Back from Lotusphere and this is what i brought back

1) If your sticking with Notes for dev then learn xpages (best place is with Matt White at http://xpages101.net/ or at the http://xpagesblog.com/).
2) Mobile device support Android/iphone/blackberry, do not leave them out of ANY apps.
3) Flex is the RIA of choice.
4) Learn how to use Amazon s3 storage*.
5) Give lip service to dojo but use Jquery really.
6) Learn how to hack xml raw code (for Xpages/Websphere/Flex).
7) Ugly is out Out OUT*.
8) Tweak what ever your doing to sound like REST services.
9) Platform wise: for the client, Windows beats Mac, but Mac beats Linux (Eclipse is the future in all cases), server side: Redhat is the way to go.
10) Oldy but goldy: if your not learning Java, hurry up!!.

Well cloud computing really, but so far the only bit that is really cloud seems to be the storage, processor renting has not changed, however there is a bit more integration with other services.

**and Web 2.0 is in In IN (well thank you for that IBM)

There is other stuff like “we have gone API crazy, please integrate everything with everything”, but i recon that is the main points

LotuSphere Disclaimer: I have no intention of giving you any serious or useful information this lotusphere (well while not while im actually here at least, as there are too many people doing that already, go to planetlotus to find them

Now sharing a room with someone is a fab way of cutting the old LS costs down but after 2 days of sharing a room with the wretch, the cracks are showing,

what has he done you ask, well i tell you, he is tidy and reasonable, which is as far as im concerned is a crime against all that’s conference!!, i present exhibit A:

look at this bed!!, it has been slept in by a drunk person!!, where is the vomit, where is the ripped sheet and pillows on the floor, it a travesty, but there is worse to come:

he folds and lays out T-shirts before passing out, its wrong i tell you, tomorrow night i would not be surprised if he started hoovering, now THIS is how a hotel room should look

somewhere between a nest and a pit, with the sheets on the floor, socks should craw around the fetid air, growling gently.

P.S. I also attended a very good session Mr Tim Davis on blackberry and IPhone apps, but i turns out that i committed a number of terrible faux pas, that include asking question during the session and sliding out once i had got all the info i wanted, (i feel shamed)

Now I’m not a big ranter at IBM (after all it has helped me keep bread on my children’s table these many years), but this small thing is simply totally stupid!

As a flex developer, I was well aware of ILOG and their famous Elixir product that has some of the best Visualisation stuff (Gantt charts, Dials etc) that you can get, but I did not have a project I could justify buying it with, but suddenly I had one which I could use the calendar element for, so off I go to the companies website credit card in hand, only to discover that IBM have purchased them, “cool” I go, “better integration with domino etc etc, now where’s the ‘buy now’ button?, it used to be around here?”,

Colour me surprised, but its gone!!, replaced with the stock IBM “We’re here to help”, if you click on the “Request a Quote” you are submitted to the normal questionnaire, that basically says “we only care about big corporations that we can fleece”, I cant even find out how much it costs anymore as the “pricing information” link does not give you any information of the prices (or in fact any prices at all)

“but wait!” I hear you cry, ILOG used to be a small company, so its easy for them to do small sales, its different for big companies, well fair enough, I wonder if there is a small company still selling the product on line, and their is, their name is ADOBE (Ooooooo Tiny!!)

Mine got!! there is a price

When I click on this link I’m taken to a normal e-commerce site, with purchase options, licence types, and a variety of payment methods (including even paypal), nice and easy to use and not hard to do

come on IBM sort it out, your embarrassing us here!!!!!

Im at a leaving do and talking to old colleges, they are full of how bad a migration from notes x to notes 8 is going, and how the users are complaining and people higher up are talking about the “Ex*****e” word

Now IT people bitch all the time (i do it my self) but this did indeed sound very bad (20+ server crashes a week and 1000+ helpdesk calls), Id like to help, Id like to tell someone at Lotus so they can try and step in and offer assistance to prevent the evil outlook taking control, but quite frankly IBM already know (they were part of the initial migration), and I’ve seen this sort of thing happen so often that now i just give another shrug and think “another notes site lost”.

a pity, a pity 🙁

Well, i cant believe the last few days, they have been great from start to finished, from the perfect setting, to the company, to the content, all has been top notch. if you did not make it, TRY HARDER NEXT TIME!!. Everywhere i looked there were people to talk to, things to learn, Questions being answered, Vodka being drunk.

High points (Personal)

Maureen Leland’s session on domino designer, to get such straight answers from a person in the know was a breath of fresh air, and made us all very confident that the future is in good hands (can we all say domino Designer as plug in to Eclipse).

Mary Beth Raven coming up and getting my better half’s name right (i bet there’s no random .Net developer/bloger who can say the same of the head of Visual Studio design).

Opening a package to discover that all speakers had a little Lego model of them selves (happy grin).

Ben and My Session went ok, but should have gone better, will have to try harder next time, grrrrrr, giving out caffeine as your presentation gift is definitely the way to go

Bob P firmly re-confirmed him self as not only a “man of the community” (sound of stickfight being sick) but also as a real person not a fake corporate suit, i realise that sounds sickafantic, but tough, ive only encountered a few good high level managers and anyone who will demand the straight deal off Bill Buchan (a man not known for his shy and retiring nature) at 1am is not your normal corporate drone.

The conference its self felt like the “totally deniable lotusphere”, a place where you could say the things that we officially wrong but practically right.

There were traumatic moments, such as when a senior IBM person pointed at me and said “so YOUR stickfight!!!”, making me nearly dive out the back window.

Finally and most importantly a massive and grovelling thank you to Warren, Kitty, the sponsors and organisers, it reminds me of a chilli i ate this week “good shit, well made”,

Well that’s it, i think, im off to book my lotusSphere hotel before the spell wears off and i lose my unreasonable belief that lotus is going to turn it all around and we are gona be great again.