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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