Gee... David

I have noticed a consistent crash. When I launch Notes and a pop up for a missed alert appears, the window hangs. NSD launches and the application is listed as unresponsive until I kill the usual PIDs (nlnotes, ntaskldr, etc). Upon a reboot of the client, all is well. This seems to happen "every" time that I have a missed alert.

Has anyone else seen it?

Isn't this special! This email, caught up in our Spam Sentinel filter purports to update my Internet Explorer to the current version. Of course if you mouse over the link you find that it is 'really' addressed to http://rcgomes.net46.net/imgs/update.exe  The site, shockingly enough, is Russian.

So, should we send a 'note' to EVERYONE in our address book saying 'watch out for this hack'? Nope. In the first case, our Spam Filter caught it, as it should. In the next case, don't open suspicious email. (Hey, this one doesn't even LOOK like it came from Microsoft.) In the next, no one should follow links received in email that point to an executable such as "update.exe". Finally, why would MSN be sending update information for Microsoft's software?  

So, in summary, unless your contact list consists of people with dubious brain power, NO do NOT send an email to everyone saying "watch out for this.

I have to admit that I have no inherent reason for preferring Firefox over IE7. The fact is that I prefer the former because of the way it loads new tabs. Simple. I ask for a tab and I get one instantly. Not so with IE7. Microsoft wizards have done it again with a ridiculous routine that has to load a page that tells me it is blank. Gee, and I would never have known otherwise! It isn't this that annoys me, though. It is the fact that I have to WAIT while a blank page is loaded. How ridiculous is that? So, I use Firefox as my default browser and make adjustments in IE by having a half dozen blank pages open as members of my start up set.

A couple of weeks ago I found an hilarious piece on YouTube that struck close to home regarding UI design. Here's another similarly related piece that I found today that picks on Microsoft but, frankly, applies to all.

Enjoy!

I have been using the Notes 8.5 Beta for several weeks now and once I got past an odd composite application problem with my mail interface I have been very pleased!

Today, however, I found a 'wicked awesome' feature for Domino administrators and organizations. A new group membership feature simplifies administration by allowing for specification of predefined criteria for automatically selecting users for group membership. This feature applies to both the creation and the update of group membership. In addition it allows admins  to use the auto-populated groups for policy based on user's home servers.

Find out more at: What's Coming in Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5

For years I have 'tolerated' the FUD thrown in the general (heck, no, the specific) direction of Lotus Notes by an 'un-named' Redmond based software manufacturer. (Microsoft... so much for un-named). I find it interesting that I have not been an anti-Microsoft at all costs kind of person. I like, for example, Active Directory and Group Policy. I like Microsoft's virtualization environment, I even like Microsoft Outlook. In my job I don't advocate for one vendor or product over another based on my like or disdain for that company's marketing strategy. That said I find my customers are often led to conclusions about the benefits of a product based on which brand seems to be outselling the other.

To my dismay, IBM seemed to pride itself on remaining silent about its success in the market place especially with regard to its flagship product Lotus Notes/Domino. Not today! An IBM press release published yesterday will almost certainly get attention. In a nutshell, the Lotus brand is white hot. Check out the release for yourself... Oh, and by the way, remember that even with this release IBM remains the unquestioned master of the understatement.

IBM Press Release on MarketWire

Nepotism at work. My brother, Peter, is author of a blog "Discovery Architecture". He coined the term some time back (I think I inspired him!) and he has a lot of astute things to say on the subject. I have added a feed to my blog, as you may see on the left here. I hope you will take a look. I do and benefit often from doing so. He, with is ability to focus, remains on point to a far greater degree than I do but, hey, I can have fun can't I?

Thanks to Bruce Elgort for tipping me on a new site that promises to help me articulate some of my own concerns about design. As a consequence of my first visit to that site I found this AMAZINGLY funny/painful video that I insist is well worth your time. Chris Blatnick, who works for a sadly unnamed company, has a great site, "Interface Matters" Thanks to him for finding this super video:

Nice visit, so far, and the folks at CorpInfo are beyond nice! What a super bunch of people.

Took a little tour of the area tonight:

This week a former student in Davalen's Top Gun for WebSPhere Portlet Factory emailed a request for information regarding classroom setup. I realized that this is a common question so have provided this video as an aide to those who wish to duplicate the classroom environment.

I hope this proves useful. If not, let me know and I will see what else I can do to help.