Andrew Pollack's Blog

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  1. 01/26/2023Better Running VirtualBox or VMWARE Virtual Machines on Windows 10+ Forgive me, Reader, for I have sinned. I has been nearly 3 years since my last blog entry. The truth is, I haven't had much to say that was worthy of more than a basic social media post -- until today. For my current work, I was assigned a new laptop. It's a real powerhouse machine with 14 processor cores and 64 gigs of ram. It should be perfect for running my development environment in a virtual machine, but it wasn't. VirtualBox was barely starting, and no matter how many features I turned off, it could ......
  2. 04/04/2020How many Ventilators for the price of those tanks the Pentagon didn't even want?This goes WAY beyond Trump or Obama. This is decades of poor planning and poor use of funds. Certainly it should have been addressed in the Trump, Obama, Bush, Clinton, Bush, and Reagan administrations -- all of which were well aware of the implications of a pandemic. I want a military prepared to help us, not just hurt other people. As an American I expect that with the ridiculous funding of our military might, we are prepared for damn near everything. Not just killing people and breaking things, but ......
  3. 01/28/2020Copyright Troll WarningThere's a copyright troll firm that has automated reverse-image searches and goes around looking for any posted images that they can make a quick copyright claim on. This is not quite a scam because it's technically legal, but it's run very much like a scam. This company works with a few "clients" that have vast repositories of copyrighted images. The trolls do a reverse web search on those images looking for hits. When they find one on a site that looks like someone they can scare, they work it like ......
  4. 03/26/2019Undestanding how OAUTH scopes will bring the concept of APPS to your Domino serverWhile a full description of OATH is way beyond what I can do in this quick blog entry, I wanted to talk a bit about how "SCOPES" interact with the already rich authorization model used by Domino. Thanks to the fantastic work by John Curtis and his team, the node.js integration with Domino is going to be getting a rich security model. What we know is that a user's authorizations will be respected through the node.js application to the Domino server -- including reader names, ACLs, Roles, and so on. The way ......
  5. 02/05/2019Toro Yard Equipment - Not really a premium brand as far as I am concernedDear Toro Customer Service, I arm writing about the following machine: Toro Power Max 1120 OXEModel:38654S/N:31000#### Specifically, bearing part #:63-3450 This is the part ($15 online / $25 at the local dealer) that caused me to raise my objections on-line. This piece of garbage is supposed to be a bearing. It carries the shaft which drives both stages of the auger. The shaft passes through the bearing (which is what bearings do) after the auger drive pulley as the shaft goes through the back (engine ......
  6. 10/08/2018Will you be at the NYC Launch Event for HCL Domino v10 -- Find me!Come find me in NYC on Wednesday at the Launch Event if you're there. I really do want to talk to ......
  7. 09/04/2018With two big projects on hold, I suddenly find myself very available for new short and long term projects. In twenty five years, I don't think I've ever written an entry like this, but if you need the kind of work I do now would be a great time to get in touch. Both of the big projects I had lined up for late summer and early fall have been placed on hold and will be that way for a while. With the kids now all off at college and careers, I'm open to more travel than such than I have been in decades, but unless something else comes along, I'll be here working on updates to Second Signal and other things that ......
  8. 07/13/2018Who is HCL and why is it a good thing that they are now the ones behind Notes and Domino?We need to address some biases here. IBM has made a deal under which the Notes & Domino software and intellectual property is now being developed and maintained by HCL America. HCL America is part of the very large "HCL Technologies" company that has grown from its roots in India to become an 8 Billion Dollar company with a global presence in the IT Industry. You could be excused for initially believing, as many people do when they hear this, that "they've outsourced the code to India where they'll milk it ......
  9. 03/21/2018Domino Apps on IOS is a Game Changer. Quit holding back.BOOM. This will be as important for the platform as Traveler. If your company has ditched Notes and Domino, I feel sorry for you. For companies that do use Notes/Domino this is a game changer and Apple should be paying attention. Here's why: There are hundreds of little Notes client applications you'd never spend the time and money to build and deploy for your internal user base on IOS that we use Notes for all the time (those of us still using it). Now, those are suddenly ALL available on the iPad. ......
  10. 02/15/2018Andrew’s Proposed Gun LawsThese are my current thoughts on gun laws that would radically change the culture and safety of gun ownership in the United States without removing the rights of gun owners or compromising their privacy rights. * Please feel free to link to, or just copy, these ideas. It would be wonderful to see them spread widely and eventually become the basis for something to rally around and become legislation. Update: 3/3/2018 I added #7, increasing the age to purchase. Update: 4/27/2018 Please be aware that I am not ......
  11. 05/05/2016Is the growing social-sourced economy the modern back door into socialism?Is the growing social-sourced economy the modern back door into socialism? I read a really insightful post a couple of days ago that suggested the use of social network funding sites like “Go Fund Me” and “Kickstarter” have come about and gained popularity in part because the existing economy in no longer serving its purpose for anyone who isn’t already wealthy. Have the traditional ways to get new ventures funded become closed to all but a few who aren’t already connected to them and so onerous as to make ......
  12. 04/20/2016Want to be whitelisted? Here are some sensible rules for web site advertisingAn increasing number of websites are now detecting when users have ad-blocking enabled, and refuse to show content unless you "whitelist" their site (disable your ad-blocking for them). I think that is a fair decision on their part, it's how they pay for the site. However, if you want me (and many others) to white list your site, there are some rules you should follow. If you violate these rules, I won't whitelist your site, I'll just find content elsewhere. 1. The total space taken up by advertisements ......
  13. 12/30/2015Fantastic new series on Syfy called “The Expanse” – for people who love traditional science fiction[] “The Expanse” is a new science fiction series being broadcast onthe Syfy channelthis winter. It’s closely based on a series of books by author James S. A. Corey beginning with “Leviathan Wakes”. There are 5 books in the “Expanse” series so far. If you’re a fan of the novels you’ll appreciate how closely the books are followed.TIP: The first five episodes are already available on Syfy.com. If you’re having trouble getting into the characters and plot, use those to get up to speed.The worlds created for ......
  14. 10/20/2015My suggestion is to stay away from PayAnywhere(dot)com Here’s a cautionary story, with my personal suggestion that you stay away from any service offered by “PayAnywhere.com” or “North American Bankcard” or “PhoneSwipe.com”. I’m documenting this, as I told them I would, so that when other people search for information about them, they can be a bit more informed. This is my story of interacting them. I’m sure other people have had other experiences. Over the summer, I decided to drop my previous credit card processing service and try a company called ......
  15. 08/07/2015Here is one for you VMWARE gurus - particularly if you run ESXi without fancy drive arraysI think I may have just found the source of some real bottlenecks in my virtual environment. VMWARE is this incredibly powerful platform, and the ESXi version lets even a SOHO environment run multiple virtual machines, housing a whole environment in a single big box. I absolutely love it, and support several virtual environments using it in a few places. There are, however, some confusing settings that aren't easily understood or documented. When you're dealing with inexpensive gear, the issues are even ......
  16. 08/06/2015The Killer of Orphans (Orphan Documents)Those damn orphans are harder to kill than you think. Maybe you'll spot the error faster than I did -- or maybe this will help you. I have a customer with a help desk application created in the mid 1990s. It started causing major issues so I looked into it and found it had grown to over 20gb in size. A check of the database properties showed a whopping 453,355 documents, and of course, many of those have screen shots. When I spoke to the client, she swore she'd deleted everything older than 1/1/2015 and ......
  17. 06/02/2015Homeopathic Marketing: Traveler on my Android is now calling itself VERSE. Allow me to translate that for the IBM Notes community...I noticed today that my Traveler applications on Android have started calling themselves "IBM Verse" (e.g. "IBM VERSE - 2 New Messages"). I was confused at first, because I hadn't connected my test account on the IBM Verse cloud offering to my primary email at all. It turns out that no such connection exists. It's just a name change. Allow me to translate: Someone, or some group, fairly highly placed within the IBM adminisphere has finally come to the realization that the IBM Verse cloud offering (what we ......
  18. 03/17/2015A review of British Airways Premium Economy Service – How to destroy customer goodwill all at onceUpdated 3/24/2015 : Update in this color at the endMaybe an airline marketing person will read this and finally realize why business travelers increasingly hate them all. I'm sure both of my regular readers will be sympathic, though I'm also quite certain my little story will have no effect on British Airways whatsoever. It is sufficient to me that I can vent into the vast internet and allow this to live forever in the annals of the search engines. In the past I have recommended to my friends traveling to ......
  19. 02/26/2015There's a bug in how @TextToTime() and @ToTime() process date strings related to international standards and browser settings.That's a long title, but it's the most simple way I could come up with in one sentence to explain the issue. Here's what happens, why I ran into it, how to reproduce it, and a work-around. Background I am responsible for a web application in Domino, in which I use a non-Domino "Date - Picker" control. The result of that control is a text string representing the date, which I need to turn into an actual date-time value at save time. Complicating this, is that different standards exist for representing ......
  20. 01/21/2015Delivering two new presentations at Developer Camp (EntwicklerCamp) 2015 in GermanySo the mini-sized, final year, run out the contract version of Lotusphere (aka Connect, aka ConnectED) is next week -- but I won't be speaking there. To see these brand new presentations you'll have to come see me in Germany at the beginning of March. [Developer Camp 2015 (EntwicklerCamp'15)] Interfacing Domino with Amazon Web Services and other external services If you're serious about Domino as a web platform, you're going to have to get used to interfacing with other services and systems whether they ......
  21. 01/18/2015A brilliant concept -- Compulsive Narrative SyndromeI first came across this brilliant concept in Joel Shepherd’s "23 Years on Fire", the fourth novel in his Cassandra Kresnov series. The series started out a little juvenile but has gotten steadily more serious as the depth and age of the characters has increased. Here is Shepherd's characters explaining CNS -- tell me this doesn't ring a bell in modern politics. “The human brain is trained to look for and identify patterns, but in abstract concepts, fixed and unarguable facts are hard to find. So the brain ......
  22. 01/16/2015Come talk to me at Connect in Orlando - I'll be there part of the time.It looks like unless things go pear shaped in the next few days, I'll be able to get down to Orlando for the beginning of the Connect conference. I'm currently planning to be there from Friday evening until Tuesday morning or early afternoon. I don't plan on buying a ticket and going sessions but I will likely lurk around the usual places (e.g. the Dolphin rotunda area, or if it's nice out the various sunshine spots) a good part of that time. If you want to make a specific effort to meet (or if you need ......
  23. 12/04/2014Looking for a few people who want to beta test my new SSL Certificate Request tool.I plan to open source this tool once I've done just a little more testing with other people. Drop me an email if you're interested. I'm looking for around 5 people who have the time, know how to deal with SSL stuff already, and already have the Notes 9.x admin client on their machines. The idea behind open sourcing for me, is that I've created the functional tool, and there's a lot of room for making it nicer looking and adding other kinds of functionality. For example, this tool allows you to create and ......
  24. 12/01/2014Well, it's official. IBM ConnectedED does not feel my contribution is worth the session time.I know I'm in good company, and I don't deserve a session slot any more than anyone else -- but I'd be lying if I didn't admit to being a bit frustrated and disappointed. For now, I'll hold my tongue about the decision process,wish the best of luck to those who will be speaking,hope the people attending find the content helpful,and say that if you want the content I've been deliveringyou'll have to come to some of the user groups or to Rudi's"Admin / Developer Camp" ......
  25. 12/01/2014First look at a new free Domino SSL certificate tool I've coded something that I plan to release to the community if there is enough interest. It's designed to make the process of getting SHA2 certificates a little easier. I've had to request a fair number of these recently and the command line stuff is tedious and it's easy to make mistakes or misplace the various files. This tool uses the same steps as the process IBM documents and the same tools. You still have to install openSSL and the kyrtool update on your 9.x Admin client machine. The tool checks to ......
  26. 11/10/2014Simplified explanation and steps for upgrading to SHA-2 encrypted SSL certificates for DominoI went through the process to understand what IBM is saying in their patch information -- and while it's valid, it's also harder than it needs to be (IMCO) for people already used to doing things the Domino way. If you're already familiar with using the server certification database to create the keyring and make the certificate request certificate (CSR) you can keep using it. This is also helpful if you already have a SHA1 based certificate and you just want to re-issue. Note: This resolves the browser ......
  27. 11/04/2014Warning: IBMs Interim Fix adding TLS 1.0 to Domino can break connections from Python and some other scripting clientsHere's a bit of joy to add to your day. Once your server can speak TLS 1.0 to help secure you from POODLE attacks, any code making connections to your server over HTTPS that use the utilities wget, curl and most importanly Python (and others, apparently) may break. The issue is that these tools are built using a version of openSSL that will try to connect using TLS 1.2 first -- and when that fails, the connection gets dropped. I've seen reports of this in Ruby as well, but I've verified that it is an issue ......
  28. 11/04/2014Patch for the SSL v3 POODLE exploit has escaped IBM and can now be downloaded. You REALLY need this patchIf you do not apply this patch, you are going to start having users unable to connect using SSL to your Domino servers. Vendors and customer sites are starting to release operating system and browser patch that block access to sites using only SSLv3 without TLS. Until this morning, that meant all Domino servers not using a reverse proxy front end of some kind. This patch adds TLS 1.0 to Domino versions 8.51, 8.52, 8.53, 9.0, and 9.01 in all the various platforms. TLS 1.0 is a fairly old version of TLS but ......
  29. 10/29/2014Automatic Spam Report to Provider AgentThis morning Andy Donaldson was asking on FB for code that turned a spam email into an EML attachment for reporting to anti-spam providers. I wrote this a while back for exactly that purpose. Rather than an attachment, this just creates an email to the anti-spam provider that contains the original spam message including all of it's header information and encoded mime. Essentially, if you took the body of what I'm sending and saved it as a text document with a .EML extension it would be the same thing. It's ......
  30. 10/21/2014Quick update on the Domino SSL v3 "POODLE" , TLS, and SHA-2 issues -- Good newsI've been more than a little sidetracked on some family things for the last week, but my good friend Gab Davis forwarded me these two links today that should address these critical issues. They're long overdue already, and will be another couple of weeks, but let's be glad to be getting them. TLS Support in a fixpack for 8.5.1, 8.5.2, 8.5.3, 9.0, and 9.0.1 within a "couple of weeks"http://www-01.ibm.com/support/docview.wss?uid=swg21687167 And ......
  31. 10/16/2014Summary Recommendation for dealing with the POODLE SSLv3 Vulnerability on Domino serversRather than repeat what everyone else is writing about POODLE today, I want to give Domino server administrators a few quick items as it relates to them. In Brief -- and based on what I've been able to quickly learn: IS Domino affected? Yes. All Domino servers that are accepting direct HTTPS connections are impacted. THIS MEANS ALL TRAVELER SERVERS AS WELL. What is the risk to my server or data? The most immediate risk is access to user data and user impersonation. POODLE is the type of attack we call "Man ......
  32. 10/14/2014Speaking tonight ath the ICU One (aka NE Notes Users Group)For my Boston area friends in the Notes and Domino community, I'm speaking tonight at the ICU One (aka NE Notes Users Group) meeting in Cambridge. Come say hi. ......
  33. 10/09/2014Presentations from AdminCamp 2014These are the presentations I gave at AdminCamp 2014 Extreme Domino HTTP Configuration The HTTP task is more powerful and complex than it looks. We`ll go through the configuration and show you how to make your server respond just the way you want. We`ll talk about virtual web sites, multi-homing, URL redirection, headers, and path substitution. Learn how you can use more than one SSL certificate on the same server. Domino Server & Application Performance in the Real World When it comes to performance, ......
  34. 09/17/2014IBM Domino Servers STILL don't support SSL SHA-2 Certificates - and it is about to be a PROBLEMI haven't blogged about anything, much less an IBM Domino issue in quite some time, but as Mooney pointed out today, this one is moving quickly toward being critical. Read the article, then call your IBM sales rep and start demanding they update to include SHA-2 SSL support immediately. The only people who can get this done are big IBM Domino customers. Since this doesn't have a direct net positive effect on EPS (Earnings Per Share) for 2016, nothing is going to get done on it as long as they keep having ......
  35. 02/09/2014Changing what I do at the Fire DepartmentSo, here’s a bit of a change. A couple of weeks ago I let the chief know that it was time for me to step down as the Lieutenant of our Engine 1. Once a replacement is chosen, I’ll still be a firefighter but won’t be an officer any longer. There are a number of reasons for this, but the best explanation I can give is that it is time to let someone else grow into that role and make their own contribution, while at the same time I’ve got plenty of other things going on that keep me from putting as much time ......
  36. 02/07/2014Dammit. I think I broke facebook. ......
  37. 02/06/2014Sochi Olympics Pub Chat - Now OpenAs in years past, I've created a group Skype chat room for anyone who wants to use it while watching the Olympics. We've had fun with this in the past, as long as nobody takes it too seriously. Here's a link: skype:?chat&blob=1-XgYKMLG_kK5fqEsq4t4Jd4GLxHZxbMIqSYtCRXS9DiF5WNjBtuljOtcSDqaGdkOv5mX6paJQSuNuI ** Don't expect much traffic in there until Friday's opening event ** A few recommendations: 1. Definitely use the skype command '/alertsoff' so when you're not watching you won't get bugged by the rest of ......
  38. 02/05/2014Question for mobile app developers - what development platform do you recommend?I've got a need to build a couple of mobile apps, and I'm looking for platform recommendations. Here are the things that are important to me: 1. I prefer a true, compiled app -- not a wrapper around a web page, and not a PaaS (Platform as a Service) 2. I'd like to develop once and deploy on both Android and IOS, but but that's not a show stopper. The more I can share between the two the better though. 3. I'd like to have built in support for web services -- so that if I drop some WSDL on the development ......
  39. 02/03/2014Are you using a Surface Pro 2 or another Windows 8.1 Tablet? Want to use Traveler on the touch screen? It works!While I like many things about the Surface Pro 2, when I'm using it as a tablet without the keyboard it is almost impossible for me to use the Desktop client for Notes. The touch spots are just too small. Microsoft provides a nice little Mail, Calendar, and Contact app (that seems a lot like Traveler on Android) meant for interaction with the touch screen, so I thought I'd see about getting it to work. [] First of all, make sure you're running the very latest version of the Domino Server and Traveler. For ......
  40. 02/03/2014Some thoughts from IBM Connect 2014My participation was limited this year. I did get to see the Opening General Session, and to spend time on Friday, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday talking with many of my favorite IBM developers and product managers. My limited participation was simply because I had chosen not to submit a presentation proposal – and for me, sitting in sessions has never been a priority so I’ve opted to spend my travel budget on “Engage” and some of the other “LUGs” this year. That said, here are some things that struck me in ......
  41. 01/28/2014Understanding the decision behind Connections MailSo IBM has announced and shown mail in Connection. Why? This one's easy. For the last few years the reseller channel has been hearing a near constant drumbeat of promises about one feature or another in Connections "that will really drive utilization". Translated, this is saying that although our big customers have used their license entitlements to deploy connections all over the place, actual desktop users are not going there unless they have to. Even with the nonsense of "gamification" to get people in ......
  42. 01/19/2014Snap Review - Microsoft Surface Pro 2 - Tablet, Laptop Replacement, or BothI'm trying something new next week as I head to Orlando for a few days. I'm leaving my laptop at home. I haven't travelled anywhere without a fully functioning laptop in twenty years but I'm going to do it next week. Instead, I'm just bringing a tablet...and some accessories. My new Microsoft Surface Pro 2 is the size of a tablet, works like a tablet, looks like a tablet, and has all the power of a full sized laptop. It can run all my software and do all of the things my Thinkpad T510 can do without a ......
  43. 10/31/2013You Need to Wish Gab Davis a Happy Birthday Today[] Today is Gab Davis's birthday. [] Gab Davis is a dear friend, one of the most kind people I have ever met, and one of the most tireless advocates for the IBM Notes, Domino, Sametime, Connections, and other related products. You need to wish her a Happy Birthday.Tweet to @gabturtle!function(d,s,id){var ......
  44. 10/14/2013To connect or not to connectI am considering a change in my earlier decision to skip "Connect" this year, and instead submit a session proposal around SAML and other Single Sign-On techniques and technologies. I've done a lot of work with this and written my own SAML stack for Domino at one point, so I do have the information. I'm curious to hear (privately) any thoughts anyone in my Yellowsphere crowd thinks about this as I've not yet made my decisions. I'm still a more than bit angry about last year, but I realize that is largely ......
  45. 10/02/2013Thanks BruceBruce Elgort didn't just talk about a need, he stepped up and helped get something going in our tech community called "OpenNTF". Many people had talked about the need for an open source mechanism like this for sharing techniques, skills, and even full blown applications that were specifically relevant to our technology. Bruce is one of a small group of people who put a lot of time into actually making it work. His work included a focus on bringing in big players including IBM rather than going it alone ......
  46. 09/27/2013Slide Decks from AdminCamp 2013AdminCamp 2013 was great. As always, Rudi put on one heck of a great show. If you ever have a chance to attend, you should take it. Here are my slides from the event. [] Lock Down your Domino Web Server The Domino server makes a fantastic platform for delivering web based content. Whether you use it for iNotes, Traveler, or custom web sites you need to make sure that you're not exposing yourself to risk by not using all of the security features available. In this session we'll talk in depth about the ......
  47. 09/23/2013The glamour of business travel - Flying Lufthansa and Driving an A3 on the AutobahnI opted to take a different route this time to AdminCamp in Gelsenkirchen, Germany. The idea was a non-stop flight from Boston to Frankfurt, then over night in Frankfurt and drive the two hours or so the next day. To begin with, Lufthansa have managed to design the least comfortable cattle class seat ever. It's basically a thin bit of plastic with a semi-padded foam backing and polyester cover. I ended up next to a grossly overweight, hairy east asian man who didn't fit the width of his window seat and ......
  48. 09/18/2013Updated Presentation for AdminCamp 2013 -- Understanding SAML et. al.I just finished updating my slides for the AdminCamp 2013 conference in Germany next week. I've added more than 20 new slides to the presentation on "Understanding SAML, OAUTH, OpenId, etc.." from when I delivered that presentation at IAMLUG. Now there's a bunch of information specifically on configuring Domino 9 for SAML. If you've never been to AdminCamp, you're missing out. It's a great conference. If you can't make the conference but you want the slides -- well you'll have to wait until after the ......
  49. 09/13/2013Time Warner Cable Internet – How a company can ruin a good service with bad support.apwin, .twwin { font-weight:bold; color:green; padding-top:6px; padding-left:3em; display:inline-block; .twfail, .apfail {font-weight:bold; color:red ; padding-top:6px; padding-left:3em;; display:inline-block;}TWFAIL] : No such information is available. [TWFAIL] : Rep is unable to determine a problem with my equipment. [TWFAIL] : Rep cannot schedule an appointment until next week. 3. I then attempted to diagnose the problem myself, using another old cable modem that wouldn’t really connect, but would ......
  50. 08/21/2013Performance Test - Homework for readers of this blogIn Domino Designer Preferences, check out the settings under "Source Control". This is an important feature, but not one that everyone uses. If you do not use source control, try turning off the two options: "Enable automatic export of the design elements (from NSF to disk) on modification" "Enable automatic import of the design elements (from disk to NSF) on modification" I'm not sure if you'll see a performance gain or not. I'm trying it for another reason. I've found Domino Designer 9 to be crashtastic ......
  51. 08/19/2013List of past US Holiday DatesFor something I'm working on, I needed a simple list of past US holiday dates. Surprisingly that's not easy to find. I came across this post: http://stackoverflow.com/a/13631254/1243582 which is perfect, and just what I needed. I thought I'd share it here so I could find it again if needed, and so could ......
  52. 08/16/2013If you work with JSON and use the Chrome or Firefox browser - you NEED this extensionWhen you're working on websites and using JSON data, from time to time you open a browser tab and point directly at the JSON data source. Instead of adding spaces and tabs and newlines into your source so you can see it while your working on it, just group [JSONView]. It will automatically perform validation (using a client side version of the well know "JSONLint" validator), flag any problems, and format the JSON for your browser so it's easy to browse, color coded, and has collapsable sections. ......
  53. 08/14/2013Here is a really fun Domino sever administrator prank or puzzleSuppose you had a maintenance period during which you took the server off line and ran "Compact" so that the directory and other busy files got compacted. It's not a bad idea once every decade or two, right? Now, suppose you set the flag for "Do not support a specialized response hierarchy" when you did this. What do you suppose would happen? Well looking at the databases and views you'd find no differences when you were done. All your response documents would be where they go and behave normally. HOWEVER ......
  54. 08/09/2013Domino Designer 9 - Crashtasic feature in the Eclipse based LS editorHere's how to have some REAL fun screwing up everything with the new(ish) eclipse based ls editor in the Notes 9 client (probably earlier as well). A hold over from the origins of the languages, is that it's legal to use the ":" colon to put more than one line of code in without a newline. For example... case 23 : myString = "This new thing"case 24 : myString = "This other thing" Do that in the new eclipse client and it compiles and seems to run. STRANGE things happen though. Crashtastic things somethings. ......
  55. 08/08/2013The massive recent project failures at IBM strike at the heart of why outsourcing failsOne of the most respected I.T. columnists for the last 25 years or more points out some of the latest failings at IBM in his most recent article here, entitled "Fulfilling customer requirements is a weapon at IBM" Cringely has made a solid career and reputation by listening to what insiders at a company say about it. He's done it so long, that his channels for information are probably as good as those of the NSA or Volker Weber. A sure sign he's on the right track, is the report that "there is now a filter ......
  56. 07/19/2013Have you ever needed to unescape a bunch of JSON data at once?I don't really know if this is "a thing" for anyone else, but I have a whole bunch of JSON data that comes down from a provider as a multi-level object and all the string data is escaped (as it should be). I got tired having to unescape() each string value as I went to use it, so I went looking for something someone else had posted online about doing a "deep unescape" and didn't find it. Given that I didn't find other people asking about it or getting answers, I have to assume that: a) There's a parameter ......
  57. 07/10/2013If my IBM Partnerworld EMAIL "Opt-in" preferences say [NO] - why do I get 3+ Emails a WEEK from Partnerworld?If my IBM Partnerworld EMAIL "Opt-in" preferences say [NO] - why do I get 3+ Emails a WEEK from Partnerworld? Do the people in charge of sending those emails not care, or does IBM have no idea how to do collaborative marketing? It has to be one or the other, ......
  58. 06/23/2013Continuum - A premise with promise, lost in lazy writingA bunch of people have recommended this show, and as the summer re-run season starts I thought I'd check it out on Netflix. I've seen most of the first season now, and I wish I could really like this one. The potential is there, but the execution -- particularly on the writing -- falls far short of what it could be. The basic story is about a cop from the future, only the cop works for the evil corporations that now control the world. The cop accidentally gets tossed back to 2012 along with a gang of ......
  59. 06/05/2013A conflict or rights: My question to my Libertarian friends about vaccination.Ok, Libertarian friends – where do you stand on this? I’ve used things like building codes, workplace safety, and similar topics before to frame the discussion of why we need government, but here’s one of best and most thorny conflicts in that debate for you… Vaccination is one of those really difficult subjects that pit personal freedoms against societal requirements. This article in Scientific American spurred me to ask the question. The basic conflict begins with your right over your own body. While ......
  60. 05/13/2013Successfully moved away from POSTINI to SPAMHERO - some thoughts...It's been almost a year since Google announced the changes in their "Postini" offering. I've been looking around, and finally chose to give [Spamhero] a try. As of today, I'm 100% switched over. Here's what I found, and a tip... Accuracy: I'm can definitely tell you is that Spamhero is accurate. I've had no false positives so far, and just a few spam messages that have gotten through. I had many more of both with Postini. For what spam does get through, you get a custom email address to forward the ......
  61. 03/22/2013BLUG A3 : Stuff Andrew Thinks You Should Know - The Presentation is now available for downloadThe BLUG conference was amazing. I had a great time, saw many people I really like, and watched a great deal of technical skill transfer take place as well as some wonderful peer to peer mentoring happening between some of the most experienced in our community and some of the newest members. Scott Souder gave a fantastic opening keynote talk that was fresh, frank, and encouraging. I love his energy and attitude, as well has his respect for the core products. Louis Richardson also did a great job. He makes ......
  62. 03/15/2013Looking at SAML and OAUTH in the Notes and Domino 9 Public BetaAm I reading this right? Seriously? Like many people, when I read that next release of the Domino Server and Client were going to support OAuth and SAML, I was pretty happy with that. I've been a bit late getting around to looking at the beta though -- after all, IBM has made it quite clear that my opinion isn't all that welcome any more -- and I'm just now reading the documentation on how IBM is going about this. I'll know more when I talk about this stuff next week at BLUG, by the way. First SAML. I know ......
  63. 02/11/2013Just made plane and hotel reservations for BNUG -- my first time at that event. Looks like I'm going to get to see a bunch of you next month in Belgium. Looking forward to a good ......
  64. 02/03/2013Can Software be Too Social to Succeed?There’s no question that “Social Software” is the big push right now. I keep seeing advertisements and slogans that claim email isn’t “Social” enough and that the more you share the better. Users, however, seem to like email quite a bit and are proving extremely resistant to switching. Why is that? I suggest that it’s a social problem. It’s true that it is human nature to work together to get a common result, and we’re at our best when collaborate. That isn’t the whole story, however. Humans do need ......
  65. 02/01/2013Thoughts about the Opening General Session at Connect 2013 -- Do you have any?For the first time since 1997, I watched the OGS from my home office. First of all, GREAT JOB to those who put the live stream together. I don't really care if it was done with IBM products or not. Someone picked the right technology this time because the sound and video were clear, crisp, and very minimally delayed. There were only two very brief pauses right near the end. I was working, but had my laptop next to my desk with the video on full screen. The session flowed well. There were no boring customer ......
  66. 01/27/2013Who is to blame for the failure of Domino as public web server? IBM (Lotus) Product ManagementIf you were a venture capitalist and someone came into your office tomorrow with a web server that could run on a single, fairly standard, Windows or Linux machine and that had a [list of capabilities] as I’ve [described below] -- and that was actually stable and functioning right now -- you couldn’t possibly bring yourself to invest in it fast enough. The simple truth is that there is only one product on the market with even close to this full list of capabilities out of the box in a single install. ......
  67. 01/21/2013Small progress taking the first real steps in moving Second Signal off IBM DominoI've been dealing with some serious analysis-paralysis with this project. Between not having a deadline and having so many choices to look at -- with virtually no experience with any of them -- I've found it very difficult to take the next step. As a result, the site is beginning to suffer from inattention and that needs to stop. I've finally decided to break off a big chunk and get working on a back end database. You don't know how spoiled you are working with IBM Domino as a development platform until ......
  68. 01/08/2013Does the Executive Branch of the U.S. Government (the President) have the Constitutional Authority to _NOT_ spend money allocated by the Congress?Congress passes the budget and spending bills. That's where all the taxes get decided, and all the spending gets decided. The executive branch is supposed to manage the organizations that go and spend that money as allocated. Suppose Congress passes a budget that includes $100 Billion for tanks for the army. The army says it doesn't need them, but the money will go to a district with a powerful congressman so it ends up in the budget. Now, the President KNOWS that in six months the budget is going to run ......
  69. 12/29/2012Have made some progress in chosing a new platform.The more I look at other platforms, the more saddened I am by the need to pick one. If only IBM hadn't utterly failed in the market to the extent that building a service provider application based on Domino virtually ensures it will be nearly impossible to sell as a business in the future, I would almost be willing to suffer through their horrendous service provider licensing nightmare. Even in the "legacy" state that the core Domino server platform finds itself, it's head and shoulders above the other ......
  70. 12/15/2012My views on gun control have been varied - but are now codifed. Here what I think is needed in the U.S.Keep in mind, I'm speaking here of what I think is needed in the U.S.A., based on where we are now and our culture. I am not saying these should be the laws in other places. Here's what I want for gun control laws: #1. No gun ownership if you are under the age of 18. Period. Your parents own it, and you can use it. When you turn 18 you can study for an obtain a license and the gun can be transferred. #2. License requirements for ownership, for carry outside the home, and for concealed carry. Three ......
  71. 12/13/2012I can not wait to see the new documentation and improved speed and stability in Notes 9While the addition of a massive new embed-feature to house Connections content isn't going to do anything for me, I'm sure the radically faster load times and smaller footprint will really help. Also, thanks to the recently re-hired QA and Documentation teams, no doubt this will be a huge improvement over current versions. Wait. What? Oh. Never mind. At least we get a new color ......
  72. 12/13/2012Enterprise Social Software – Yet Another Boondoggle This has all happened before. In 2001 "Knowledge Management" was all the buzz. Everyone had to have it. IDC was predicting a massive market for this new sector ($5.4 Billion by 2004). How's your IBM KDS server doing these days? (Source1 - IDG, Source2 - The Free Library, Source3 - KM World) I used to ask someone I know who worked in the I.T. department of a clothing retailer to try standing up in a meeting now and then and ask “How will this help us sell shirts?” It’s a serious question. I’ve seen ......
  73. 12/11/2012Learned something new about driving my new Subaru today -- love this carI've had my new Subaru XV Crosstrek (known in Europe as the Impreza XV) for nearly 1000 miles now, and I'm really enjoying learning how get the most out of it. Today I learned something new. The car surprises me with its agility and stability all the time, and even it's responsiveness is really amazing for such a tiny engine. That's mostly thanks to its new "Continuously Variable" Transmission, which is amazing to drive (there's a great little video of how it works here). Driving with the CVT feels a ......
  74. 12/11/2012These people should NOT be buying their own beers at Connect 2013. Congratulations, IBM's latest Champions. It's great to see so many friends on this list, and also sad to see so many notable names missing. These people (and I'm including all the ones that didn't make the list but also contributed) do the lion's share of what should be IBM's job of documentation, QA, and training, and they do it all without being paid for it. Without the people on this list and their peers who should also be, the product line would long since have died out from the minimal documentation ......
  75. 12/10/2012What has me so disgusted and disappointed with IBM these days?* Let me first say thanks to those who helped me edit this and take out a few cheap shots... In one form or another I’ve had a lot of people ask me this question since posting the last couple of blog articles and so on. What it comes down to is what I consider bad faith partnering and behavior that falls well short of what I personally consider honest and ethical. Obviously others will feel differently and would have a wide range of rationalizations for their actions, but I’m talking about my opinion and ......
  76. 12/07/2012Second Signal will migrate off Domino for Web Services - help me pick an alternate platformI've decided to move forward with migrating Second Signal away from Domino before the end of Q1 2013. There are a number of platform choices to consider and I'm looking for suggestions. Since I know the majority of readers on this blog will of course be Domino fans, let me point out that I'm fully aware of the strengths of Domino as a platform. I did pick it, after all. There are reasons to migrate away, however, even if it means I've got to do more of the work for security, replication, and indexing ......
  77. 12/06/2012I am 99% certain that I will not be attending Connect 2013This is the first of a series of posts related to IBM, to Notes, to Connections, and to Connect 2013. I hinted the other day that I had a lot to talk about in this space, and this is the first (and most innocuous) in that series of posts. As I said on FB earlier, I will not be seeing you in Orlando in January. This fall I came to the conclusion that if I was not speaking at Connect 2013, that I would probably not attend. That has come to pass, and even if I were to give the benefit of the doubt to IBM and ......
  78. 12/03/2012Sharpening my blogging pencil...All kinds of interesting yellow-sphere news has been dumped my way in the last few days, and more keeps pouring in. If this keeps up, I'll start to think I'm like Volker. It's going to take me a few days to assimilate stuff, but I think it's time to open up with some large caliber blogging. Stay tuned, while I attempt to aim a bit better (or, if not aim, at least ......
  79. 10/07/2012Fear and lies tactics in the political discussion are bad for the country - no matter what side you are onThese kinds of lies simply have to stop. Exaggerations and out right lies about what Obamacare, non-existent tax changes, and other such things are "going to do" (note that it's never about things that have already happened, because it never does) are part of what's holding back our recovery and growth. How does any responsible business owner who hears these things feel confident enough to invest in hiring people and buying equipment? Last night I ran into one of the worst examples of fear-mongering and ......
  80. 08/21/2012VERY bad news for those of us who use POSTINI -- it is going awayGoogle will soon be turning off its popular spam filtering and e-mail archiving product, Postini. It will shift Postini users to Google Apps. I use Postini, and have for years. This is going to be a real pain the butt for me. http://www.businessinsider.com/google-plans-to-kill-its-popular-postini-spam-filtering-service-2012-8 I'm probably going to give These Guys a try: ......
  81. 07/27/20122012 Olympics Skype Chat -- Join if you likeIt's been kind of a tradition during some major sporting events and other global things that I've set up a skype chat room and invited people to drop in. They've been a lot of fun in the past, and in one case has evolved into a 4+ year old continuous conversation. Remember: People will be joining (I hope) from all kinds of sources. Friends, family, yellowsphere, facebook, G+, and twitter, and other extended contact groups. Be excellent to each other and it will go well. Why Skype? It has some really ......
  82. 07/01/2012Some myths about the Affordable Care Act -- Explained, and a link to some helpful informationYou can start here: Consumer Guide to Affordable Care Act, Everyday Health, Kaiser News Network How Will the New Health Care Law Affect Me?, Lifehacker.com How People Get Coverage Under the Affordable Care Act, The Henry J. Kaiser Foundation What Does The Affordable Care Act Mean For People With Cancer?, The American Cancer Society Health Reform Fact Sheets, AARP Health Reform Law and Small Business Owners, AARP Fact Sheet Health Reform Law for Small Business Employees, AARP Fact Sheet Kaiser's Health ......
  83. 04/24/2012The next iteration in using Twitter to market -- if Twitter doesn't find a way to control some of this, it will die off in favor of something else.Twitter becomes more and more a vector for marketing and less and less a path for valuable (or even just fun) information. If Twitter can't find away to curb this use of their system, they're leaving themselves wide open to be replaced by some other simple tool. To combat almost ubiquitous "reply spam", many of us have closed our Twitter accounts so that our tweets are not public. By keeping them out of the public timeline, we don't get reply spam most of the time. It reduced the value of Twitter, however, ......
  84. 04/21/2012IBM, this is the worst way to handle browser compatibility issues.What you succeed in doing with this method of handling browser compatibility is take something that MAY NOT work, and turn it into something that DEFINITELY DOESN'T work. I know for a fact that this browser works just FINE with the template, because if I change the browser's identifier to claim it is a different version the template works. More important, you've removed the decision from me. This is the kind of arrogant, unthinking, over-controlling, poor user interface design that has users hating the ......
  85. 04/13/2012The usefulness and utility of Notes browser plug-in - promised for 8.5.4 around the end of 2012Sorry for the long time between posts. I've been working on things most of you wouldn't be interested in, and with other social media outlets better suited to the day to day trivialities, I've wanted to keep this blog for things less quotidian. I've also been spending almost no time keeping up with what we call the "Yellowverse". I keep half an eye out through friends in the community but mostly I rely on them to tip me when something really interesting is happening. I'm happier staying out of the rest of ......
  86. 04/01/2012Really enjoying XPages and thrilled to see the market so attracted to it.As I sit writing this, it's a very special day. I've come to realize just how much I love the XPages development tools. The amount of time saved in my development projects is amazing. I'm starting to think I understand why so many companies are halting installation of Sharepoint and rushing back to the Notes and Domino platform to stay ahead of the huge numbers of new IT graduates hitting the streets eager to get their hands on this fantastic technology. April really is off to a great ......
  87. 03/02/2012Ok. I was wrong. This is me eating crow. You CAN separate the validation events on the XPagesEarlier today I wrote a very frustrated complaint post about how with multiple different documents on a single XPage, the validation events would fire off on all of them no matter which document you clicked a button for. I also posted on Stack Overflow with details of the problem. I thought I'd tried everything, and I'd searched the web and found only comments about "IBM knows about this and..." Well, I hadn't tried everything. Paul Withers pointed me toward this fix: I just had to check this box on the ......
  88. 03/02/2012Agh. Just when you think your XPage is behaving -- something else IBM failed to do right. Validation on multi-document XPagesUPDATE: This is actually something already fixed. Paul Withers pointed me to this fix: I just had to check this box on the button event. Now I'm off to eat some crow.... You have got to be kidding me. It turns out that if you have multiple data sources (documents) on different parts of your XPage, although you can individually toggle them into and out of edit mode, save them or discard them individually, and generally act on them as you'd expect; if you attempt to use the built in XPages validation ......
  89. 03/02/2012XPages - Suggestion and a Tip for Newbies on Repeat ControlsI've created a two new categories on my blog called "XPages Newbie Tips" and "XPages Feedback". In posts under either of these categories, but especially "Newbie Tips" my goal is to be positive rather than my usual bitching about the product. The idea for the newbie tips is that as I'm digging into serious development with XPages, I'm coming across things that would really have helped me if I knew them at the start. I plan to make these newbie tips into blog entries, and then as I get a good solid list of ......
  90. 03/01/2012Making progress working with TrialandErrorPages. Some things I've learnedWarning. Despite finally getting to the point where my XPage does the things I want it to do and finally having the code patterns I wanted to start building a real application that users will interact with, I'm writing this blog post entirely in sarcasm font, specifically to blow off steam after an incredibly frustrating day working with this environment. If you came here looking for deep technical insights for xpages -- you're really too early. I don't have any yet. What I can offer are opinions born of ......
  91. 03/01/2012XPages bug - computewithform option for data sources with some formula language commandsBug Specifics: The document you are attempting to save from your XPage may fail to save when the following conditions are all met: 1. You are using the XPage in a web browser (the issue does not seem to happen in the Notes client) 2. You have selected to computeWithForm "On Save" or "On Both" for the bound document ("On Load" does not seem to manifest the bug) 3. There is a computed field on the form which uses the "@UserAccess" function as part of its formula Note: You can work around this by testing for ......
  92. 02/25/2012Companies that avoid telling the truth about their products and services to avoid losing customers, lose customersIf you're going to disappoint your customers, even if you firmly believe that "in the long run" they'll be better off, just tell them. Flying US Airways last night really brought this home, but there are parallels in our software industry that you'll recognize if you stick with me through the airline part of the story first. As a traveler, I understand that some of these delays cannot be avoided. Within the same airspace is Philadelphia, Newark, JFK, and Laguardia with Boston, Baltimore, Washington ......
  93. 02/23/2012Were my website and blog off line today? No, and that's because I use DominoChances are, the web site you're using when you read this blog is an 8.5.3 server running on a Linux virtual machine on a VMWARE ESXi host at a big data center in Dallas, Texas. But not always. For most of the day today, if you'd read my blog or been to my website, you were using a different 8.5.3 server running on a Windows 2008 virtual machine on a different VMWARE ESXi host at a smaller data center in Seattle, Washington. Did you notice? Was anything missing? Probably not. That's because built in to the ......
  94. 02/20/2012Delving into XPages: Wins, Losses, and abject FAILs -- What it has been like to start transforming an existing application I've waited a long time before trying to write anything serious in XPages. I've known about them, and even extolled the potential of them as far back as late 2007 when I wrote the very first public article about them. I said then, and continue to say that whether or not XPages really live up to their potential will depend entirely on how well they're implemented in the client. Until 8.5.3 I have not had any confidence that they were stable enough to be worth working in. Thanks in large part to the work of ......
  95. 02/18/2012Personal Disaster Recovery -- Do you have a plan?This is a little grim, I guess, but what have you done to prepare for possibility -- remote as it may be -- that you one day you couldn't come home? For most of us, a living will, life insurance and a list of our credit cards and other obligations are probably enough. For those of us with small businesses, customers, confidential data, and other people counting on us it may be important to go a step further. I've been working on a "just in case" packet, to be kept locked away in a safe place where my wife ......
  96. 02/17/2012Jeff Eisen moving on from the Notes worldCongratulations, Jeff! Jeff Eisen who has been with the Notes core team for 18 years is moving on. It's a huge loss for those of us who love the core Notes and Domino platform, but it is a huge step forward for Jeff. He's announced he'll be the Chief Architect of Watson Core Technology (the team charged with making Watson do things on the commercial front that actually make money). I've known Jeff a long time and say without the slightest hesitation that he's been one of the best people on the Notes team ......
  97. 02/13/2012No longer in the Design Partner Program, a good news/bad news kind of thingMy participation in the various iterations of the "Design Partner" program started prior to the version 6 release of Notes and Domino. In those days, we had a multi-day invitation only event at the IBM Lotus campus in Westford where a serious discussion took place between the development teams and the design partners that had been invited. The program has changed over the years, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. In all that time, I've offered very pointed (as you can imagine) and ......
  98. 02/07/2012Religious Conservatives in politics should take careful note of the recent Komen foundation mistakeWhen the Susan G. Komen for the Cure foundation cut funding to Planned Parenthood, they weren't at all prepared for the backlash. Some outlets have reported that the initial decision was essentially the result of pressure from right wing conservative organizations, though the foundation itself says otherwise. In any case, the Komen foundation made the mistake of underestimating the size and strength of the majority in the United States who generally remain silent on the issues of birth control and abortion ......
  99. 02/06/2012Extended Review: EZOPower Ultra High-capacity Rechargable USB Battey PackSometimes you buy several versions of a thing before you hit on the one that really does what you wanted. This is the case for me with battery packs for my USB powered devices. I included this product in my pre-Lotusphere list of power tech to bring along, but it worked out so well that I wanted to give you a more detailed look. Portable Power - 10,000mAh rechargeable USB block($59.99 @ ......
  100. 01/19/2012Lotusphere 2012 – Far better than I expected. Let me explain. No, there is too much. Let me sum up.This will ramble a bit, but after a lead in I’ll try to point out some highlights, a few low lights, and an overall feeling moving forward. It turns out our friend Lotusphere was only MOSTLY DEAD. There is a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. With mostly dead, there’s still partly alive. With all dead, there’s nothing left to do but go through the pockets and look for loose change. The week turned out to be very good for me, even if at the same time it presented the most challenges I’ve had ......
  101. 01/19/2012BP121 - Performance Programming -- Presentation and Demo database as presentedBP121 - Performance Programming, as presented at Lotusphere 2012. This zip file contains the presentation along with the demo database and instructions for using it. I didn't get time to do much with the demo so I promised to post it here. It wasn't really meant for distribution, but it should be fine. Feedback is welcome, but please don't expect much tech support on it. [BP121PRES_and_DEMOS.zip] ......
  102. 01/16/2012Some people know all about RIGHTS and nothing about WHAT IS RIGHT. Here is the story behind #OccupyPelican After the tweets around the community today, a lot of people have asked me what the story was that led to the almost cancellation of a popular session and the social media comments that followed. Here’s the information… The short story is that the IBM lawyers for the Lotus software group – apparently led by Thomas Hagen who is the same person who caused me to decide no longer to do CULT shirts after last year (thagen@us.ibm.com for those who would like to email him with feedback) have been unprofessionally ......
  103. 01/12/2012The Geek Travel Gadgets - Keep yourself powered upAfter seeing Kathy's geek travel gadget list, I thought I'd add some of my own. Most of the gadgetry here is secondary -- the actual gadgets are the phone, camera, tablet, and so on. You know about those already. These are the things to make the other things work better and stay charged on the trip. Here goes (with links to Amazon if you want to buy one) --Power Strip Liberator PlusHigh Power Slim AC Wall Plug to 2 x 5V USB ......
  104. 01/09/2012Apple: I'm just not that into you. Leave me the hell alone!Damn if Apple doesn't still want to take over my PC every chance it gets! You guys know by now that I'm not a big Apple fan. The only Apple device I own is a second generation iPod Touch that I like for listening to audio books and sometimes music. I don't have or want an iPad (though my wife loves her's), I don't have or want an iPhone, and I don't buy music through iTunes. I have nothing against people who have and like these things, I'm just not one of them. Since I use my iPod Touch to listen to audio ......
  105. 01/09/2012Laptop prep for LotusphereWhen I'm not traveling, my trust Thinkpad T510 is used as a secondary machine -- for when I'm working at night on the couch or if the desktop is busy. The desktop machine is where I work most of the day. At a show like Lotusphere I'll be exclusively using the laptop for 8 days so it really helps if I make sure it's in good shape. Taking a few extra steps once in a while keeps things smooth, stable, and quick. Here's what I do to make sure it's all set... 1. I go through my installed applications and remove ......
  106. 01/08/2012Four days of prep time left, then the annual pilgramage to OrlandoI have to say, I'm really looking forward to having a good time at the show this year. This week I'll be working on some code demos for my "Performance Programming" session, some scary stories for Sunday's "They Really Are Out To Get You" with Gab Davis, and getting my tech-kit charged and packed for the week. I'll have time to get to karate at least twice this week as well, before missing a week while I'm in Orlando. If weather permits, I may try to find a quite place in the sand near the Swan to practice ......
  107. 12/19/2011TIP for converting slides from previous formats into Symphony and updating all your formattingLike a lot of you reading this, I'm working on my slides for Lotusphere 2012. IBM wants the slides in Symphony's ODP format -- and has "strongly requested" that we use Symphony to present. I hate Symphony. Truly, deeply, hate it. That said, I've got to use it in this case and I've got a bunch of existing slides I want to drop into my presentation. What's difficult, is applying the appalling templates provided without manually changing every single slide. Here's what I did to really speed things up. 1. In ......
  108. 11/01/2011Fixed my WAN connection failover problem tonightFor the last couple of weeks, my WAN connection here has been failing over from the Cable Modem to the backup DSL connection pretty frequently and the root cause has left me baffled. Until tonight. The failover is handled by my trusty old Sonicwall TZ-170 firewall. It handles both the cable and dsl connections and can handle load balancing and failover. For me, this combination makes sense since my public facing servers are all located at hosting centers so there's no need for a commercial network ......
  109. 10/28/2011Here is an obscure mail routing problem I ran into - and the solutionProblem: Some mail servers are unable to route to #######@subdomain.domain.com In this environment, the Windows based Domino servers were affected, but the Linux based Domino servers were not. It turns out that the affected servers are those running Microsoft Windows server operating systems, and of those, only those sites where the local dns domain use a "default" address for misspelled or incorrect server names within the domain. In other words, those where typing wwww.domain.com would work just as well ......
  110. 09/27/2011Electronic Publishing formats may soon replace PDF -- get ahead of the curveBen has article up right now ( link ) that explains the term "reflowable". In it, Ben explains why the de facto standard for distributing documents has been PDF for a while, but may soon be switching to ePub for good reasons. If you've ever tried to view a complex PDF file on your Kindle, you'll understand. I fully agree with Ben on the value of ePub, and I think that the seemingly unassailable PDF is going to fall more quickly than anyone could have predicted. My advice: Get to know ......
  111. 09/08/2011CULT Shirt RetirementWith mixed feelings, it is time for me to announce that I will not be producing a CULT shirt for the 2012 Lotusphere season and do not anticipate producing them in the future. I've spoken to Rocky Oliver about this and he agrees that the time is at hand to end on a winning note. The CULT shirts were first created by Rocky Oliver and Henry Newberry more than 10 years ago. When Henry stepped away from the process in 2004, I took over the bulk of the production work and as Rocky became increasingly busy I ......
  112. 09/01/2011Mission Ridiculous: Attempting to Upgrade Phones with Verizon WirelessVerizon is literally beginning to crumble under the weight of its own regulations. Mission Goal: Upgrade my Daughter’s old Verizon Wireless phone to a new phone that can handle the Family Locator, and upgrade my old MIFI to a new 4G Version. Both devices are eligible for replacement under the “New Every Two” plan, provided I renew the contract for two more years. This story gets better and better the further you read. It's a shame, because they really do have the best phone network by far. Step 1. ......
  113. 09/01/2011Simple Rules For Partnering With Another BusinessForgive me readers, for I have sinned. It has been two months since my last submission, and I have committed the sin of omission. Mae Culpa. Over the last few months I've been deeply saddened to watch more than a few generally good partnering relationships go sour. I suppose its the economy right now that has really exacerbated what are normally fairly small and unusal problems, but in my opinion it is even more important than ever that good working relationships are maintained rather than abused. Those ......
  114. 06/08/2011CNN - get rid of the awkward new living room style set from your morning newsFor the last couple of weeks, when CNN is on I've been noticing that the anchor women seem to be uncomfortably staring into the camera from strange angles when their co-host is talking. I realized this morning that its because they've switched from sitting behind anchor desks to sitting on a couch in what is meant to look like a living room style set. It's not working for me. They assume these strange poses that you'd never really see if you were talking with someone in your living room. Some of the women ......
  115. 06/07/2011Fantastic tool - "Connectify" lets you easily share your Wifi connection from your laptop with other devices.If you travel, no doubt you've connected to wifi hotspots in hotels, cafes, airports, other people's offices. A lot of these hot spots require click through agreements and many require payment. Sharing this connection with your camera, phone, ipod, e-reader, and even friends can be difficult. Connecting with each of the other devices is frustrating and not always possible. It isn't difficult any more. Free tool "Connectify" loads on your Windows 7 machine and makes sharing whatever connection your have ......
  116. 05/12/2011Why it makes sense for Microsoft to buy Skype - and why they'll have a very hard time making it their ownSo Microsoft is buying Skype and a lot of people are questioning the reasons and the price. While the price does seem high, virtually all tech world buyout prices seem ridiculous to me and frankly, Microsoft has a ton of cash laying around that they need to invest, so I'm going to table the price discussion and let the wall street types argue over that part. From a tech perspective, if you start by agreeing that voice and video over the internet is going to be important over the next decade, you're halfway ......
  117. 05/08/2011Follow Up HOW-TO: John Deere L100 Lawn 42" Tractor/Mower Brake RebuildThis entry is a follow-up to a how-to I wrote in 2009 about adjusting the brakes on your John Deere L100 mower. Even if you're planning to do the full rebuild I show here, you should probably read that first. (link) Back in 2009 when I wrote the original posting, I had no idea that 3 years later I'd still be getting positive feedback from people on it. I'm glad that I've been able to help people get their brakes working right, and I've decided to follow it up with more detail. For me, the adjustment was no ......
  118. 03/29/2011Do you need a new server hosting or colocation provider? Here's a great site to help youI'm setting up new VMWARE ESXi server at another hosting provider. The one I have is excellent, but as Second Signal grows, I'm looking for as much diversity in my fail-over location as possible. The new provider will be in a different geography and with a different hosting provider. Finding a new provider can be difficult. The market is very fluid and very competitive. I came across "Hostvoice" quite by accident and decided to use their form to submit a request for quote. My needs are very specific, and ......
  119. 03/20/2011Is it time for an entirely new Notes Client?The venerable, powerful, all encompassing Lotus Notes client is more than 20 years old. Its hallmarks include a complete backward compatibility that covers virtually all of those years. While that complete backward compatibility has been one of the product's greatest strengths, it is also one of its most challenging aspects as the development team works to continually modernize and add features. Being fully backward compliant has been a huge advantage to the product. Upgrades of Lotus Notes and Domino ......
  120. 03/16/2011Oh what a relief.... I'm no longer using godaddy.com for my DNS or SSL needs.I have finally had enough. Enough of the renewal notices and letters months in advance, enough of the automatic billing to renew certificates, and most of all enough of 4 or 5 screens full of high pressure add-on sales just trying to pay for a new domain name or ssl certificate. I didn't care about the juvenile and tasteless TV ads. What I did care about, was getting 3-5 emails a week from them plus postal mail 2-3 times a month, plus phone calls once in a while. What I did care about was the constant ......
  121. 02/28/2011The best way to make social software is to make the best softwareIBM did an excellent job focusing and defining the conversation with this year’s Lotusphere. While the rest of the IT industry is rushing to get their cloud strategy in order, IBM asks the question “What is social software for business?” It’s a great question, but may not be one with the answer IBM wants. Software isn’t social. People are social. People have been using social tools for business for as long as there have been people and businesses. Ask any sales person and they’ll tell you that all business ......
  122. 02/22/2011Lee Child's "Jack Reacher" series - and an appology to DuffbertIn a chat some time back, we were talking about the kind of over-macho crime-drama books that make for good brain candy and travel reading. I'd brought up characters like Lucas Davenport (John Sandford) and and John Corey (Nelson DeMille) who I enjoy for their thick sarcasm and thought patterns unadulterated by modern human resources department filtering. Both authors allow their characters to think all the things we're generally better off filtering out of polite conversation. Tom recommended I take a ......
  123. 02/07/2011Lotusphere 2011 Wrap-UpIt may not have been the most exciting, but from IBM’s perspective it may have been one of the most successful Lotusphere events in recent memory. From the Opening General Session right through to the last minute, IBM set the tone and topic more effectively and more in tune with customer demand than I’ve ever seen them do before. While the rest of the industry is talking excitedly about magic cloud computing solutions and social interactions like Facebook, IBM asks the question “How can we use this for ......
  124. 02/07/2011Presentations from LS2011These presentations were delivered at Lotusphere 2011: JUMPSTART: Defense Against the Dark ArtsGabriella Davis and I have revised our pre-conference jumpstart this year, organizing it not by security feature, but rather by threat vector. We've broken down the security around Domino into the risks as they come from different kinds of characters and what you should be doing to counter those risks.Best Practices: Performing Your Own IBM Lotus Domino Security ReviewThis is a strategy and technique session, ......
  125. 01/20/2011Credit where it's due - IBM Finally made the Sofware Access Catalog on Parterworld Useable!It's years overdue, and they've taken a lot of criticism for years about it (including from me) -- but IBM Partnerworld actually --IMPRESSED-- me with the changes to the software access catalog. It only took about 5 clicks to find it from the Partnerworld login page (and you can make your own shortcut that gets you to within 2 pages of it). Once there, the minute I started typing my search term ("Traveler" in this case) the correct matching options dropped down and the top option was the latest version. ......
  126. 01/17/2011Here's why your Snow Thrower may be leaking gas all over your garage.Eighteen months ago I wrote a little article about how to adjust the brakes on a lawn tractor because I couldn't find the information myself when I searched. It's turned out to be one of the most appreciated articles on the site, and I still get "thank you" notes on it regularly. In that spirit, here's a similar article for owners of Tecumseh engines on snow throwers (aka snowblowers) and lawn mowers. The same thing has happened again. I found very little helpful information on this problem when I ......
  127. 12/17/2010The small shop upgrade - Here's a customer that really loves their Notes client.I'm on my way this morning to perform any upgrade for an customer of mine. They're moving to Notes 8.5.x on the server as well as the client. That in itself isn't all that uncommon. Here's what you may find surprising. There are only two people in this office, and they don't use any Notes apps any more. They just just love the Notes client and they trust it, in combination with the server, to provide a reliable and highly functional mail system. This customer originally was given a Notes client while at a ......
  128. 12/12/2010The Lotus Awards – Formerly the Beacon Awards -- no longer represent the BEST of what’s out thereI’ve been fortunate enough to have been nominated for the Lotus Awards three times. I’ve been a finalist twice, and I’ve won an award category once. Peer recognition is very gratifying and I certainly felt honored by the experience -- especially as one man shop, where I have to imagine,propose, sell, develop, deliver, and support the solution personally from start to finish. That’s why I’m so disappointed with the direction the award has taken recently. The awards are meant to represent the very best work ......
  129. 12/07/2010Sad to say that I have some CULT SHIRT sponsorships still openWith just a day or two left before I have to commit to the shirt order, we have fewer sponsorships this year than we have had in many years. That's going to mean a few less shirts will be out there. With one last minute drop-out due to the economy, as of now we'll have a bit over 1300 shirts -- that's down 400 from our biggest year. The shirts will still be out there, but they're going to be a bit harder to get your hands on. Last minute sponsors are still welcome today and tomorrow, but by Thursday I've ......
  130. 12/06/2010TOP GEAR USA: UPDATE -- It's getting much better. Show #3 was excellentI just thought I'd update my previous review -- show #1 definitely sucked. Show #2 was better. Show #3 was funny as hell. Nicely ......
  131. 12/03/2010Even if you don't ski, consider SKILUG this year - it's going to be different, and funGet together with your LUG friends without ditching your family. Bill Malchisky has been working really hard to organize a different kind of 'LUG and I think it's got real potential. He's just announced SKILUG for 25-27 Feb 2011. The idea is to mix a FAMILY weekend with both conference and fun. Bill has been organizing ski club trips for years and wanted to mix that up with a user's group meeting. The concept is outstanding. He's arranging for airport transportation shuttles, food, lodging, group rates for ......
  132. 12/03/2010Here's what I'll be presenting at LS11This year at Lotusphere 2011 I'll be presenting the following: 1. On Jumpstart Day, I'll be presenting with Gab Davis about security. The session is called "Defense against the Dark Arts". Gab has been doing a lot of work on this already, and I'll be jumping in to work with her on it in about a week when I'm visiting with them. For the last several years, we've done our A-Z of Security in this space. The problem has been that it is increasingly difficult to cover so much material in under two hours. Gab's ......
  133. 11/22/2010Top Gear USA – It’s a great joke, told badly.I’ve watched Top Gear for years, so with a bit of trepidation I turned on History Channel to watch the first show of Top Gear USA. The idea was to bring the hit British show to the US market. They’d use our roads, our presenters, and some of our cars. Overall impression: They copied the format, but they didn’t get the joke. It’s like they took the UK version of the show and sucked out all spontaneity, humor, and class then moved it to the ugliest settings imaginable. If Top Gear is steak, potatoes, and a ......
  134. 10/26/2010CULT LS11 will be a limited run unless we have a few more sponsorsAs of right now, we have only half the sponsor slots filled for CULT shirts. Please pass the word around, or you'll find that we have far fewer shirts to hand out this year and you're far less likely to get one. I'm going to get mine either way, and having 50% fewer boxes means it will be far easier for me - so no problem there. Still, I'd love to make sure everyone gets one. Sponsorships are open to nearly anyone in the community. Typically this is IBM BP's and ISV's. It costs $1200 and you end up with at ......
  135. 10/20/2010The C.U.L.T. 2011 Top Ten List! Please add your suggestions here!Every year, the back of the C.U.L.T. shirt (Certified Unofficial Lotusphere Tshirt) includes a top ten list of one kind or another. This year is no exception. The topic for this year is Cloud Computing, and I'm looking for the best ten one line items in the following category: "Top Ten Things to Know about IBM in the Cloud" By "Best" things, I'm looking for things that are clever, funny, snarky, witty, subversive, and eye catching without being overly wordy, slanderous or libelous in any actionable way. ......
  136. 10/18/2010Where Lotus Live may present opportunities for Services PartnersThere’s been an understandable grumbling from the IBM Business Partner community surrounding the Lotus Live and Lotus Live Notes offerings. For years, IBM has pushed for Partners to sell licenses and then gone directly to those end customers to make the sale for renewals. In larger accounts, partners have complained of being undercut on licenses costs and generally not being treated well by the IBM sales force. I don’t sell licenses, but people I know and trust who do seem to give these stories a fair ......
  137. 10/17/2010Dear IBM - Wake the hell up. Your utter failure in enterprise identity management is killing all your products.What’s killing Lotus Notes as a first choice for Enterprise Mail in so many companies is not Lotus Notes. We know that with the work of DAOS, ID Vault, and other advances; the Domino server is kicking serious ass in terms of platform efficiency, server consolidation, resource management, and performance. We also know that the client has improved to the point where it no longer compares as the backward, ugly, hick relation to Outlook. Indeed, there are plenty of people who find it better looking and more ......
  138. 10/16/2010End of one era, start of another - on the same day.In 1991, one of the first consulting jobs I had was for Chipcom Corporation. I was working with a consulting firm out of Southborough, Mass at the time and they wanted a way to distribution information to their resale chain around the world. The world wide web we think of today wasn't an option in those days. We built a solution using a Lotus Notes server, with an "Octopus" 8 port serial card connected to a bank of modems. The modems allowed partners to connect and replicate using their Lotus Notes version ......
  139. 10/06/2010Got some cool stuff done with vs.Net combined with Domino Designer this weekThe remote software I use for Second Signal to relay audio data to the PBX and also to pick out the activation tones is written in Visual Studio, while the web server is Lotus Domino, and the PBX is Asterisk. The remote client communicates to the Domino server using Web Services, but until now it has only really been to post log data and send an alert when a tone-activation occurs. Setting up, configuring, and managing the the remote software had to be done using something like VNC to remotely control the ......
  140. 10/01/2010It's official (unofficially) -- There will be CULT shirts - Sponsorships are 1st come, 1st serveThere has been a surprising amount of interest in the shirts this year, so if you want to sponsor, get email to me quickly. I need to gather the sponsors over the next week or two so I know how many shirts to order. Follow this blog entry and the linked information to learn what you need to know. Sponsor or not, comment here if you have a favorite! You know the shirts: The first four years, managed by Henry "NEWBS" Newberry, with Rocky "Lotusgeek" Oliver --- 2000 - "Notes World Order" 2001 - "Domino ......
  141. 09/10/2010Time to talk about the CULT shirt for 2011Here's the official trial-balloon. Should there be a CULT Shirt for 2011? How many people/companies are interested in sponsoring it? Anyone have any great ideas? To be honest, I want to see some enthusiasm before I start down the road of gathering sponsors, ordering shirts, and doing ......
  142. 09/02/2010Linux ext3 file system performance wierdnessI've had trouble off and on with a couple of Domino servers on linux. The server goes pear shaped and when I ssh in and look at the console, Domino is reporting drive errors. If you attempt to do anything on the OS at all, you quickly see that the whole file system has shifted into a "read-only" state. This is a bit like a car with a transmission problem shifting into "limp-home" mode. Needless to say, Domino doesn't like being unable to write to the disk. It has happened to me specifically with the most ......
  143. 08/31/2010A few tips for car sales people - if you ever want my business.I've been shopping for cars again. This one is a replacement for the spousemobile, so unlike the one for my daughter, this will be new. Having done a fair bit of shopping, here are some tips for you car sales people out there. #1. Do not bullshit me. I may know more than you think. It's just possible that I know how to build that car you're showing me. One lady insisted that I could ignore the EPA mileage sticker on a new Honda or Nissan (which happened to be what is on her lot) because (and I quote) ......
  144. 08/22/2010Creating a form generating tool that lets non-technical publshers create rich web formsI've been working on a tool for a client that wants to be able to create web forms to use on their site without learning any programming at all. At the same time, I don't trust any data from the browser side on a web site. I always assume that the browser side is open to hackers. That means any submitted form data has to be validated before it is accepted. Here's what I did... For publishing, I used the CKEditor, which is the web browser rich editor I've standardized on. For most web publishing uses, I use ......
  145. 08/13/2010That didn't take long. Oracle is suing Google over the use of Java. Is IBM next?According to this report, Oracle is suing Google over the use of Java in its Android operating system and applications. It hasn't been that long since Oracle bought Sun, and with it gained a controlling interest in the way the Java license is interpreted. On the one hand, it seems unlikely that this suit will go anywhere. On the other hand, by betting your operating system and application strategy on a run time environment that is controlled by one of your top competitors, you are only asking for trouble. ......
  146. 07/20/2010IBM has invented the time machine - and not in a good waySteve Mills is now in charge of both hardware and software. According to The New York Times.... The management changes, announced in an e-mail message to I.B.M. employees, were intended to improve the company’s products and services, Mr. Palmisano wrote. For example, computer hardware and software are for the first time being placed under the oversight of one executive......Increasingly, Mr. Palmisano wrote, computer systems must be “designed and brought to market as tightly integrated” packages of ......
  147. 07/18/2010A lot of work, but something I've always wanted to do -- Fixing up a car for one of my kidsOne of the things I've thought about for years and have always wanted to do, is to fix up a car for one of my kids. I'm not sure why, but its just something that I've thought about since they were really small. Of course, daydreams being what they are, the reality is never quite as grand in scale -- the 70's era muscle car turns out to be a 2002 Kia, and instead of an old pole barn to work in, the car is up on ramps in my driveway. Still, I'm really enjoying getting to do the work, being able to do the ......
  148. 07/13/2010Old Spice -- Their marketing team fully groks social media. You know the old spice guy (I'm on a boat)? I don't care for their products, but their ad people have gone social nuclear. Read this to see how they've totally "Got" social media promotion. ......
  149. 06/22/2010Product Review: Plantronics Savi Office wireless headsetOverview While at The View conference in Boston, on the recommendation of Chris Miller I took at close look at the Savi Office wireless headset from Plantronics at the display booth. What I was looking for was a good wireless headset that had better range and quality than the various Bluetooth devices I’ve tried. The representative from Plantronics and I had an interesting conversation about the future of various VoIP products, after which he decided to give me his demo display model to try out and ......
  150. 06/16/2010Ed Brill has a blog. Peter O'Kelly has blog...Ed is an executive at one of the largest corporations in the world. Peter is not an executive. He's a smart guy and he works for Microsoft, but its not the same. When Ed makes a statement about a product, he is literally speaking for IBM. When Peter makes a statement, he's sharing his opinion. I'm not discounting Peter's opinion. He's a smart guy and he's got a lot to say. On Ed's blog, any lunatic with an axe to grind can post pretty much anything they want without moderation. At most, truly crazy or ......
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