Day #1 is in the books...
Well... day #1 is in the books. Did a couple of jumpstart sessions today (intro to Workplace and a session on data connnectivity with non-Notes data sources). Both sessions were pretty good, and the workplace session finally caused quite a few of the Workplace concepts to gel. It doesn't replace the Notes client for mail, but there are a number of parts that would work well in any company regardless of the Notes client situation (like the learning management tool). I could definitely see how building portlets to access your Notes data could cause you to start using the Websphere Portal tool as your mail business productivity client. Not yet as easy as building apps in Domino 6.x, but then again, building apps in Notes 3.x wasn't as easy as Domino 6.x. It will take time to get there, but it's better than last year, and it will be even easier next year. I'm sure VB 1.0 wasn't a piece of cake when it first came out, either...
The Sunday night party was, as usual, crowded and fun. I met Joe Litton before the last jumpstart, as he drove over from Tampa to catch a bit of LS before starting his new job tomorrow. He was able to make a portion of the party, and I was able to introduce him to a few people he hadn't met before (and tried to introduce him to someone he *had* met... Sorry, Ed!) I was also able to meet with a client of Marquam Group and talk about the Lotus direction. I believe we found the only quiet corner of the entire Dolphin/Swan beach area!
I ran into a long-time Lotusphere friend (JoAnn Card, aka "Token"), and as has been her trend in the last couple of Lotuspheres, she announced that she is pregnant. She swears that next year she will *not* be pregnant again, and that she will be able to go on rides and such. :-) She also attended the Java Jumpstart session by Paul Calhoun. I was a little worried that perhaps after that session, no one would want to come to our Wednesday session on Java for the Domino Developer. But according to JoAnn, he actually referenced our session and said that he recommended people attend that one also. Nice to get a little plug there.
Looking forward to the opening session tomorrow. One blogger (who shall remain nameless) mentioned that there are some technologies being demoed that will just blow you away. He wouldn't elaborate, but he did say that this is perhaps only the second or third time that he's seen stuff that caused his jaw to drop. Sounds promising. It also fits into my thinking about IBM's directions with tools. Everyone is afraid that J2EE development will always be complex and too difficult for the "average" Notes developer. And at this point in time, that's probably a true assessment. But the tools are still at an early stage of maturity, and there are some very creative people working on them. I have no doubt that in two or three years, building a J2EE app will be like building a VB app. And I bet some of the demos tomorrow will push that envelope...
OK.... time for some sleep, and time to give Bruce the broadband connection back so that he can blog a little. 'Night, folks!
I'm looking forward to the opening session tomorrow.
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Posted by jonvon At 09:20:52 On 26/01/2004 | - Website - |