the Lotus Foundations server including account setup, disk configuration, integrated services facilitation, and user account creation and removal from the Web
o Perform system recovery

Prerequisites
This workshop is for people who will install, configure, and maintain Lotus Foundations. Suggested skills and knowledge are:

• Basic familiarity with Lotus Foundations
• Computer application and installation
• Familiarity with Internet terminology
• Experience with Lotus Domino and Lotus Notes (optional)

This is a technical class and does not include a product introduction. For introductory materials, you may access the following references:

• Lotus Foundations documentation
• Lotus Foundations Start

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Foundations: Is IBM in for the long haul?

One of the advantages of being part of the IBM/Lotus Business Partner is the ability to get market feedback from other partners. I had a chat with another BP yesterday and during the conversation I asked if they were getting into Foundations. I could understand if they were too busy or didn't click with the concept or even if they didn't think that the SMB market was where they wanted to be. Their response was a bit different to that.

They told me they were avoiding Foundations because:

1. the potential revenue for that product didn't make financial sense for their business (that's OK, everyone works on a different set of numbers and only time will tell who guessed right).
2. they didn't expect that IBM would support them in that market.

That second point floored me. Now this BP is certainly pro-IBM but this was the first feedback I had heard where someone didn't think that IBM was into SMB to stay. I think they're dead wrong but hey, it was a friendly conversation and everyone is certainly entitled to their opinion.

Does anyone out there agree with this BP? Has your opinion about IBM and SMB changed in the last six months? Am I sitting here wearing rose-colored glasses?

You can tell me guys... I can take it...
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The SMB server market in Australia - Hardware

About a month ago ARN published an article about the size and shape of the SMB server market in Australia. It's good background material for when your customer is ready to go with Foundations but isn't sure whether they should get a new server at the same time.

That is, presuming they're not going to buy the Foundations appliance...
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Reverse-engineering Foundations?

If Lotus Foundations Server is based on a Linux kernel (which it is), then how come its inner workings are as inaccessible as the insides of a Windows executable? Consider that Foundations doesn't provide a desktop client interface - it only shows you the server screen with bits of information about DHCP and port addressing. Sure you can access the server using the Web-config screen but that interface is sealed tighter than a gnat's nostril and doesn't have a menu option to run command line Linux. It will only let you do the regular office management tasks like adding users and reconfiguring the schedule for automatic backup.

What happened to all of the Linux and Open Source ethos about Showing Unto Others what you have Figured Out For Yourselves? Why doesn't someone ring Linus Torvalds and register a complaint?

The answer is that Lotus Foundations Server provides a range of services and only some of these technologies are based on Open Source components. IBM/Lotus also provides its own proprietary code (such as Lotus Domino) within the Foundations package and there's certainly no requirement on them to expose the source code for those components.

Remember that Foundations is not aimed at the experienced Linux geeks of the world - it is a business solution aimed at the average SMB owner who really doesn't want access to the server command line and would probably prefer that their IT staff didn't use that access either. They just want their server to keep saving files and handling emails and doing automated backups the way it has always done it.

Lotus Foundations Server is an excellent investment for those customers.

On the other hand, if an experienced Linux admin is really serious about bypassing the standard Foundations interface then they will find the way to run command line Linux on Foundations. The Nitix Virtual Server (NVS) layer is a full-featured, standard Linux system running over the top of the Nitix core, and Linux experts can customize that NVS and add additional Linux applications just as they can for other Linux systems. Underneath the NVS is the Nitix core, which is essentially an embedded system with few configuration options, designed for easy configuration and highly reliable operation. If you want to get into rearranging those nuts and bolts then all of that is possible.

It's the Best of both Worlds.
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Foundations: Selling Domino consulting to SMB

One of the biggest challenges in selling consulting services to SMB is helping customers to catch the vision of how Domino applications can help their business. For many of these people, their previous computer experience has been limited to reading their Hotmail, typing their invoices in Word and balancing their accounts in Excel. After they have bought Foundations and installed Symphony, the idea of spending an additional 'x' thousand dollars to develop a software solution for their business may well be the last thing on their mind.

Here's a way to expand their vision...

Back in the dim distant past Lotus (before they were IBM/Lotus) bundled up a set of basic Domino applications as a free download. Those R3/R4 applications are still available and, unlike Microsoft's 'rip-and-replace' application roadmap, Domino applications are backward compatible which means that these databases will run in the Domino version 8.x environment provided with Foundations.

Now don't think that I'm suggesting these databases will fit the bill for today's business environment - for a start, none of them are web enabled. What these applications will do is provide a discussion point for you and your SMB client to talk about what they could achieve with Domino, and since you were the nice guy who gave these databases to the customer for free then its only natural that they will turn to you when they want them tweaked. Then once you have engaged them in that conversation it's up to you to show the business benefit of a full system analysis and application development lifecycle.

These files shouldn't be mentioned in your first approach to your customer. I'd say they are best used after you've installed and configured Foundations and you're running out of excuses to call the guy. Ring him up one last time and tell him you've got a freebie. Send him the list of files and offer to install the ones he wants onto his server for free then call him up a fortnight later and ask him how he liked it.


Here's the list of applications:

1. Things to Do,
2. Requisition Approvals,
3. Application Tracking,
4. Book Reviews,
5. Budget Planning,
6. Call Tracking,
7. Clip Art Gallery,
8. Contract Library,
9. Correspondence,
10. Customer Service (five databases -- Product Design Problems, Customer Suggestions, Knowledge Base, Data Dictionary, Call Tracking -- as well as a sixth database with documentation),
11. Demo Room Reservation,
12. Employee Records,
13. Event Calendar,
14. Executive Briefings,
15. Expenses Reports,
16. Formula Catalog,
17. Forms Routing,
18. Electronic Library,
19. Icon Catalog,
20. Job Candidates,
21. Job Postings,
22. Sales Management,
23. Library Tracking & Training,
24. Purchasing Item Tracking,
25. Litigation,
26. Lookup Keyword Library,
27. Meeting Tracking,
28. Monthly Financials,
29. Engineering Notebook,
30. Patient Treatment Signoff,
31. People and Facilities,
32. Phone Book and Yellow Pages,
33. Presentations,
34. Race Results,
35. Real Estate Management,
36. Recipes,
37. Relocation Expenses,
38. Routing Tracking,
39. Reservation Scheduler,
40. Sell-through Sales Reports,
41. Shotgun E-Mail Communications,
42. Conference Suggestions,
43. Support Conference,
44. Support Center Call Tracking,
45. System Equipment Inventory,
46. Team Consolidate,
47. Team Room,
48. Tech Services Call Tracking,
49. Technotes and Tips,
50. Telemarketing,
51. Travel Authorization,
52. Values and Goals,
53. Wholesale Customer Tracking.

BTW: Has anyone, anywhere, at any time, ever used the recipe application?

My guess: probably not.
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Foundations documentation still needs work

Lotus has updated the minimum server requirements required to run Foundations.

• x86 based system
• At least one hard disk. At least two hard drives are needed to backup your data.
• At least one Network Interface Card. Two network cards are needed if this is your network gateway.
• CD-ROM drive
• VGA based video card
• 1GB RAM
• VGA Monitor
• Keyboard

I think there is more work needed. What about customers who don't have an internet gateway at all? This list doesn't tell customers the hard cold fact that they need an internet connection in order to activate Foundations. No internet connection means no software activation.

According to the Sensis E-Business report from August 2007, over five percent of metropolitan SMB (and over 10% of rural SMB) don't have an internet connection. I don't have a problem telling one of these customers that they need to install an internet connection if they want to run Foundations, but IMHO that requirement should be listed up front along with the other obvious items like the keyboard and VGA monitor.

Call me picky if you like, but that's my job :)


Meanwhile, over in Seattle it's starting to look like EBS stands for Enormously Bloated Software. Eric Beehler is blogging about writing a book related to Microsoft Essential Business Server and judging from this post his introductory chapter will be titled "First, assemble your Mainframe". I mean, it's pretty sad when you need to plan for an upgraded CPU cooling fan on a server that already has four other internal 12,500 RPM fans. It's even worse when you realize that the server will only be used to click through some menus and create a few screenshots. Imagine the kind of servers he would need if he wanted EBS to actually do some work.

So what's he going to do when he gets to the chapter about installing the optional fourth box to run SQL Server?

However it might all be in vain - Eric could only squeeze 12 gigabytes of memory into the server and he has some doubt whether all of the core applications will run effectively in that limited address space.
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Foundations University now accepting enrollments

IBM (bless their little cotton socks) are running some free Foundations training in a virtual university format on 9th and 10th September. Unfortunately it'll be running from 9am to 5pm US Central Time which means from somewhere round midnight till 8am for those of us living Down Under. That unfortunate fact by itself wouldn't stop me, but since I've already promised to run a R8 System Admin course on those two days plus my sister is in town on her once-in-a-blue-moon holiday from her day job in Kabul (yes... Kabul in Afghanistan... don't ask... it's a long story) it means that I would be burning the candle at both ends plus in the middle if I tried to do the Foundations course as well. I'll take a rain check and sign up for the November intake.

Enrollment priority is given to ISVs who are members of IBM partnerworld and are looking to Foundationize their products. I don't see anywhere that says your product needs to be based on Lotus Domino, so this could be your chance to be first to market with the Foundations Games Pack :)

Here's what you get:

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IBM Lotus Foundations Start technical workshop
IBM Lotus Foundations Start is a complete software appliance that provides the essential software you need to focus on running the business, not managing computer systems. It allows a small business to use e-mail; create, share and centrally manage documents; and ensure information is backed up and protected. If you need to know how to install, configure and use the new Lotus Foundations Start, this workshop is for you.

What you will discover by attending: After attending the workshop, you will be able to do the following:

• Install and configure Lotus Foundations Start applications such as IBM Lotus Notes and IBM Lotus Domino, Lotus Domino Access for Microsoft Office, and anti-spam
• Restore and recover from a failed main drive
• Describe product features in terms of capabilities, such as autonomic behavior, backup, and fault tolerance
• Perform administrative tasks such as importing multiple users and optimizing Lotus Notes clients
• Describe the key security features in Lotus Foundations, such as Web-based administration, firewall, VPN, router support, backup, restore, disaster recovery, anti-virus, and anti-spam
• Install Domino Access for Microsoft Office and set up users
• Describe the messaging and e-mail environment of Lotus Foundations, including mail capabilities, protocols, and third-party integration with Microsoft Office
• Provide examples of the servers that are part of Lotus Foundations, such as POP, IMAP, SMTP, IP-based printing, Web, and FTP servers
• Explain the high-level architecture of Lotus Foundations Start
• Discuss integrated applications available for Lotus Foundations, such as Samba, Apache, PPTP and intelligent database backup
• Explain the hardware and software requirements for Lotus Foundations Start

Highlights

• Knowledge of product installation and operation
• Live instructor-led lectures
• Hands-on lab exercises that will:

• >> Install the core product on a third-party hardware platform
• >> Conduct package installations and configuration of server applications
• >>Install and configure client applications
• >> Administer the Lotus Foundations server including account setup, disk configuration, integrated services facilitation, and user account creation and removal from the Web
• >> Perform system recovery

Prerequisites: This workshop is for people who will install, configure, and maintain Lotus Foundations. Suggested skills and knowledge are:

• Basic familiarity with Lotus Foundations
• Computer application and installation
• Familiarity with Internet terminology
• Experience with Lotus Domino and Lotus Notes (optional)

Virtual workshop participants:

• Must have Internet access using a high speed connection
• Lectures will be via interactive instruction voice over IP (VoIP)
• Noise canceling headset and microphone for improved VoIP interaction
• Should consider having a telephone as backup

This is a technical class and does not include a product introduction. ****************************************************************************

Other news:
Lotus Australia is having their annual Sales conference (sorry... Sales University) this week at a top-secret location somewhere south of the border in the Yarra Valley. These events are a quite excellent opportunity to rub shoulders with assorted Australian Lotii and possibly even pick up some web marketing tips from older and wiser Business Partners.

Belinda and Adam are coming also and while I'm soaking up the technology and industry gossip they'll be checking out wildlife parks and doing all of the things that these Resorts offer but us conference attendees never get around to doing. Adam's pretty good at putt-putt for a three year old, but somehow I couldn't find the link for the putt-putt course on their list of local golf courses. I'll ask at reception when we check in.

All of that means that I won't be blogging for the rest of this week but if all goes well I'll be back next Monday with more Foundations goodies to share.
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