TechEd random thoughts from first 24 hours
May 25 2004
- The deal of the day has to be the parking lot in the harbor area behind the convention center. First, it's easier access than the multi-level convention center garage. Second, it's only $5, $3 cheaper than the convention center. Third, the pay machine takes credit cards. Life is good.
- You know you've been doing a job too long when the people who recognize you at a competitor's conference are the reporters. It was nice to see both John Fontana from Network World and Barbara Darrow from CRN yesterday.
- Late in the day, I finally got the show staff to open port 1352 in one of the wifi areas (the "wildwest" zone). Yes, it was a hassle to be blogging via Notes only yesterday. I know that the Blogsphere template has a way to blog via a browser, and I think Steve has mentioned similar plans for Dominoblog. Still, I wouldn't trade the benefit of being able to blog anywhere, with or without a wifi signal, all day yesterday for this slight inconvenience.
- Regarding the above, an IBM colleague who seemed pleasant to my face about the whole thing later blogged a snide comment about my choice to blog via Notes. I'm not going to have an internal fight in public, but Rob, you know that if I actually linked to your blog entry here, your hit rate would go up by orders of magnitude in mere minutes. And you might want to stop pretending to be a Notes guy on your bluepages profile.
- One thing I always like about attending Microsoft conferences is that they do the catering bit 100% right. There is always food and beverage around. They have Krispy Kreme donuts in the morning (along with "real" bagels). They have smoothie stations. And if none of that is good enough, the San Diego convention center has two genuine full-service Starbucks locations.
- There's someone here who has been in a few of the same sessions I've been to, the ones related to the state of the collaboration market, Exchange, and Notes migration. She was also in my audience for the competitive landscape presentation at the Chicago edition of the IBM Workplace launch. She probably doesn't know I recognize her, and that I know which very large organization she works for, and what the state of their Notes environment really is. Just interesting.
- Interesting that Microsoft's official transcript of the Monday keynote has a bit of an edit vs. what happened live. In the live session, we learned that, according to Rebecca Diaz, marketing people are "retarded". This faux pas was caught real time by Mr. Ballmer himself -- I suspect it's more than a little embarassing to have Ballmer be your apologist for a politically incorrect comment.
Post a Comment
- 2
Randall Shimizu | 5/25/2004 6:57:11 PM
The covention center has always had good.
- 3
Rock http://www.LotusGeek.com | 5/25/2004 8:51:32 PM
I will. Witte shouldn't say "eww" till he has tried it. And loading Outlook, for any reason, is unacceptable. Plus, how is he going to "FTP from RadioUserland" when he has no connectivity? At least you can blog when you think it, disconnected, and replicate it when possible.
If anyone else wants to read it, go to:
http://www.witte-family.net/blog/
Rock
- 4
tonyo | 5/25/2004 10:01:58 PM
of course, so is Notes, but it works, it's secure, it's flexible and you don't have to screw around with directories/permissions etc...
of course cause it's IGS, he would maybe prefer a COBOL based blog.
- 5
http://www.witte-family.net/blog/2004/05/18.html#a4 | 5/25/2004 10:09:51 PM
"I'm gearing up for Microsoft TechEd next week. I'm very excited about this year's conference. Looking forward to getting some meaty details on Longhorn and Kodiak."
Ed's other blog entry today makes it sound like Kodiak is dead, and there's been some other press on that too. And I haven't seen Longhorn mentioned once in the news from TechEd. Sorry Rob.
- 6
Tony Lee | 5/26/2004 8:15:53 AM
Looks like Microsoft managed to slip a mole into IBM B-).
- 7
Alan Lepofsky | 5/26/2004 8:52:50 AM
"Certainly Microsoft's recent efforts to create direct links between their developer community and their customers"... "I would love to champion a similar initiative at IBM." LOL... I guess Rob has never been to developerWorks (LDD, Notes Net) and taken a look at the forums. http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/communities.nsf
- 8
Ben Poole http://www.benpoole.com | 5/26/2004 11:11:28 AM
> I work for IBM Global Services
> as a Groupware Architect....
> MS Exchange and Lotus Notes are
> my specialties.
... and ...
> I guess that's what happens when
> you use Notes as a blogging client.
> Ewww.
... with friends like that, I guess Notes needs no enemies? :o)
- 9
Rob Witte http://www.witte-family.net/blog | 5/26/2004 5:38:40 PM
Ed -- I was just poking a little fun at you. There was a time when we Microsoft zealots in IGS enjoyed a bit of rivalry with the Lotus folks.
After reading your entry and considering further, it did come across a bit snide. Please accept my apologies, as this wass not my intent.
Certainly the results of your blogs speak for themselves. It's near the top of my personal blogroll to be sure. Blog on!
I removed the offending comment from my blog.
Cheers,
Rob
- 10
Rob Witte | 5/26/2004 5:40:25 PM
Safe to say, I am *NOT* pleased about the Kodiak details. I'm equally displeased at the state of Live Communication Server.
THe door is certainly open for Lotus to capitalize on Microsoft's Exchange missteps here. No need to capitalize on LCS, as Lotus already dominates with Sametime and I don't see MS catching up any time soon based on what I've heard of the LCS roadmap.
- 11
Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 5/27/2004 12:10:17 AM
I haven't blogged that one yet -- will do so in the morning -- but MS should be embarassed. One thing I've learned over the years is that when MS has to start emphasizing how strategic a product is, it's six months away from the scrap heap.
- 12 Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 5/27/2004 12:10:44 AM
I can do without the Krispy Kreme's but do enjoy a "real" bagel any chance I can get. :-)