• Follow via:
  • RSS

IBM

Natalie Gagliordi

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

Latest Posts

Greyhawk just moved and upgraded a Domino server in a few hours

Greyhawk just moved and upgraded a Domino server in a few hours

John Roling writes up his experience movinga Domino 6.5.4 on Windows 2000 to a Domino 7 server on Windows 2003,in a total time of three hours.  So in the courseof 3 hours, I moved an entire Notes server from one hardware platform andone OS to another piece of hardware and a newer OS. I then upgraded theNotes server to version 7. The only reason it took 3 hours was becausethe 60 GB transfer of the data directory took two hours  :)Try that with Exchange. I dare you.Thisis one of the beauties of portable code.  An NSF is an NSF is an NSF. Very straightforward, and removes a lot of the administrative burdenof upgrading hardware.  I'm not an expert, but from what I've read,I think John's dare is on solid ground.  Time trials, anyone? :)

December 2, 2005 by in Servers

Who remembers "project purple"?

Who remembers "project purple"?

Ben Rose and I were discussing plans andtiming for a meeting of the UKNotes User Group.  He suggestedthe meeting be after Lotusphere: Ed (9:01:09 AM): when is the first physical meeting?Ben  (9:01:27 AM): i'm going to make it new year, post LotusphereBen (9:01:38 AM): hoping to get someone who attends to bring info backBen (9:01:42 AM): no point doing it before Ed (9:01:55 AM): sure Ben (9:01:57 AM): as any major strategy stuff will no doubt come out thenEd (9:02:01 AM): right Ed (9:02:13 AM): certainly the project purple announcement will be interestingBen (9:02:25 AM): don't tease me Of course, there is no "project purple" announcement at Lotusphere. But "project purple" does have some meaning in Lotus lore. Anyone know?

December 2, 2005 by in Tech Industry

InfoWorld: Startup aims to simplify x64 Exchange upgrades

InfoWorld: Startup aims to simplify x64 Exchange upgrades

InfoWorld writes about Azaleos and theirvalue-add plans around the Exchange 12 upgrade plan.  The quotes arefrom Keith McCall, who worked on the Exchange team at Microsoft as wellas with the Domino "Dot" products (.Action, .Merchant) back inthe day at Lotus::Microsoft's plan for Exchange 12 torun only on 64-bit hardware will pose a problem for customers, McCall said.It will force them to incur costs of upgrading the 32-bit hardware on whichtheir current versions of Exchange run to x64 hardware, he said. "It's actually going to introducea huge challenge for customers who have adopted the Exchange platform,"McCall said. "Many of them have already incurred the cost of the hardware.With this new version of Exchange, Microsoft has introduced a discontinuitythat is not only software- but hardware-based as well." Oneother quote I found interesting in the article isMicrosoftexecutives said that research has shown that approximately 75 percent oforganizations deploy new hardware along with the rollout of a new, majorupgrade of Exchange Server, so it will be a normal procedure for them topurchase x64 hardware systems for Exchange 12. Seemslike quite a different pattern from Lotus Domino customers.Link: InfoWorld:Startup aims to simplify x64 Exchange upgrades>And to round out this topic, a MicrosoftFrance blogger comments (en français)about the Exchange 12/64-bit announcement, and criticizes my bias in criticizingthe announcement (follow that?).  His readers are smart, though, andone complains about having to do an upgrade "faire plaisir à mon fournisseur"-- roughly translated, to keep your vendor happy.

December 2, 2005 by in Microsoft

I can´t install my own product

I can´t install my own product

I said to myself, I'm not going to do it. The Mac is a "home" computer, and I don't want to "work"from it.  I want to do the fun stuff, like this:But after a couple of days of fun, Ithought it might be useful to be able to blog from the new iMac.  So,I did what you would do -- I surfed over to the downloadson IBM developerWorks:Lotus anddownloaded the trial of Lotus Notes 6.5 for Mac.  Easy enough.Problems cropped up immediately.  Thedownload comes down in .HQX format -- requiring Stuffitto unpack (which is not installed by default -- I learned that like thePC, .ZIP is the standard compression format for Mac users now).  Stuffithas a brain-dead installer, too, and requires a Mac reboot for proper operation(strange, I thought this was a Mac!); I tried to unpack the .HQX severaltimes before learning this.  After reboot, things weren't much better-- the HQX unpacked partially, then asked for a "decryption passphrase". What the heck?I tried both the 6.0.x and 6.5.x versionsof the Notes Mac trial -- neither would unpack.  Thus, I'm bloggingback on my Thinkpad right now.  I've installed other programs thismorning -- Firefox and Skpe were both relatively painless.  And mosteverything about the Mac has been easy so far.  Just not my own product. And yes, I know, once I get it installed, I get to deal with fontissues and all the rest.  Guys and gals, Macheads of the world,I feel your pain, no need to pile on.  In the meantime, can you tellme the secret handshake to install my own product?

November 26, 2005 by in Apple

Sort Notes mail by last name?

Sort Notes mail by last name?

Happy Thanksgiving!  Loads to be thankfulfor this year.  Take a short break from blogging about the new iMacand get back to Notes.Overnight, I received two e-mails withend-user questions/comments/observations about Lotus Notes.  We'lltake the first one now, which came from an end-user at a Large AutomotiveCompany.  She asks, "Is there a way to sort my Notes mail bylast name?"It's been a while since I was askedthis question.  It has been so long since I set up a brand-new Notesenvironment, I've forgotten what sorting configurations exist in the DominoDirectory, and whether end-users can view things differently.  Rememberthat this is an end-user question, so opening the mail template in DominoDesigner won't be an option.  Still, I'm sure it's not a unique questionand that some of you have addressed it before.  Any thoughts?  I'mnot sure yet what version of Notes is being used...does that matter? (It'sat least R5, but I think may now be 6.x).

November 26, 2005 by in Tech Industry

40,000 applications can´t be wrong

40,000 applications can´t be wrong

A recent case study on ibm.com just crossedmy desk...The environment is so valuable that today DaimlerChryslerdeploys 40,000 Lotus Notes and Domino applications spread over nearly everyaspect of its operations. These range from standardized applications suchas group discussion databases and document libraries to custom-developedapplications covering complex business processes such as change management,quality control and technical specifications. For competitive reasons, DaimlerChrysler generally refrains from discussingspecific processes and return on investment figures, but executives reportthat many of the applications are "intensively used and a huge success."40,000users -- 40,000 applications.  The ROI of being able to deploy oneproduct to tackle messaging, sharing, and workflow is clearly how DaimlerChryslerbenefits from Notes/Domino today. Link: ibm.com:A standardized, global system for communication and collaboration helpsDaimlerChrysler compete >

November 23, 2005 by in Developer

eWeek: IBM GM: Lotus Seeks to Advance Productivity

eWeek: IBM GM: Lotus Seeks to Advance Productivity

A very wide-ranging interview with MikeRhodin.  He discusses his vision for the future of productivity andcollaboration, the "Hannover" Notes release and its architecture,market share, and innovation.  Sample quote:Oneof the dangers we all recognize is the e-mail mentality where you livein your in-box. There is more to life than e-mail, and what we've beenstudying for the last couple years in research is focusing in on how peoplework in organizations, how do they work, what do they work on, how do theyorganize their work, and we think this activity-centric model really startsto capture how people do work in organizations and starts to introducenew tools and organizing principles in the UI that allows people to workmore naturally around what they actually do. In-boxes, by nature, tend to be last-in, first-out, so if you get floodedwith e-mail, something important may be on page two or page three, butyou tend to see what's on page one. I tend to work in a more project-orientedway, so being able to organize things around project or activity seemslike a more natural way to me to drive value out of the organization. But we want to make sure the user experience is flexible to support whatevermode people want to work in ... whether IM is their primary communicationvehicle or whether e-mail is their primary vehicle. Readthe whole interview...very good stuff. Link: eWeek:IBM GM: Lotus Seeks to Advance Productivity > (thanks for finding thisfirst, Duffbert)

November 23, 2005 by in IBM

AOL AIM Triton

AOL AIM Triton

Looks like AOL has launched its newAOL Instant Messenger client , "Triton",at least in the US.  Intriguing that they're using an "I AM"theme for their launch messages -- hasn't that been done before?  Notjust by Lotus?Looking under the covers....new catch-upfeatures include easier audio/video chat and file transfer; tabbed IM UI,and chat history.  The UI is cleaner and seems straightforward, thoughwhy AOL felt like they had to mess with the visuals of the existing emoticons,I don't know.  The new emoticons are ugly.  The whole UI feelsa lot slower, too.As is typical with AOL IM, a bunch ofnew crap was installed along with the AIM upgrade.  The main one isa slow browser shell called AOL Explorer.  I always love spendingten minutes undoing this stuff.AOL is more heavily promoting AIM Mailas a free mail service for AIM users.  The marketing stuff emphasizesthat this mail service has an "unsend" feature.  What theydon't say -- it only works with other AIM Mail users.  Not real useful.Overall a worthwhile upgrade for a fewof the key features, but not a "wow".  I'm sure I'll getasked somewhere in here why I don't use Trillian or whatever.  Honestly,I'm content to have AOL IM be my only public IM service.  I'm allergicto MSN, and while I've been using Skype more, its IM features are weakerthan the others.  I guess it's simply that I'm focusing on one tooland don't need the distraction of others.

November 23, 2005 by in Social Enterprise