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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