Domino Thoughts

Curious Mitch has posted about the hotfix installer coming in HF19.  This is great news for everyone that has to maintain a Quickr server - well, good news if you run Quickr on Windows.  For those of you on other platforms, hopefully something will come out later.

Mitch's post has screenshots and a description of how it will work.  It looks pretty good to me, though anything would be an improvement over the current method! :)

Helping a customer install another Quickr Hotfix yesterday and he and I both were admiring the "ease" of installing these hotfixes.  The current hotfix has about 4 pages of tables that list the files in the hotfix, which hotfix they were introduced in, and where they go.  From that, the user is supposed to figure out which files they need based on their current hotfix level, aperture of the sun, relative humidity in Borneo, and other archaic means. Afterwards, prayers and sacrifices are necessary to be sure you didn't forget a file that will cause all h@#% to break loose on your server.  For example, quickplace.jar is apparently very important to have when running qptool commands - who knew! ;)

Well, evidently, that may be changing soon.  An automated installer for Quickr hotfixes is alleged to be on the horizon.  What form this will be, and how efficacious (big word!) it is remains to be seen, but it must be an improvement over the current method.

During my travels last week to and from a client I was able to note boot up times for two different Windows Mobile devices, and while I shouldn't be surprised, I am.

On my first flight out, we arrived at the gate and I stood up to collect my things and de-plane.  I noticed a woman in the row ahead of me waiting for her Windows Mobile device to boot up.  First a pretty Windows splash screen was there.  I noticed it for at least 20 seconds. Next was the carrier's splash screen for at least half a minute.  Why would someone suffer through this when other platforms start up quicker?

Flying home last week there was a gentleman with a similar device, so I observed the startup process again once we landed.  Once more, it took at least a minute for it to boot up to the main screen. Also, there's the question why they don't just disable the wireless while on the plane, maybe that's not an option? Or they just aren't aware?

I haven't restarted my Blackberry in a while, so I decided I'd power it off and on to see what happens.  It boots up to a usable state in less than 15 seconds, and has a signal in another 10-15 seconds.  I'm guessing the iPhone or other non-WinMobile devices are faster as well.

I guess if people are used to the slow boot of Windows PCs, they aren't surprised when a Windows Mobile device takes just as long.

Did I just get a "bad sample" or do you have other experiences starting up your device?  I'd be interested to hear other's experiences

I was working with a customer last week, helping them build out their Quickr entry sites using the XML creation tool I published a few weeks ago.  During the course of the call, he asked to show me something.  He proceeded to address an email to someone, and he got the ambiguous name dialog (he's using Notes 7) that matched the person's name and their Quickr entry site's mail-in database.  This puzzled me, because I didn't expect the entry sites to have a mail-in database since that isn't how they are expected to be used - upload a file via the connector and the web interface.  I suggested he delete the mail-in db entry to resolve the issue, since he really won't be needing it.

I couldn't duplicate the issue on my client, but I'm sure he's not the only one seeing this.  I guess the questions I have are:

• Why create the mail-in db? I know that's SOP when a place is created, but I can't think of a reason why the Entry places need it. At least, there should be an optional switch for the createentryplaces qptool command to create/not create a mail-in db entry.
• Have you seen this with any Entry places you've created?  What's your experience with this, and can you think of a reason to have this in an entry place?

PS - The client also gave me some ideas for refining the tool a little - look for an update soon.

Pardon the "rant" but this "product" just set me off...

Checking the blogosphere, I saw on Michael Sampson's Effective Collaboration daily report a mention of a Notes to Sharepoint "migrator" from a company called AvePoint. Michael points out that it doesn't deal with application logic.  Checking the press release the company put out, they consistently say the tool transfers content, and doesn't indicate, and is actually pretty careful in its wording, the fact that any application logic is not included.  So what do you get for your $?  Sounds like a export/import tool to me, that might copy over security information, but if you need to have that data used in an application....well, you'll just have to re-write it I guess.  S

Sounds like a financially wise idea in these economic times - or any economic times. Why do I see an image of the pied piper....?

Just saw this on CNN's website: http://tinyurl.com/5jwqd6

Really!!  Did anyone really have fun doing those tests growing up and want to re-live those moments in PE class? Apparently someone, though I know my kids now don't look forward to it, and it doesn't sound like the test has changed substantially since I was in school.  You probably remember it (if you went to school in the US after Kennedy was President) as the time when you had to do as many push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and climb a pole, and run a mile in PE class.  Then you were given points for how many, how fast, or if you could do it at all.

I can understand the desire to show how "fit" you are, but I'm guessing only the really athletic would actually take the test (or at least they'd be the only ones to admit they took it, and tell you their score!)  Sadly, there's no patch or other award for those that take it, just a way to go on-line and see how you've done against the other people that have taken it and been happy enough to submit their scores.

Perhaps it will be an optional event at Lotusphere?  Or maybe we should have an alternative "fitness" test that involves skills we all know exist in the community - how many 12-ounce curls, sit and squat in session rooms, how fast you can run from Swan 5-6 to the Dolphin banquet hall at lunch, how much weight you can carry during the exhibit hall event while holding a beverage.  Any other events you'd like to offer up?

In a tweet a couple of weeks ago, I mentioned that Chris W and I were testing out creating Quickr Entry places, and how much fun admins have creating XML. To create an entry place you use a qptool command that requires either individual user email addresses, or you can use an XML file to create places in batch mode.  Gee, seems like fun, manually creating and XML file that looks like (adapted from the Quickr InfoCenter):



There had to be an easier way, so I tweeted that I'd look into it. After all, laziness is the mother of invention. Well, last week when I was in Reno, instead of playing blackjack or craps, I set out to create a script to create the XML file. After a little trial and error, I've got two files, one to take all the entries in the Domino directory and pulls their email addresses into an XML file, and the other pulls selected entries in.  Import them into either your Domino directory if you want to run the either agent, and then you can run the agent.

The resulting XML file can then be uploaded to the Quickr server and used with the qptool command to create the places. Check out the Quickr InfoCenter article for the details.

Hope you find this useful!  I'm sure there's someone that will improve it, and if so, please post any updates here so we can all share.

GenerateXMLAll.lss
GenerateXMLSelected.lss

Once again, our local Great Strides walk for Cystic Fibrosis is fast approaching.  My son, Andrew, was diagnosed with CF when he was 4 and has been an extremely healthy CF patient.  Last October, he was hospitalized for the first time to have mucus blockage cleared from his sinuses. His surgeon estimated his blockage was 85%, and he was amazed he wasn't complaining more about sinus pain. He spent a week in the hospital getting a "CF tune-up" and had a PICC line inserted in his arm so he could have IV drugs three times a day for a few weeks once he got home.  There was plenty of Xbox playing during that month!

This annual event is the major fund raising event for the CF Foundation and the funds raised are used to help fund research towards finding a cure for CF. This year we are especially positive due to recent results from a phase 2 trial of a  compound that targets the basic defect that causes CF.  This drug was developed in partnership between the CF Foundation and Vertex Pharmaceutical.  Due to the relatively small size of the CF population (about 30K in the US), funds from other sources are difficult to come by, so the CF Foundation has taken the lead and been very creative in finding ways to get research done to find a cure.

The CF Foundation is an organization that makes the most of every dollar donated, more than 90 cents of each dollar goes to research. I invite you to make a donation using the link on the right side of my home page, of if you're reading via a feed, go here.  Thanks for every donation!

As my slightly cryptic tweets over the past week may have led you to believe, I've left my former employer for a new gig.  On Monday, I started with Lotus911 as a consultant for the "left coast".  I'm in Kennesaw, GA currently, at the "worldwide headquarters," spending the next couple of weeks getting to know everyone and getting settled in my new role.  And what is that new role?  I'm going to be the Lotus911 presence in the "southwest" and other parts, working with clients in the region as well as helping provide expanded support for the rest of the country when the office in Georgia closes.  

It's a great opportunity that I couldn't pass up, and I'm very excited to be here finally.  The last two weeks was a lot of head down time, trying to tie up loose ends and transferring as much of what I know about the former employer's Domino and eLearning infrastructure as I could. This week is getting into assisting customers and learning about the Lotus911 way of doing things. Been so busy, I didn't have time to blog about it until this morning.

Once I finish my stay here, I'll be working at the home office with clients remotely, and travelling to clients as needed.  So, if you're a Lotus customer in the "southwestern" US, or anywhere in the West, drop me a line if you need assistance.  And, as you might expect, clients in Hawaii looking for on-site help are always welcome! :-)

Muscle memory is interesting.  With the change to "Applications" from "databases", my fingers still try Alt+F+D+D to delete a database, but all that happens in the 8 client is the File menu stays open.  It'll take a while before the I get trained on Alt+F+A+D.