A colleague alerted me to the announcement that Microsoft claim to be readying the release of information explaining how the PST mail file format works. Its strange that at a recent IBM workshop I had wondered if there would ever be a non Microsoft native email client to challenge Outlook – then lo and behold this comes along. So far there has been a lot of comment on this development and I think the following article from which I’ve quoted gives the best overview of this landmark announcement.
http://windowsitpro.com/article/articleid/103036/microsoft-opens-up-pst-for-business.html
So Microsoft will provide documentation so that any third-party vendor can recreate the PST format on other platforms, for free and without fear of recourse, and interoperate with PST files more seamlessly. The potential results of this transformation are far-reaching. For example, imagine Google email servers that interoperate directly with PST file stores on Windows PCs, Macs, or Linux boxes. Or third-party email solutions that can take an existing PST file and make the migration to a new solution easier than ever before.
Sorry! There was an error: Can’t coerce the value to a date. »« IBM and Teamsolutionz workshop on Notes and Domino 8.5
Yesterday I had the pleasure of attending a workshop hosted by IBM Belfast and organised by Teamsolutionz. The focus of the workshop was the latest and I think greatest release of Notes todate – 8.5.1 and the new features of the product. For those that don’t know – Notes/Domino is an application development platform for windows/mac/linux and web applications. Its also a mail system with presence awareness and social networking tools tailored to business.
I have used Notes since version 4. I’ve written various applications – Helpdesk, Time Recording, Knowledgebases. I’ve taken data from mainframes and minis and presented it in a form that users could easily manipulate and manage and it hasn’t costs the earth of taken man months of coding effort. I’ve actually written barebones apps with clients in meetings to let them see the RAD aspects of the tool.
So yesterdays focus was on the new features – and I’ll pick two out of the masses to focus on – one for developers and one for system administrators
Xpages
Wikipedia describes Xpages as
XPages are a design element of IBM Lotus Notes databases. They were introduced in Lotus Domino 8.5.0 which was formally announced at MacWorld 2009
Initially they provided a way for database developers to create web pages based on the database content. In Notes and Domino 8.5.1 released on 12 October 2009 XPages were extended to run both in a web browser and in the Notes client.
XPages work in parallel with the existing web capabilities of the Lotus Domino server, which were introduced in Domino 4.5 in December 1996.
XPages use JSF and the Dojo toolkit on the server, but developers create XPages with an Eclipse-based interface using both a GUI designer and XML-based “source” editor.
which in a kind way says that Notes has been sorely lacking in the area of tools that facilitate RAD for the web component side of development. With the addition of xpages in the Notes client application this means we have a “write web write once ” solution within the Lotus Notes Designer that we have used to put together our applications to date. The significance here is that the coding / design complexities of decent web apps will change completely if Xpages delivers on its promises. So far I’ve heard some comments regarding learning curve and complexities versus using Adobe Flex as a GUI builder. So the challenge is get stuck into xpages and see what its likely for a confirmed part-time Lotuscript hacker.
The important things are twofold
1) Can xpages deliver ?
2) Now tha the Notes Designer is FREE – can IBM and business partners attract the new developers to this great platform?
Daos
Is Microsoft taking the PST ? »« I killed a Blackberry and I liked it
Well actually I didn’t particularly like it since it happened on the one day this week I knew I would be out of the office. The background was that as I plugged it into my Vista 64 BIT machine to synchronise diary and PIM info – the blackberry desktop signalled that there were updates for the Blabkberry apps on the Bold itself. I allowed the upgrade to proceed – given that I had an hour to kill witing for something else to finish. Having had several blackberry models and having updated and upgraded them several times I wasn’t aiming for any issues – just a long update.
It appeared to run through but then stalled at net_rim_font_latin_truetype.cod. After giving it half an hour to respond and not being able to call Orange from it for support – in the end I had to disconnect and was left with a brick. White screen – with a thin white line at the top of the screen and then a few black lines before the remaining white screen. Despite repeated reboots and attempted resets I realised that the firmware was now corrupt and would probably have to be replaced.
Called Orange Business and explained to them – they tested remotely and confirmed unit was kapput. Next evening the replacement arrived and sailed through the same upgrade which was presented after the initial synchronisation. However I’m now missing the apps that had been downloaded for this replacement device and will have to go through the process of downloading and getting ALL the apps changed to the new device PIN.
So upgraders beware…. Blackberry Desktop Manager 5.0.0.11
IBM and Teamsolutionz workshop on Notes and Domino 8.5 »« WordPress bits
