Natalie Gagliordi

Until 2021, Natalie Gagliordi was a senior writer for Red Ventures based in Louisville, Kentucky, covering business technology for ZDNET.

Latest Posts

"Hannover" at Admin2006 and DNUG

"Hannover" at Admin2006 and DNUG

TheView's Admin2006 is a littleover a month away, and I'm way behind in getting my presentation done. The session is called, "Lotus Notes 'Hannover' -- What It MeansTo You".  Given the weight of the topic, there's a need for theright focus make sure the presentation hits the mark.The great news is that I've recruited Mary Beth Raven, one of the leadUI gurus on the "Hannover" project, to co-present the sessionat Admin2006.  Mary Beth will be doing a session at the DNUG/IBMLotus Technical Forum on "Hannover"UI improvements... the Admin2006 session will contain a subset of thatpresentation.  In both cases, attendees will get to see the latestlive Notes "Hannover" code, and talk directly with the womanwho is on a personal mission to make "Hannover" the best collaborationclient in the industry. The Notes "Hannover" team has an incredible focus on user interface.Hope you'll be at these sessions to see, hear, and discuss the latest andgreatest in the plan for the next release of Notes.

April 6, 2006 by in Enterprise Software

eWeek Biz Bytes: The Absurd Crackdown on Free Internet Services

eWeek Biz Bytes: The Absurd Crackdown on Free Internet Services

Dan Briody comments on an article in theWall Street Journal discussing companies which ban public communicationservices:I'm not going to argue that these technologiesare often used for personal reasons. They are. But so are phones, and e-mail,and water coolers, and bathrooms. And they do come in handy. Instant messagingis a far quicker way to communicate than e-mail. Personal Web e-mail accountsare great backups for corporate server outages. And any company that'snot looking hard at switching their entire telecommunications system overto the IP network is already behind the game. Bandwidth concerns? Please.Within 10 years every piece of business communication will be running throughthe IP network.Now what's the technology direction forbathrooms and water coolers? On the other hand, perhaps the reason some of the companies mentioned havelocked up public communication services is that they have business-qualityproducts deployed or in plan, and are going to use enterprise connectionslike those in the new Sametime 7.5 to manage the connectivity for theirenterprise. Still, I think open and available is the way to go.  I really appreciatethat IBM acknowledges that some personal use of corporate resources isbound to happen, and not to make us punch codes into the copier/FAX touse it, not to block eddiebauer.com, and not to turn off ports for AOL/Skypeetc. Link: eWeekBiz Bytes: The Absurd Crackdown on Free Internet Services> (Thanks, boss)

April 5, 2006 by in Enterprise Software

New York Times: I.M. Generation Is Changing the Way Business Talks

New York Times: I.M. Generation Is Changing the Way Business Talks

As I've been saying, voicemail is dead. Sun's Tim Bray even says internal e-mail is dead (I don't agree atall -- not in a global company where people are asychronously available...doesTim not sleep?).  Still, instant messaging is taking over.Nowa generation of office workers who grew up with instant messaging has gainedcontrol. They have made I.M. the new black, the latest trend in informationtechnology. Along the way, they have changed how the corporate world conversesand have built a series of new communication applications. Hmm,I thought Yellow was the new black...The article includes coverage of LotusSametime customers such as Intellicare:"One of ournurses answers the phone when you call your doctor in the middle of thenight, and 97 percent of our nurses work from home," said Jeff Forbes,chief information officer. "The nurse can fire off an I.M. to an expertand get a response back without having to interrupt your call." Inconclusion, the Times says it, too:[C]orporations arebuilding new applications on top of instant messaging, taking advantageof the fact that private I.M. networks are insulated from the outside world.The process is reminiscent of when corporate intranets were first built,in the mid-1990's. These private areas on the Web were created as applicationson top of the Web protocols. All of which means the end could benear for business voice mail, as more and more companies adopt instantmessaging.I'm coming thisclose to changing my IBM voicemailgreeting to say "don't bother leaving me a message here, I only checkit once a week.  Need me?  E-mail, IM, or call my mobile."Link: NewYork Times: I.M. Generation Is Changing the Way Business Talks>

April 5, 2006 by in Social Enterprise

Eighty-five percent

Eighty-five percent

Despite globalization, there are alwayslocally produced specialties to check out during my travels.  Unsurprisingly,one of my purchases last week while in Zürich was an assortment of Swisschocolate, purchased in the basement market of the Globus department store. One of the things that intrigued me was the dazzling array of cocoaintensity available.  I do like dark chocolate and thus, defaultingto the childhood notion that a bigger number is better, bought a barof the Lindt Excellence 85% cacao chocolate. Though that link is to Lindt USA, I've never seen the 85% versionhere.The verdict?  Sometimes you canhave too much of a good thing.  It's like eating raw cocoa powder. The 70%version was much better.A few weeks prior, one of my main purchasescoming out of the Nordic countries was several packages of local smokedsalmon.  One of my favorite bring-backs from Europe.I'm going to Asia in two weeks, andthe last stop is Kuala Lumpur.  While I'm always on the lookout fordecorative Asiana, I know my last stop there will be the famous night market.

April 5, 2006 by in Tech Industry

Congratulations and welcome, Steve Castledine

Congratulations and welcome, Steve Castledine

Congratulations and welcome to SteveCastledine, the newest member of the Lotus development organisation! I've known Steve for the last three years, ever since he launchedhis Dominoblogtemplate, which I've used for edbrill.com since Steve first shipped.  He'sa passionate and skilled developer, and I'm pleased to have his talentson our team. In the coming weeks, it will be interesting to watch how Steve and histemplate are integrated into upcoming Notes/Domino work.  I'm surehe has some bright ideas for the future. There's something else interesting about Steve joining the Notes/Dominoteam.  Steve's resume/CV is obvious to anyone looking at the proliferationof Dominoblog sites.  Here we have quality work being leveraged throughoutthe community (whether published on someone's own site or somplace likeOpenNTF.org),which leads to someone being hired on for future Notes work (and not justby IBM!).  I know it's not a new concept to say that one's onlinepresence is part of their resume/CV, but for many people in the Notes/Dominocommunity, their work speaks for itself.  I recently offered to bea reference for someone whose "professional" work I've neverseen, simply because their community work has been outstanding. I wasn't really involved in the process that lead to Steve's good news,but I am very pleased with the outcome.  The Notes/Domino developmentteam has hundreds of incredibly skilled and innovative professionals...andnow has one more.  Oh and Steve -- keep blogging.  I think thecommunity will be quite interested to see how your new role plays out inthe months ahead.

April 3, 2006 by in Developer

Ferris Research: Exchange Reliability and Its Impact on Organizations

Ferris Research: Exchange Reliability and Its Impact on Organizations

Disclaimer -- I haven't read the reportI'm linking to here, yet...but from the contents and quotes posted on Ferris'swebsite, it sounds like a good one:"Exchange administrators feel burdenedby the daily and weekly tasks required to build and maintain a highly reliableExchange solution. Better tools will reduce this burden." "KeyTrends and Observations     Exchange Requires Constant Attention     It's Very Difficult to Diagnose Exchange Problems     Monitoring the Environment Helps Alleviate Downtime     Full Redundancy Is Not Built Into Exchange"andmy favorite, "Why is technology for fully redundant systems stillnot available?"  Sure it is -- it's called Lotus Notes/Domino.Link: FerrisResearch: Exchange Reliability and Its Impact on Organizations> (Subscriber access only; via Ferrisweblog)

April 3, 2006 by in Microsoft

Availablogging

Availablogging

Last week, when once of my customer meetingsfor this trip fell through, I bloggedabout having a free day in Europein an effort to maximize this trip.  Now as I rush back home, I thinkthis "availablogging" was a good idea and something I need todo more often. As a result of the blog entry, meeting offers to utilize my Wednesday camein from Denmark, Sweden, the Netherlands, France, Germany, and Switzerland. Some came from customers, some came from partners, and interestingly,some came from IBMers.  I say "interestingly" because Ihad also communicated this one-day availability through "normal channels"to my Lotus colleagues, but I reached as many IBMers through the blog asI did through the normal routine.  The "normal channel"offers came from Spain, France, and Romania.  All in all, there'sa lot going on with Notes in Europe -- some new opportunities, some defense,and some happy customers upgrading along. So, to those I couldn't get to this time -- I'm going to be back in Europein six weeks for the DNUG/IBMLotus Technical Forum, myfourth European trip so far this year.  I know a  number of customerswill be at the event itself, but I'm also going to try to work in an extraday or two for other visits.  And if things can't wait six weeks,there are other top-notch IBMers available in-region to assist.  Ihope I've referred all of the availablogging requests to one of the regionalNotes business or technical leaders -- if something was missed, pleaselet me know. As for the rest of the trip, one more meeting fell through, but at thatpoint it was too late to use the time for anything other than a quick tripinto central Zürich (and, of course, some Notes/e-mail time).  Yesterdayafternoon's customer meeting, booked months ago as part of this customer's"IT Week", was intense and also a bit fun.  In no smallpart this was due to my place on the customer's agenda...the last of almosta dozen vendor presentations throughout their week.  I had to makea relatively quick escape when it was finished, though...the annual watchshow in Basel had all the hotels in northern Switzerland booked up forthe night.  I ended up flying back via Düsseldorf, aboard my favoriteEurope-Chicago flight, Lufthansa'sPrivatAir all-business-class service.This is my third occasion to use this awesome flight, and this week's bonusis an early arrival.  With Europe already on summer time, the eight-hourdifference means that a 9 AM departure lands in Chicago at 10:30 AM localtime.  Next availablogging -- well, I'm trying to stay home for a few weeks, butthen it's off to Lotusphere Comes to You and other events in Manila (20April), Singapore (21 April), and Kuala Lumpur (24-25 April).  It'sbeen about two years since my last regional visit, so the local IBM teamshave me pretty booked up.  I believe there's some effort to try todo user group meetings as part of the LCTY events in Singapore and K-L,so if you are interested in that, please let me know.

April 3, 2006 by in CXO

The absolute last word on Microsoft Application Analyzer for Lotus Domino 2006

The absolute last word on Microsoft Application Analyzer for Lotus Domino 2006

For ten weeks now, we've covered the sagaof the new Microsoft Application Analyzer for Lotus Notes Domino 2006. People like PaulMooney and DavidDeWell have dissected thetool's logic and found that it does very little in terms of analyzing Notesapps...and is subjectto manipulation.  Lastweek, we also learned that the ApplicationAnalyzer interrogates a little-used Notes property to determine applicationactivity levels ... and doesn'terror out when that property is unavailable!  Instead, it just assumesthe application is unused.  Nice. While Microsoft has, througha weblog (be sure to read the comments),acknowledged some of the challenges with this tool, despite all the problems,Microsoft is still shipping it.  They are even planning a series ofseminars to "train"business partners on using the Application Analyzer starting nextmonth. TomDuff eloquently summarizes the problem here: ethics.If the tool has little functional value, reports bad data, and is easilymanipulated, why is it even in market?  We know the answer to this-- it doesn't matter to Microsoft.  They have a conversation starter,and a piece of marketware that just by its existence, creates the impressionthat the scope of a Notes migration is simpler than in reality.  Incustomers who have gone down this path, they have spent more time, money,and effort than anticipated to try to migrate their apps -- in most cases,realizing that after all, the Notesplatform provides unique value and shouldn't be migrated. Usually, this is determined too late -- mail is already migrated,andas was seen at one example, hundreds of dollars per-user spent for no quantifiablereturn on investment.(Gee, with all the links in this entry, I suppose we should create a wikion this topic).  Anyway. After reading Duff'swriteup on this, I reacheda decision. As of now, I'm done writing about the MicrosoftApplication Analyzer for Lotus Domino 2006. It is so beyond worthless and unethical that it just isn't worthanymore of my time and attention.  Enough with this "bull".

March 30, 2006 by in Developer

Bad hair day?  Who cares...

Bad hair day? Who cares...

Talk about an eye-opening customer meeting...This morning, friends from T-SystemsSchweiz retreived me fromZürich airport for a couple of customer meetings.  Normally, I don'tmention customers I meet with by name, but this one seems quite up forthe fame.  It was with a company called Triumph -- manufacturers ofhigh-quality undergarments. It was a really good meeting, discussing plans and opportunities for upgradingto Notes/Domino 7.  But I say it was a real eye-opener because oftheir business.  From the reception area to the meeting room, we walkedpast dozens of posters advertising Triumph'sextensive product line (linkmay not be considered "safe for work" in certain environments).I think it's reasonable to admit on-the-record that I took some of thecustomer's product collateral with me after our visit, including a "BadHair Day" post card (again,possibly not safe for work).  Please note -- she was not inthe meeting. :-)

March 30, 2006 by in Tech Industry

Washingtonpost.com: IBM Makes A Play for Microsoft´s Customers

Washingtonpost.com: IBM Makes A Play for Microsoft´s Customers

Interesting to see this is in the mainstreammedia even before the press release is posted on ibm.com...InternationalBusiness Machines Corp. said it will roll out an aggressive strategy todayto lure business customers away from rival Microsoft Corp., offering bountiesof up to $20,000 to sales partners who can persuade companies to make theswitch. ...The plan seeks to use IBM's 100 [sic- should be "hundreds of"] business partners who work with companies'IT divisions as its de facto sales force. IBM will reward each businesspartner $20 per individual e-mail account, up to $20,000, for every companythat stops using Microsoft's Exchange server and Outlook e-mail systemand begins using IBM's Linux-based Lotus Notes e-mail system and Dominoserver system.The gloves are off....Link (free registration required): Washingtonpost.com:IBM makes a play for Microsoft's customers>(And watch for more coverage elsewheretoday)

March 30, 2006 by in IBM

Staying within policy

Staying within policy

I met with a group of Lotus customers yesterdayin Kansas City.  One surprise to me was the answer to one of my usualquestions -- how many of you are using policies to manage your Domino environment? The answer -- none. Policesin Notes/Domino 6.x were a good first step. The problem, though, is that they weren't lockable -- users could,essentially, override policy settings pushed down to their Notes client. In Notes/Domino 7, policies are substantially improved.  First,more user settings are configurable by policy, and second, they can belocked down to prevent user modification. In today's Show-and-Tell Thursday, my colleague Kathleen McGivney covershowto modify user settings such as location documents, preferences, and notes.inisettings via customized settings documents. With all the improvements in policies in ND7, hopefully tips suchas Kathleen's will help you make the best use of this TCO-reducing featurein your environment.

March 27, 2006 by in Innovation