Search 10 Lotus community sites from one page.

Give it a try...

http://planetlotus.org/search.php?search=widget&sort=1

This idea actually came from a comment Peter Presnell posted on Nathan's blog. I would have left a comment saying how wonderful his idea was but I was gone coding this neat utility while it was fresh. Looking back at his suggestion. It would be great if high traffic, Lotus owned community sites would promote other non-Lotus community sites. Wouldn't that only serve to enhance end user self service, save money, elevate product knowledge and enhance brand loyalty?

Our community has too many downloads

Add to that widgets, session slides, example databases, third party products, whitepapers, your product, utilities, the files from your blog navigator... the list goes on. A couple weeks back I counted about 4 listed in blog posts over the course of a few days. Going back a little to the Notes 8.1 launch and the ensuing widget gold rush, I was amazed at how difficult it was to track things down downloads like Mikkel Heisterberg's twitnotes and the Turtle Partnership's widget database. This had me thinking... there has to be a better way.

It is with great joy that I announce planetlotus.org/downloads (beta), a community based catalog of any Lotus related download, period. It works in the spirit of download.com, shareware.com or tucows.com; it's a catalog of the downloads meta data. The posted URL will either directly kick off the download from a different site or bring you to a download landing page… like http://lekkimworld.com/twitnotes for more information.

To get started simply register for the forum (if you haven't already) and start adding. Your download will be given a specialized URL, (e.g., http://planetlotus.org/download/axceler-serveradmin-plus ). The URL works just like those on the planetlotus.org front page. They increment a click counter. There will be tag clouds, search, commenting, favorites, all in the works or completed.

Take a look! http://planetlotus.org/downloads

Please consider leaving any feedback on the forum (link below) so I can track and process it easier… http://planetlotus.org/forum/index.php/topic,70.0.html

To get started:

1. register for the forum: http://planetlotus.org/forum/
2. login to the Planet Lotus management area: http://planetlotus.org/manage/
3. click on manage downloads then *add.

* To start, make sure you only add downloads that are either yours or that you are a point person for. This will make management of the meta that much easier.

As a foot note, over the past 30 days the word download is the single most searched term on planetlotus.org… 148 times.

How I got started with Lotus Notes.

It all started as an intern at Massachusetts Port Authority. I was the assistant to the assistant of the Executive Director. I was at my desk doing my favorite task, cutting out Massport related articles from the local papers when the guy that's office was just past my desk asked me the one question that started it all. If you're looking for something to do we're trying to put together a spreadsheet based expense report; or something to that affect.

So there I was, automating a Lotus 123 v4 expense report. I was enamored by the macro recorder but the second I wrote my first @if statement my fait was sealed. I went on to transition to his team. It was a group of Process Re-Engineering consultants; all ex auditors from Ernst and Young (I believe) that came on full time to start up a Management Systems group.

One of our biggest projects was to audit and propose fixes for the lengthy contract approval process. At the time it took 105ish days to get 12 departments to sign off on a contract. We proposed they could do it in 5 days with a computer based approval system. I'm not sure who recommended the Lotus Notes; maybe my boss from back then will tap with comments. Either way they needed someone to maintain the application that a consulting company put together for us.

With the servers up and the application in place the flood gates opened. We had a three person team building every application we could think of. This was all around the version 3.3 time frame. Eventually upgrading to 4 meant more fun. I graduated Northeastern University in 96 and started full time. I worked there for a year fulltime before getting a job at Lotus.

The rest… 3 years of *internal Notes application work (remember the PPC database?) and 3 years of product development on the LearningSpace team at Lotus. (so 3 years in LDB, 2 in Rogers and 1 year in Westford). After that I started at my current employer Axceler (back then we were Percussion Software).

*I spent three years right clicking on these databases.

PS: A big Thanks to Chris, Randy, Cindy, Ron, David, Philis.... We made quite a team!

My most geeky chat ever… Nathan T Freeman-20080406.html

This IM started after I posted a comment on Nathan's "How I got started with Lotus Notes" post. Welcome to my inner geek. If you're interested in IM'ing with others in the community start here. Basically he said he was destine to be a Notes developer on the count of his NTF initials, where I commended "I knew I should of gone into fashion." count of my initials.... YSL. (Yves saint Laurent).

SnTT: IM YellowBleeders without Sametime.

Yes; I know it's Friday.

Here is how to configure Pidgin to 'Sametime' with the greater YellowBleeders community. More details on Pidgin here. The following is the instructions for Pidgin on Ubuntu. I will assume the same procedure will work for Windows.

1. In Pidgin click Accounts / Add/Edit. Once open click Add.

2. Add your account info

3. Click the Advance tab.

4. Add the im.bleedyellow.com server

5. Change the proxy type to No Proxy then Save.

6. Go back to the main dialog and click Accounts select the Sametime account and choose "Add Notes Address Book Group..." and add YellowBleeders

...and here you have it.

Ray Ozzie’s blog… from silent to empty.

I won't read too much into this. His last post was Sat, Apr 1st 2006.

http://rayozzie.spaces.live.com

Lotus 911’s Dirty Little Secret

Just about 100 of us are using their Sametime gateway at bleedyellow.com to have random, often personal conversations. The trouble is, all our ‘keystrokes' are going through their server. The beauty of Sametime is all of this can be logged… but it isn't. Guess how I know? Tim Tripcony said so! You may find that funny but if you've ever read his posts on politics, government, etc. you'd understand why that's all I need to know.

But for some of us in the community this isn't enough, so the Lotus 911 bleed yellow team caucused and went into quick action. They've setup an advisory committee to peer audit their server configuration. Issue settled.

IM bleeding yellowr.

My head is spinning from all the excitement in the Lotus air. The short lived post Lotusphere lull came to an abrupt end with the release of ND 8.0.1. and then Notes Widgets everywhere. Caucuses formed, catalogs were built and the masses started contributing at break neck speed.

Now Sametime is pop'n. Not due to a specific release or even an announcement, rather a clever re-announcement that drops names. And yes, the bleedyellow.com podcast also helped! The lowdown; Bleedyellow.com is hosting a Sametime server that is open to all that register and connecting to it couldn't be easier.

Adam Gartenberg: How to add a new community to your Lotus Sametime client

So if you're looking to IM via Sametime with the greater lotus community do check it out!

Nice work Lotus 911!!