May 2008

Polish Beat Machine

by Volker Weber

More >

[Thanks, Axel]

Read at Work

by Volker Weber

Title says it all. Read >

Apple Store: 97€ Gutschein

by Volker Weber

Gutscheincode: GGCBNT9CU5
Wert: 97€
Gültig Bis: 28.06.2008
Mindestbestellwert: 997€

Damit kostet ein iMac oder ein MacBook gerade mal noch 902 Euro.

More >

X.509 certificate renewed

by Volker Weber

certificaterenewed08
All my mail messages originating from the Mac will be signed. Just renewed my X.509 certificate and need to get it out there.

LotusScript editor for Eclipse spotted in the wild

by Volker Weber

lseclipse

Coding Horror: Designing For Evil

by Volker Weber

Websites that allow users to post content will always be vulnerable to the actions of a handful of evil, spammy users. It's not pleasant. It is a dark mirror into the ugly underbelly of human nature. But it's also an unfortunate, unavoidable fact of life: some of your users will be evil. And when you fail to design for evil, you have failed your community.

More >

Windows Vista geht vom Markt

by Volker Weber

Aus für Windows Vista. Zumindest auf dem Papier. Das in Fürth ansässige Medienunternehmen Computec Media AG nimmt die Computerzeitschrift nach der Juli-Ausgabe, die am 18. Juni erscheint, vom Markt. Objektleiter Thilo Bayer begründet den Schritt auch damit, "dass Windows Vista als Betriebssystem die hohen Erwartungen bis heute nicht erfüllt hat." Hauptgrund ist aber die Marktsituation: "Trotz der hervorragenden redaktionellen Qualität des Magazins ist die Zielgruppe der Windows-Vista-User einfach zu klein, um rentable Vertriebszahlen zu erwirtschaften", sagt Johannes Sevket Gözalan, Vorstandsvorsitzender von Computec Media.

More >

Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5 Public Beta Release available

by Volker Weber

Get your download link here. The thread also contains what's new.

IBM Lotus Symphony released

by Volker Weber

I don't have a press release, but apparently IBM has quietly published Symphony 1 today. However, the IBM download server is hosed. I have to chuckle every time IBMer say "does not scale".

www14ibmcomdoesnotscale

Things younger than John McCain

by Volker Weber

For instance: The Golden Gate Bridge, McDonalds, Plutonium, Mount Rushmore, Helvetica, and many more >

[Thanks, Hajo]

Concert for Guitar and Gameboy

by Volker Weber

Gameboy

Heute beim ZGDV gehört. Am Samstag ab 19:20 auf der ECHO-Bühne:

Bitpop von zwei Jungs aus Darmstadt: Der eine schrammelt auf seiner Western-Klampfe, schaltet hie und da Verzerrer und WahWah hinzu. Der andere beackert seinen Gameboy mit LSDJ. Ihr Album "8-bit Lagerfeuer" erzählt in acht Songs von traurigen Robotern, der Einsamkeit im Computerdungeon und anderen herzergreifenden Szenarien.

Alle Lieder sind unter einer Creative Commons-Lizenz veröffentlicht und stehen auf der Homepage www.pornophonique.de zum kostenlosen Download bereit. Wem's gefällt, der kann/soll/ muss die Jungs supporten: Das Album gibt's im Online-Shop der Band nämlich auch als CD. In todschicker schneeweißer Dose mit Sichtfenster und acht Variant-Covern, gestaltet von der Crème de la Crème der deutschen Comic-Szene. Zum lächerlich günstigen Preis von 12 !. W00t!

Kai Richter: Gitarre, Gesang, C64
Felix Heuser: Gameboy

More >

Hanno: LinuxTag musste abgesagt werden…

by Volker Weber

“... keiner der Teilnehmer hatte es geschafft, die Bildschirmausgabe seines Laptops am Beamer zu konfigurieren.”

Die Erfahrung kann ich bestätigen. Bei meiner letzten Vortragsreihe hatten wir auch einen mit Linux-Notebook. Der hat nicht einmal ein vernünftiges Bild hingekriegt. Einmal mussten wir 'ne Stunde später zum Essen fahren.

More >

Quote of the day

by Volker Weber

So cheer up, Mom and Dad. You don't have to be embarrassed any more about discussing the facts of life with your child. She'll be happy to explain them to you.
William Saletan

Address book now syncs with Google

by Volker Weber

abgoogle

Cool new feature in OS X 10.5.3: the address book now syncs with Google. Can I please have that for iCal as well? :-)

Neuer qualifizierter Mietspiegel für Darmstadt

by Volker Weber

Der Magistrat der Wissenschaftsstadt Darmstadt hat in seiner Sitzung am vergangenen Mittwoch (21.) die von Stadtrat Jochen Partsch eingebrachte Neuauflage des Mietspiegels einstimmig beschlossen.

Am Mietspiegel mitgearbeitet haben das Institut Wohnen und Umwelt in Darmstadt (IWU), das die wissenschaftliche Untersuchung durchgeführt hat, der Mieterverein Darmstadt und Umgebung e.V., Haus und Grund Darmstadt e.V., die beide als Vertretungen der Mietvertragsparteien den Mietspiegel 2008 mittragen, das Amtsgericht Darmstadt, die Bauverein AG sowie das Amt für Wohnungswesen der Wissenschaftsstadt Darmstadt.

Nicht so leicht zu finden, deshalb hier der direkte Link.

Notice to all Vista users

by Volker Weber

Please quit whining. We know it's bad. Not for everybody, but maybe for you. If you don't like it, cut your losses. Going back to XP might look like an option, but it probably isn't going forward.

There is life after Microsoft. Trust me. And don't even bother buying Office for the Mac. It is available but it sucks just as badly. I have converted my XP Professional license to a virtual machine and I use that for all my legacy software. Not more than an hour a week, btw.

Mac OS X 10.5.3 released

by Volker Weber

10.5.3

This is a pretty large download. If you need to update more than one machine, I would download the file once and then copy it over to the other machines: update from 10.5.2 (420 MB) or combo update from 10.5 (536 MB). Not that it is so much faster:

10.5.3

Who needs Quickr connectors for Linux and Mac?

by Volker Weber

If you need to connect from Linux or Mac into Quickr, let Stuart know. He will be talking to IBM.

More >

elguji is looking for LinkJam beta testers

by Volker Weber

LinkJam our social bookmarking application for IBM Lotus Notes and Domino will soon be going into a private managed beta. If you are interested in participating please let us know

Think "del.icio.us or Dogear on Lotus Domino".

More >

Twitter, get well soon

by Volker Weber

twittergetwellsoon

Would you dare walking this path?

by Volker Weber

New poll: mobile phones on a plane?

by Volker Weber

Air travel is relatively quiet. On international flights they try to sell you duty free goods, and on budget airlines they try to sell you everything but the bare seat. But mobile phones have to be switched off, so you are basically off the grid for a few hours. This may be changing soon. So here is the question:

Would you like to be able use your mobile phone in flight? Three answers:

  1. Yes, that would be cool
  2. No thanks, silence please
  3. I don't care

Results:

pollresultsmobilephoneplane

Ritt auf dem Amtsschimmel

by Volker Weber

Meine Vespa hat ein riesiges Motorradnummernschild mit folgendem Kennzeichenmuster: DA - B 123. Ein Buchstabe, drei Zahlen. Letzte Woche fuhr ich hinter einer anderen 125er mit Leichtkraftradkennzeichen her. Ob ich sowas wohl auch haben könnte? Rasch zur Zulassung und eine Nummer gezogen:

nummer

Auskunft der Fachkraft: Nein, das ginge nicht. Dazu müsste ich ja das Fahrzeug ummelden. Nach kurzem Insistieren: Da müsse ich die Kollegin in Zimmer 1 fragen. Die sagt ganz ehrlich: "Weiß ich nicht". Und schaut ins Gesetz sowie den Computer, um meinen Schlüssel rauszusuchen. Dann meint sie: Kein Problem. Ich müsse nach neuem Recht sogar ein kleines Schild haben. Nummernschild abschrauben, Fahrzeugschein zeigen, Gebührenmarke kaufen, neues Nummernschild, altes entstempeln, neues Stempeln.

Also raus, Nummernschild abgeschraubt, zur Fachkraft. Sie sagt: "Geht nicht. Sie haben ja eine Motorradnummer. Die passt nicht auf ein Leichtkraftradschild." Wie denn die neue Nummer aussehen würde? Zwei Buchstaben und drei Ziffern. Also DA - AB 123. Ich frage also, warum eine Nummer mit einem Buchstaben weniger nicht auf das Schild passe. Darauf hin zieht sich die Fachkraft auf die Position zurück, das sei halt die Gesetzgebung. In welchem Gesetz das stehe, konnte sie dann nicht sagen. Wie schade, dass das Muster in der StVZO genau so aussieht wie meine aktuelle Kombination.

Mein altes Nummernschild durfte ich dann aber doch behalten.

It's "Make your own caption" time

by Volker Weber

caption

I want that sign

by Volker Weber

fridge-magnet

More >

Do not enter

by Volker Weber

New Sonos ZonePlayer 120 spied

by Volker Weber

Thore has alerted us that UK-based Automated Home has exclusive pictures of the upcoming ZP120, which looks very much like the real thing. Upgraded Wifi, smaller size, minus two Ethernet ports and analog audio out. That's not good for Sonos, since people will hold off ZP100 purchases until the new kit is out. The site also speculates about a ZP80 successor with upgraded Wifi, but has no pictures of that.

Whom do you see in these pictures?

by Volker Weber

braunseries1

braunseries5

braunseries7

Sun xVM VirtualBox: free x86 virtualiztion

by Volker Weber

TUAW reports:

We first noted the open-source virtualization application VirtualBox way back in 2007, and since then this open-source competitor to VMware Fusion and Parallels has come a long way. Most importantly, perhaps, the project was acquired by Sun Microsystems and has now become Sun xVM VirtualBox with a great deal more support.

Free is good. But xVM does not import VMware machines. And I don't want to do a any Windows install again.

More >

Action Required - Confirmation of your ILUG 2008 attendence

by Volker Weber

If you registered for ILUG 2008, look for this email in your inbox:

we are very near capacity, we would like to confirm your intention to attend the ILUG 2008 event on June 4th, 5th, and 6th. We would ask that you respond to this email confirming that you will be there. If you are not planning on attending or if your plans have changed, also let us know. That way we can free up your registration slot for others, as well as let the event staff know updated numbers.

We would like to have your RSVP response no later than Wednesday, May 28th.

It's very important that you let the organizers know if you are attending or not. If you don't show up, and you don't tell them now, bad things will happen to you. Bad things.

Design is all about removing things

by Volker Weber

Software developers love status messages. I am not sure why, but it probably has to do with debugging. They also like to show off the richness of their application, all the choices the user has. The user however does not care about these things at all. The software should just do its job. Quietly and effortlessly.

In this respect the iPhone is a user's dream, and the E90 is a developer's masterpiece. On the iPhone I don't make any settings at all to connect to the Internet, to browse, or to fetch my mail. It asked me once for the credentials of my WLAN, when it first encountered it. Now it quietly uses the WLAN when it sees it, and otherwise falls back to the mobile APN.

e90

The E90 in contrast asks me the same question all over again. And again. And again. And again. Easily a hundred times a day. Which access point should it take? It consistently gets the same answer again and again. And again. And again. And again. The WLAN access point when it's available, and otherwise the mobile APN. When it loses the connection it happily displays the status message "Disconnected" and then asks the same simple question again. And again. And again. And again.

The world is full of these annoyances. Vista added a lot of them over XP. It makes people hate their computers.

Getting rid of these annoyances may be the secret of Apple's success. They are going out of their way to remove them. The iPhone is just one example. There are many more. Safari for instance justs logs me in to my sites. It does not only present the credentials and lets me make the choice to send them. It logs me in. I can log out if I want, but the default is of course that I do log in every single time. Why should it ask? Yes, a developer will find a reason. But for each developer there are thousands of users who have to suffer from bad decisions.

If you think design means to make shiny things, you are dead wrong. Design means a lot more. A lot. You are not done, until you have removed everything possible.

New firmware for Nokia E90 (210.34.75)

by Volker Weber

Ladies and Gentlemen, start your Nokia Software Updater.

More >

Sad Song Long

by Volker Weber

sad song long

Fast and easy SATA docking

by Volker Weber

quickport

Simply connect this docking station for SATA HDDs (2.5" and 3.5") to the USB port of any PC, insert the HDD into the slot and you’re ready to transfer! You can access the connected HDD immediately — without software installation or significant effort!

More: Quickport and Quickport Pro. 25 € and 35 €. I'm at the store now.

[via Kristof]

Computerwoche kann auch Homestorys

by Volker Weber

Dass der SAP-Mitbegründer zwei Drittel seines auf sechs Milliarden Euro geschätzten Privatvermögens in eine Stiftung eingebracht hat, die Krankenhäuser, Schulen und Altersheime unterstützt - nur eine Randnotiz. Dass er kleine Software- und Biotech-Unternehmen mitfinanziert und dass von seinen Zuwendungen eine Eishockey-Mannschaft, ein Handballverein sowie der Golfclub St. Leon-Rot profitieren - interessiert doch keinen! Aber dass eine 3300-Seelen-Gemeinde einen Profi-Fußball-Club hervorgebracht hat, bewegt die Massen. Umso mehr, als die TSG Hoffenheim seit dem 18. Mai dieses Jahres nun sogar erstklassig ist.

More >

Steve Ballmer Gets the Egg in Budapest

by Volker Weber

Can anybody translate from Hungarian?

More >

[Thanks, Pieterjan]

Now I'm scared: Google Health

by Volker Weber

With Google Health, you can store and manage all your health information in one place. And it's completely free. All you need to get started is a Google username and password.

More >

Rechtsansprüche

by Volker Weber

Das Risiko, keine Lehrstelle oder Arbeit zu finden, sei bei Menschen ohne jeden Abschluss besonders hoch. In Deutschland soll es darum künftig einen Rechtsanspruch auf eine Hauptschulabschluss geben.

Wie wär's mit einem Rechtsanspruch auf einen Führerschein. Ohne den ist es auch schwierig.

More >

[Wer das fehlende n findet, darf es behalten.]

Long error message

by Volker Weber

longnoteserrormessage

This is the start of a very long error message. You need to press the space bar to get rid of it. Can't do it with the mouse. Find the rest here or there. Sorry, I can't capture the lower part, although I have a pretty large screen.

Pretty useless, isn't it?

Cute

by Volker Weber

Rands In Repose: We Travel in Tribes

by Volker Weber

...what I care about, and what has value to me, is the tribe of people in my ecosystem. Twitter is the best social network out there; it’s a great social search engine; and it’s a short strategic hop from being a terrific next generation address book. ...

Twitter’s value has nothing to do with the technology.

Measuring uptime is an interesting nerd exercise, but Twitter’s value lies in how it stays out of the way and allows people to easily connect so they can share their thoughts and, more importantly, explore their differences.

More >

[via Daring Fireball]

Free Lotus Notes Diagnostic utility

by Volker Weber

Lotus Notes Diagnostic is an unsupported utility that you can download and use to automatically perform repetitive tasks associated with analyzing files from a Lotus Domino server crash, hang, or performance issues.

More >

Why do you go to the office?

by Volker Weber

Seth writes about meetings and conferences. Interesting quote:

And here's what a conference organizer owes the attendees: surprise, juxtaposition, drama, engagement, souvenirs and just possibly, excitement.

It's exactly what has made ILUG 07 so great. And I trust it will happen again at ILUG 08. What I find even more interesting however is this:

If you're a knowledge worker, your boss shouldn't make you come to the (expensive) office every day unless there's something there that makes it worth your trip. She needs to provide you with resources or interactions or energy you can't find at home or at Starbucks. And if she does invite you in, don't bother showing up if you're just going to sit quietly.

I've worked in three companies that had lots of people and lots of cubes, and I spent the entire day walking around. I figured that was my job. The days where I sat down and did what looked like work were my least effective days. It's hard for me to see why you'd bother having someone come all the way to an office just to sit in a cube and type.

More >

Why Apple is more expensive than Amazon

by Volker Weber

The reason you can find more music on Amazon at a lower price is that the Record Labels want it that way. Do you think they charge Apple and Amazon the same price for each track and Apple simply charges you more and pockets the difference as a higher markup? The labels would like you to think that, but they actually charge Amazon less for each track, and that’s how Amazon can charge you less.

Repeat after me: DRM is bad for the customer.

More >

News.com: Microsoft confirms Windows adheres to broadcast flag

by Volker Weber

Microsoft has acknowledged that Windows Media Centers will block users from recording TV shows at the request of a broadcaster.

"Microsoft included technologies in Windows based on rules set forth by the (Federal Communications Commission)," a Microsoft spokeswoman wrote in an e-mail to CNET News.com. "As part of these regulations, Windows Media Center fully adheres to the flags used by broadcasters and content owners to determine how their content is distributed and consumed."

Repeat after me: DRM is bad for the customer.

More >

[Thanks, Malte]

Seth Godin: Why word of mouth doesn't happen

by Volker Weber

Sometimes, what you do is done as well as it can be done. It's a service that people truly love, or a product they can't live without. You're doing everything right, but it's not remarkable, at least not in the sense of "worth making a remark about."

What's up with that?

More >

Is 64k too much for Domino?

by Volker Weber

64ktoomuchfordomino

Here is your chance to tell IBM what YOU want in Notes/Domino 8.5

by Volker Weber

Andrew has an excellent posting that needs your comments:

It isn't a secret that I'm in the Design Partner program. Because of that, I can't (and won't) talk about what is or is not getting done in the pre-beta releases and information we're seeing. I won't even hint at it by telling you what my expectations are for the release. I don't want you to glean from me what I think is good and bad in the current program. I think it might be refreshing, however, for some of the IBM'ers who read this blog to hear what you have to say. I want to make sure that opinions on the inside of the Big Blue Wall match those on the Outside of it.

Let me just say that some Design Partners seem to be frustrated to no end. You also saw some people leaving IBM. Here is your chance to tell IBM which hard problems to solve instead of coming out with more and more shiny dangly stuff.

More >

Five people sent me a link to this video today

by Volker Weber

Yes, I have seen it. :-)

Bye bye to two subnets from India

by Volker Weber

Two spam comments from the same subnet in India:

cheaplabor122163

Two clicks each and the spam comments are gone. Then one trip to Terminal:

whois 122.163.23.45

inetnum: 122.162.0.0 - 122.163.255.255
netname: ABTS-DSL-8972-del
descr: ABTS DELHI,
descr: Broadband and Telephone Service 224,Okhla Phase III,
descr: New Delhi
descr: Delhi
descr: India

And add one line to .htaccess:

deny from 122.162.0.0/15

Case closed. Bye, bye.

Free download: The Photoshop Anthology: 101 Web Design Tips, Tricks & Techniques

by Volker Weber

From my inbox:

Hello,

Thanks for visiting sitepoint.com. Here's the details to download your free copy of our book "The Photoshop Anthology: 101 Web Design Tips, Tricks & Techniques."

You can download a high-res copy of the book in PDF format here:
http://photoshop.s3.sitepoint.com/photoshopLG.zip
File Size: 64Mb

photoshop giveaway

Not for the Photoshop Pro, but a good beginner's book.

Brand new Google Reader for iPhone

by Volker Weber

Very impressive. Take your iPhone to http://www.google.com/reader/i/.

More >

Office 2008 SP1 install causes setup assistant to loop

by Volker Weber

After applying the Office 2008 for Mac SP1 Updater, some uses are experiencing a problem where the Setup Assistant starts up every time they try to launch any Office application.

This situation is a result of when the Office Setup Assistant detects that an invalid Product Key was used to install Office 2008. David Pelton, Microsoft MacBU core lead test has outlined below how to fix the problem and requests users to work with him to help chase down the issue to keep it from happening in the future.

This does not look like a bug to me. :-)

More >

Bob Picciano interview on LotusUserGroup.org

by Volker Weber

New IBM Lotus General Manager, Bob Picciano, spent some time with Debbie Lynd of LotusUserGroup.org in his first interview to the Lotus community.

Softball questions for sure, but interesting anyway. Right click to download >

BlackBerry Lotus Connections client scores only 2 out of 5

by Volker Weber

bbconnectionshome.png

IBM releases a Connections client for the BlackBerry which leaves a lot to be desired. It's currently only covering two out of the five Connections subsets: Profiles and DogEar. Profiles is a good thing, but DogEar is less exciting since you can't browse the web with a BlackBerry in any meaningful way anyhow.

bbconnectionslogin

Setup was extremely easy. Download from RIM, install with javaloader, enter user name, password and server. Off you go. Here is a screenshot from Profiles:

bbconnectionsprofiles

What is sadly missing is Activities. That would be information you need when away from your desk. If you select Activities – or Communities, or Blogs – you are being thrown into the browser and dropped off at the login prompt of the general desktop experience:

/bbconnectionsactivities

No Activities client on the device, not even a device UI on the Portal. That's very disappointing. Yeah, the next version ...

Atlassian User Group Meeting in Frankfurt

by Volker Weber

Am 29.Mai 2008 findet das dritte Atlassian User Group Meeting in Frankfurt am Main statt.

Atlassian stellt unter anderem Confluence her, eines der Wikis, die IBM in Connections einbindet. Unter Entwicklern ist eher der Bugtracker JIRA bekannt.

More >

The Day There Was No News

by Volker Weber

[Thanks, Alper]

You can't do that in Notes

by Volker Weber

There is an old trick to get excellent Linux advice. If you ask "how do you do that with Linux" you may be waiting for advice forever. But if you state "you can't do that in Linux", Linux advocates will fall over themselves trying to prove you wrong.

If you watch carefully, you will see when I am applying the same trick to other communities. :-)

Sometimes however people saying "you can't do that" are seriously trying to get into the way of people actually doing what they think can't be done. It's currently happening to Bruce of elguji software, who are building LinkJam, a social bookmarking application as a pure Domino solution. This can't be done, since you need WebSphere, and Portal, and DB2. And pay $$$ to IBM for Connections in order to get DogEar. Or maybe you can?

Customers are probably going to love this. They can run their social bookmarking application on their existing Domino infrastructure. IBMers compensated for Connections revenues may not like it so much. Same goes for business partners who want their cut of the revenue stream. Or pundits who know this can't be done.

elguji has shown it before. They built IdeaJam for a lot less money than competing implementations. I bet they can do it again.

Service Pack 1 for Microsoft Office 2008

by Volker Weber

The Office 2008 SP1 Update (12.1.0) contains several changes that improve security, stability, and performance. This includes fixes for vulnerabilities that an attacker can use to overwrite the contents of a computer's memory by using malicious code.

In addition, this update includes all the improvements that are released in the Office 2008 for Mac 12.0.1 Update. For more information about the improvements in the Office 2008 for Mac 12.0.1 Update, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Free download in German and English.

More >

RIM Introduces the BlackBerry Bold Smartphone

by Volker Weber

bold

The new BlackBerry Bold smartphone from Research In Motion is the first BlackBerry smartphone to support high-speed HSDPA networks and comes with integrated GPS, Wi-Fi and a rich set of multi-media features.

More >

Google Friend Connect

by Volker Weber

Google Friend Connect lets you grow traffic by easily adding social features to your website. With just a few snippets of code, you get more people engaging more deeply with your site.

Looks pretty lame so far, but the architecture is promising since you can login with a number of existing accounts including OpenID. Anybody remember the product manager?

More >

Again & Again

by Volker Weber

[via TUAW]

Fifty

by Volker Weber

birthday2008

SAPPHIRE: Wolfgang Hilpert on SAP BPM | The Intelligent Enterprise Blog

by Volker Weber

I'm picking and choosing my sessions here at SAPPHIRE carefully, in part because I have some prearranged meetings specifically about BPM. I had a chance one-on-one meeting with Wolfgang Hilpert, SVP of NetWeaver BPM, this afternoon; funnily enough, just after I attended Ginger Gatling's session this morning, I had lunch in the press area, and when I mentioned that I'd seen the session on the new SAP BPM, three pairs of ears at the table swiveled around. These three, who I didn't know (nametags, unfortunately, hang below the level of the table when seated), gave me a light grilling on my opinions of what I had seen; although I figured that they worked for SAP, it wasn't until they stood up that I saw Hilpert's name tag.

More >

Interesting mashup: build a timeline of YouTube videos matching a search criteria

by Volker Weber

timetube

A Notes "Portal" desktop can be good looking

by Volker Weber

[Thanks, Eric]

Schweizer Amtsschimmel

by Volker Weber

schweizeramtsschimmel

Quelle: http://www.baselland.ch/docs/fkd/steuern/quelle/wegqst2005.pdf

[Thanks, Andy]

A developer asks: What should the Notes desktop really look like?

by Volker Weber

Are you still using the same desktop workspace in Notes that you were 10 years ago? Truth be told, it is a desktop paradigm that even looks ugly when compared to the Mac Finder interface in 1991. Although there have been attempts a replacement, most of us still use this dog of a UI with 32x32 pixel 16 color icons set into square blocks about 3 times that size. We can even organize these application icons any way we like - as long as we like gray on gray in a grid pattern. We can even have folder tabs to group your little square into families.

Why do we keep using this? Because the alternatives have been worse. Instead of focusing on what desktop users want out of an interface, IBM has for years combined mistaken approaches together into a huge waste of opportunity.

More >

Crackberry 9000 first look

by Volker Weber

[via Chris]

On heavy rotation

by Volker Weber

klassik lounge 7

[Thanks, Heiko]

OpenOffice.org 3.0 Beta available

by Volker Weber

open office 3 beta

OpenOffice.org 3 beta is immediately available in US English for MS-Windows, GNU/Linux, Mac OS X and OpenSolaris platforms from http://download.openoffice.org/3.0beta. This page also contains details of where to find localized builds and language packs as they become available.

More >

When ILUG and DNUG are not enough

by Volker Weber

lotus technical conference

So we have the ILUG and DNUG conferences at exactly the same date. That does not mean that IBM could not squeeze another event targeted at the same audience into the very same week.

[Thanks, Frank]

BlackBerry Enterprise Server Compatibility with Domino 8.0.1

by Volker Weber

In cooperation with IBM®, Research In Motion (RIM) has fully tested BlackBerry® Enterprise Server v4.1 Service Pack 5 with IBM® Lotus Notes® and IBM® Lotus® Domino® 8.0.1 and this combination is fully supported as being compatible.

More >

[via Ed Brill]

Schräge Sache

by Volker Weber

Mac als Wasserwaage >

[Danke, Alper]

KISS: Motofone F3

by Volker Weber

motofone f3

It was time to replace an ancient Nokia 6110 which was still serving its duty as "just a phone and nothing but a phone". Motorola has an excellent phone to take over this duty: the Motofone F3. High contrast black&white display for excellent readablitly, up to 300 hours standby or 500 minutes talk time. And it sells for less than 25 € unlocked. That's just 1€ short of the breakfast I had today.

What happened to your Microsoft investment?

by Volker Weber

In this chart you can see when Ballmer became CEO. And this chart shows you what would have happened in case you sold your Microsoft stock five years ago and bought Apple with that money. Or even better Research in Motion.

Are you still using folders to organize your mail?

by Volker Weber

mail folder

Sent some tweets this morning because I saw Alan asking question related to organizing mails. Then I thought this would be food for a more permanent discussion. Are you still using folders?

I gave up on folders a very long time ago. When I got started with Notes, I found categories to be a good concept, and in a way it still is. Tags are nothing but flat categories. Google calls them labels. Then with Notes 4 there were folders, because all other mail user agents (and the operating system) had folders too. Users did not need much training to understand them better than categories. I started using dozens of folders and put mail neatly into those little boxes. And then when I wanted to find something I needed to know where I put stuff.

It looked really neat. And it was a huge time sink.

Then I gave up on folders and just removed stuff from my inbox. In GMail it's called "Archive". No longer in the inbox, but still there. In Mac Mail I have a folder called "Done". It just serves as not the inbox. I read messages and act on them. Then they go there. If I can't act on them now, I leave them in the inbox with all the unread messages. Once in a while I find unread mails at the bottom of the stack, and act on it belated. But I never ever go to folders.

It does not make sense to invest into order, if you can find stuff in chaos just as quickly. I don't want to the janitor of my mailbox. I simply throw stuff behind me, and then send the computer searching for it, if I need something. And that works better than hunting through folders and folders.

How are you working?

Interesting visual search: Searchme.com

by Volker Weber

searchme.com

I am going to stick with Google, but this is an interesting approach to present search results. Where have I seen this interface before? :-)

More >

[Thanks, Chris]

Slow Out of Office replies

by Volker Weber

Just received an Out of Office more than five hours after sending the original mail. From a Domino 8.0.1 server. I thought this was fixed with ND8?

Way overpimped

by Volker Weber

Why is alanlepo using a tiger on Twitter?

by Volker Weber

alantwitter

I just had to wonder. And then it struck me:

alantomseparatedatbibirth

Are the ladies throwing their underwear, when Alan is presenting? ;-)


Joel Spolsky isn't happy with Ray Ozzie

by Volker Weber

It's Groove, rewritten from scratch, one more time. Ray Ozzie just can't stop rewriting this damn app, again and again and again, and taking 5-7 years each time.

I don't agree with Joel on this one:

Nobody cared then and nobody cares now, because synchronizing files is just not a killer application. I'm sorry. It seems like it should be. But it's not.

I use FolderShare and for me it is a killer app.

More >

Dilbert has an RSS feed. Woohoo.

by Volker Weber

After years of workarounds Dilbert finally has an official feed on Feedburner.

Sorry, I can't let you blog for this company anymore

by Volker Weber

Business Blogging Blunder

The iPhone will change the game. In more ways than one.

by Volker Weber

I have now used the iPhone for six months. I was reluctant at first. After all, the Nokia E90 is the best phone, hands down. If you can afford it and if you want to carry something that big and heavy. I still love it and use it every week. But ever so often, I leave it behind. And carry the iPhone.

BlackBerrys are also nice. They are the best email machines you can take along. But they suck badly at surfing the web. They are getting somewhat better with 4.3, but the experience isn't even close to an iPhone.

I heard you. The iPhone is not a business tool. Like the PC, when it was invented. I think it was Ken Olsen of Digital who said "who is going to buy this crap". IBM did not take it seriously, otherwise they would not have used somebody else's processor and operating system. However, it did change the game.

Today you may still see BlackBerry as the foremost business device. But this is about to change. The iPhone is simpler, it's easier to use, it's more fun to use. And I have recently talked to a big bad CIO who is sold on it.

The big push will be happening when iPhone 2.0 comes out. Which is next month. If you are not on Exchange, you will need to answer some new questions. Better start working on those answers. We have one for mail, Benjamin has written one for calendar (you did notice the author, didn't you?), Tommy has recommended DAMO, but there need to be more. If you have a working setup, let me know and I will link to it. This is going top be an ongoing topic.

Synchronizing iPhone with ... Lotus Notes

by Benjamin Stein

I can't remember nothing. I have to write down every appointment I make immediately. At my desk in the office I have Lotus Notes on Windows. Not my decision. It's just how it is. At home I have Mac OS X with iCal. On the way in between I have my phone.

But how do I manage to have those three calendars in sync?

More >

These are the companies that make the ILUG 2008 conference possible

by Volker Weber

ilug 2008 sponsors

Old vowe.net archive pages

I explain difficult concepts in simple ways. For free, and for money. Clue procurement and bullshit detection.

vowe

Paypal vowe