Duffbert's Random Musings

1 - The conference Gary spoke to was not sponsored by IBM or by Microsoft or by Lotus. Mixed conferences will be good.

And Tom, for the record, I am responsible for knowing more than just Domino -- If I assume that I as a consultant must forever tie to a particular vendor or loose clients, then I'm looking at things backwards. My clients -- those I've kept for as much as a decade, since I started consulting -- trust me to looking at things ahead of them, so that when the start wanting to move in new areas, I'll be ready to help them. For that reason, I own VS.net and have worked with it, and "own" and develop heavily in Java now that that language has (finally) matured into something somewhat useful.

I love Notes and Domino, but only for what I can do for my clients with it. Not because of a special place in my heart for IBM. That's not business.

2 - Hi, Gary... Glad you dropped by...

Looking at your list of demos, I would agree that a number of them are appropriate technology subjects of interest to Domino developers... specifically any of them that had Domino, Notes, or LotusScript in the title. However, I would question why writing Windows apps for your smartphone, creating a web service with VB.Net, and calling a web service from any Microsoft product would be considered "Domino" demos? They may very well be cool, but they are not Domino demos and wouldn't be appropriate.

And since you seem to be going down the same path that Andrew did, I'll reiterate my original point... All information is useful and will give developers options. Not all information is appropriate at conferences based on what the focus of the conference is, and the speaker's affiliations do make a difference. I go back to your blog entries from the German conference. You wanted to demo SharePoint, OneNote, InfoPath, and bring along more "friends". I'm assuming "friends" mean more MS presenters, and I can't believe that they would all be presenting on how you can integrate this MS technology with Domino. You want to hand out copies of VS.Net to everyone. And this is going to help a Domino developer do his job better how?

And the bio... On Turtle's Gonzo site this year, a number of people did not know that you were no longer with IBM/Lotus. I think it would be safe to make that same assumption for potential attendees to the Advisor conference. If they go to the site to see the speakers, they would get the impression that you are a freelancer as of one week from now. Yes, I understand it's an old bio and not updated to reflect your current status. But given your affiliation with a major competitor of IBM/Lotus, it's very deceptive, whether intentional or not.

And while you may have a hard time believing this after the way the thread developed, I would like to sincerely state that I *really* have nothing personal against you, Gary. I've been going to Lotuspheres since 1997 and your sessions were always among my favorites. I learned a lot in them. I'm sorry things didn't work out well for you at IBM/Lotus. My main argument is having someone with your title and job function being a presenter. It presents a major conflict that I don't feel is good for anyone involved.

3 - Once again, you're missing the point. Courting is fine, and all companies do it. But you don't invite your competitors into your customer meetings so that they can tell the customer how much better life would be if they used *their* tools instead, all in the spirit of allowing the customer to be "courted". When Gary makes statements like "If only I could have shown Sharepoint, InfoPath MS Office 2003 and One Note. It would blow there socks off. I better get working a new demos", he (in my opinion) has crossed the line from being a technologist presenting information to being a Microsoft salesperson pushing Microsoft solutions targeted at getting Domino developers to shift their focus. And once that line is crossed, it is no longer appropriate for a person with that background and focus to be presenting at an IBM/Lotus technology conference.

And about Rocky, John, or Henry presenting Domino information at a Microsoft conference... To me, that is no different than Rocky, John, or Henry presenting Microsoft information at a Domino conference. They are technologists helping people to understand how to integrate technologies. They are not employed by IBM as IBM evangelists presenting Domino information in order to get Microsoft people to change their focus and start developing Domino apps. Big difference.

4 - As soon as I hear Steve Ballmer or Sam Palmisano quoted with "It's all just software. Can't we just concentrate on working with each other so that our customers can use whatever they want?", then I'll believe it's all "just software".

It's much more than mountains out of molehills.

5 - There are hundreds of Technical evangelists at Microsoft. When it comes to Notes/Domino isues, they contact me. I've writen code to make Domino web services talk with .Net. My demos focus on Domino and .Net integration. I've writen a white paper and several presentations on the topic. The link you post says I cover Notes/Domino, sharepoint and more.
What do you think I do? I see myself as providing a future to LotusScript programers and their applications. I'd say I'm specializing on what I know.
My job is growing as I learn more. I work to keep Notes relevent. I care about the developers whom I've supported all these years.

6 - Ok, my turn. I'll stay out of any personal opinions about Gary and his attitude towards or against MS. One thing I have to comment about is this: "If Advisor doesn't invite key folks from Lotus to talk about how to use their Notes clients to get more out of their office environment, its because ....well....IBM doesn't have anyone left to do that." Andrew... you're comments are almost always well thought out and accurate... this one is far cry from that. Come on, we have tons of people capable of giving these talks, as evidenced by the success of Lotusphere and by client briefings around the world everyday. Gary choosing to leave IBM did not fully deplete the company's knowledge base, it just removed one popular name that people happen to know.

7 - http://advisorevents.com/CIL0406p.nsf/wSpeakerBios

Whether it's "purposely" or not is something I don't want to comment on. But the bio says "freelance" and "as of April of this year". While I know and you know it's April of *last* year, it doesn't read that way.

8 - Yes, Gary is doing his job. I'm sure he sees his new employer as having really good stuff. If not, why would he work there? And from his perspective, there's no problem with what he's doing. He's doing exactly what Microsoft wants him to do.

But is it what promoters and organizers of a conference on IBM/Lotus technology want to push? Do you want to have sessions at a conference like that given by people whose job it is to promote the use of competing technologies in hopes of getting developers to switch platforms? I don't see Gary's position as being a "friend of Lotus" any more. His job is to push Microsoft tools over Lotus tools. And I see a big problem with that in a IBM/Lotus technology conference.

9 - Do you think Gary will be giving a session at MS TechEd promoting to .Net developers that they store their data in Domino and access it via Web Services? Is he presenting to MS internal field reps the benifits of Domino, and how integration with .Net is a powerful combination that should be promoted to MS's existing and future customers?

10 - Alan, sure there are people capable of showing things off -- but there clearly is no position specifically for that. There's very little visible flexibility there anymore. You come closest that I've seen, because you like to play with the new stuff to see what can be done, and you get to show off what you came up with -- but its not the same role.

You present well, Ed presents well - and a few others left on the development side do. But no, there isn't anyone I've seen with that specific role at IBM. Gary filled an unusual role at IBM and I have not seen it duplicated. He's well equiped and suited to that part of what he's doing at Microsoft and I'm sure will have a positive net effect.

If we're having an honest conversation though, lets not pretent that Gary chose to leave IBM to seek a more sedate life beachcombing and skydiving until Microsoft begged him to come out of retirement to drive Lotus Conference going consultants and IBM marketing people up a tree.

11 - You know, Tom, this blog was very well written. I have felt a little mixed about Devendorf's new vocation, and couldn't quite put my finger on it. You're right, so when will we see cross-germination at a .Net conference (or just Exchange)?

On the other hand, I think the Gary's appeal is partly because he has a genuine Lotus lineage, and also that many Lotus developers are hesitant to drink the IBM "koolaid."

12 - Its Ballmer's job to be serious about Microsoft software, and its Palmisano's to be serious about IBM's. Both men work for the shareholders of their corporations (of which I count myself in both cases, by the way).

As a consultant, its my job to keep an eye on the larger market, biased by my own opinions and experience. My clients have the right to expect that I'm work in their best interests, not pushing one vendor over another out of a strange sense of personal attachment.

As long as I can still produce the most secure, stable, and versitile solutions with Lotus stuff I'll keep pushing it. In cases where I need a heavy UI on a Windows only client base, VS makes a nice tool. When I need explicit thread control at the server, servlets in Java makes sense (note that I didn't just say performance or multithreading, as both of those are traits I attribute to Domino).

It is just software.

13 - I can't imagine why I'd care what he tells .NET developers.

I just don't see anything wrong with his telling Domino people about things they can do with Microsoft technologies at any conference, be it domino or ms related.

Information is out there -- pretending that it should be somehow "kept out" of places where our customers meet sort of assumes that if they don't get it there they wont get it, and that if they have it they'll be compelled to dumpt our favorite products.

I keep saying our products have their own value regardless of what anyone elses products have -- and they must stand on those merits, not on lack of other information.

If there are missrepresentations otherwise, or other activity that I'd never condone from anyone -- I wouldn't condone them from Gary or anyone else.

I consider Gary a friend. I do not consider him to be a person who would be purposely deceptive for an employer. I hope I'm not wrong. I also know that when you're trying on a new role and trying to figure out how you fit in the grand scheme of things you can make mistakes. When I thought Gary overstepped a few weeks ago I said so. I don't think this is the same issue however. I think this issue is just someone doing their job well, and as a result making a few people a little uncomfortable. Take the details and rearrange them a bit, and isn't the job for Alan and Ed to help get facts into as many publications and venues as possible that disseminate the "IBM/LOTUS" message? When Ed does his job best, people who are anti-Lotus get uncomfortable.

I have no real problem in either case. Gary isn't Ed, Alan isn't Ed, Ed isn't Alan, Gary isn't Alan, Ed isn't Gary, and Alan isn't Gary. Whew. Everyone has their own stengths and has to find a way to do their unique job to the best of their ability. Mostly, all three of you do that quite well.

14 - tried to respond earlier, computer crashed, maybe it's trying to tell me something. ;)
Several comments --
Andrew, it wasn't "one attempt". It was a series of attempts from November to February. The most blatant only recently came to light when he revealed that his SearchDomino handle is "DominoDotNet". A November posting there was quite inaccurate and IMHO, unprofessional. (Link: http://discussions.techtarget.com/WebX?msgInContext@122.KRcuaxAgPCG.5@.1dcfec0f/3 ) Cliff Reeves never did anything quite like this when he ended up at MS, right?
Second, I think both Gary and Advisor are being a bit disingenuous by leaving an outdated speaker bio on the advisorlive site. Gary hasn't been a free agent in seven months, he should be advertised as a Microsoft employee. That would alleviate some of the issue here - at least it won't be a wolf in sheep's clothing anymore, it will be a wolf in wolf's clothing.
Third, Microsoft did in fact sponsor Lotusphere 2003. IBM / MS relationship is quite complicated. MS didn't renew in 2004 for a variety of reasons, one of which was their perception of my session as being "anti-Windows". Huh? I never talk about Windows in my session, since we don't compete with it. I think it's more that my reputation is now that of someone anti-MS, when it's really not quite true. There's a webcast I've done on lotus.com on integration with Microsoft technologies, and I used to give the LS session of the same name; Lepofsky and I hosted a BOF on the integration topic at LS04. So, given all the talk I do about integration, I should expect an invitation to a .NET event, right? Probably not, because most people would expect that I'd ultimately see it as a competitive opportunity.
I don't mind when people have jobs to do, but to try to hold onto the past is one of the key issues here.
I'm pretty much done with it though, and am trying to find a way to mediate some peace so we can all move on and not have these kinds of questions keep coming up.

15 - Thanks, guys... It took a little time to sort through my feelings on this. On one hand, I'm always for learning new skills. The more you know, the better. From that viewpoint, I have no problem with talking about .Net technology. The other perspective, the "who is presenting this material" was a little trickier. To use my blog entry for an example, let's say that Rocky or John was presenting it. I'd most likely be OK with the material being presented at an IBM/Lotus conference. But if someone is trying to "save" me or "evangelize" me with the same material, I then have a problem with it in the context of the conference.

And to whomever might jump into this discussion, let me reiterate... I am not "anti-Gary", nor am I looking to turn this into a "Dump Devendorf" crusade. I *am* concerned when IBM/Lotus technology conferences start including non-IBM/Lotus subjects covered by presenters with an overt agenda that is anti-IBM.

16 - Gary, I think you'd go a long way to making that a credible story by pushing Advisor to update your published bio. You may say you wrote it in April '03, but I would think you'd be proud of your role at Microsoft and want them to publish a current bio.

17 - I am only a maybe Andrew ... you break my heart :P Seriously, I have spoken at an Advisor conference before and would do so again if invited.

I think the issue here is not that Microsoft wants to court developers, but how they are doing it. Andrew, you and I both know some of the behind the scenes stuff that has gone on, and Gary has crossed the line.

And read what Gary wrote ... he just donest want to show how Microsoft technology integrates with IBM technologies, but how to replace them with Microsoft ones. At least thats my interpatation, and I admitt my bias.

But I disagree on your take on what customers want when they go to a conference. If they sign up for a Lotus/IBM Technology conference, they have made the decision with their time and money to go see information on Lotus/IBM technologies, not be courted by other vendors. I agree that line is very gray, but talking with a whole bunch of medium and large companies that asked my opinion on what conferences they should go to this year, that is my take.

And just for the record, I work for a company that is a Microsoft partner, as well as an IBM partner, along with a couple other partner relationships. I work on both sides. This isnt about a 'holy war' on technology. For me, this is has crossed that lines into a realm of ethics and rules are just being blatently ignored. Maybe I am way to idealistic.

18 - Seeing as how I am neither a IBM/Lotus BP, employed by MS or IBM, nor a consultant any more, I would like to give a little guy's perspective on this topic. (Those who know me can quit with the short jokes already!!!!)

Andrew, unfortunately, I cannot side with you on this one. Whenever I attend a Domino centric conference, whether it be LotusSphere or a third party conference like Advisor Devcon, I go there with the primary purpose of seeing how I can better use Domino every day. While I would absolutely love to see how I can make my Domino apps dance a jig while accessing SQL Server or an Office product, I do not expect to see sessions on how third party products are for accessing Domino. The only exception to this being how to get Outlook to work as a mail client, since so many executives seem to be blinded by the Outlook experience. At least until they get their first worm!!!!

If I wanted to learn such a thing, I would be sure to sign up for a MS conference. The inclusion of Gary or any other MS employees as speakers in any session other than Ed's What to do when the boss loves microsoft? is completely inappropriate. do not go to the conferences is not to hear how much better my life would be if I were developing in some other technology.

But then again, what do I really know. I am just a run of the mill developer doing the daily grind.

Sean---

19 - We agree there, of course. Gary is no friend to Lotus any longer regardless of how much fondness he still holds to the software.

I still think it is his background that gives him the understanding to do his job in terms of envanglism targeted to Lotus developers. Lets face it, he has a following of people who enjoy hearing him speak and appreciate his insights.

Conferences hire speakers to meet the (percieved) needs and desires of attendees. I'd be willing to be that talk like this before the conference worked quite well to the advantage of the conference.

Ed has valid points as well here -- but they're not related to the conference. I've said before and say again -- Gary is best effective playing it straight and doing what he does well. Anyone who posts with a handle or is disingenuous about their background is violating community trust and works against them ultimately.

I don't spend time tracking who does what and am not aware of the things Ed's referring to, so I'll leave them up to you all to debate at will.

--AP

20 - If its outdated, it should be updated. Obviously Gary makes no bones about working for Microsoft. I would be very surprised if it was purposely left inaccurate.

The stuff from November to Febrary -- look, I'm not going to make excuses for anyone. I simply don't believe it comes down to much more than someone having trouble finding the mix that works for them in a new role. I hope it gets better.

All said though -- it seems like making mountains out of molehills and smacks of a weird defensiveness. Guys, its just software.

21 - Am I Tom?

Gary works for Microsoft now. He's doing his job. Do you feel betrayed? I don't see who invited who's competitors into who's customer meetings here.

Gary is an evangelist for Microsoft technologies now. Maybe he's easily convinced, or maybe there's really good stuff there. I see no problem with what he's doing.

I DID see a problem with his one attempt at using inside (and outdated) information to make a point -- and said so. I said so to Gary, and alluded to it without much subtlety on his blog.

I do NOT see this as related.

And John: I have no idea how much MS integration you do, I know you do/did a lot with Smartsuite. That's why Maybe. I'm not judging you in any other way.

22 - Guess we're going to have to agree to disagree on this subject, Andrew. I haven't said anything that's changed your mind, and your points have not convinced me of the appropriateness of MS evangelists presenting at IBM/Lotus technology conferences.

But this thread *has* done wonders for my daily hit count...

23 - Calling a Domino Web Service from Excel 2003
Creating a Domino Web Service
Accessing Domino XML from other applications
Writing a windows applications for your SmartPhone
Notes ADO control
Calling the Domino Objects COM interface from VS.Net
Calling Managed code from LotusScript
Creating a Web Service with VS.Net
Calling a Web Service from any Microsoft product

These are some of the demos I showed. I don■t tell people to migrate -- most of these demos would be worthless it folks did. Microsoft tools are different from Domino Designer. I■ve gone through and am still going through the learning curve. Seems like most people want to hear what I■ve learned. I keep getting invited to Notes/Domino events and I enjoy talking with my developers friends (I still answer questions about LotusScript). My experience is unique.

If you are not comfortable with me speaking, I■m sorry. How would you feel if someone was laid off from Microsoft and came to work at Lotus and gave these talks?

Wow a Microsoft zealot. No one ever called me a Notes zealot (just a Notes tree hugger.) I was unemployed for 5 months and have hi-tech friends who were out of work more then a year. Do I like working a Microsoft?..You bet. Seems to me I■m expanding the knowledge and options for LotusScript programmers.

Oh, the bio. I wrote that in April 2003

24 - It seems like you're still focusing on whether it's a good thing to be exposed to other technologies. We are in violent agreement on that point. The more you know, the better. No disagreement there. And as a consultant, it's doubly true.

My main point of contention is whether information about other technologies should be presented by individuals who work for companies that have a primary goal to lure developers and users away from the company whose technology is the main focus of the conference being held. Point taken in that the German conference was not sponsored by IBM. And in reality, neither is Lotus Advisor or WebSphere Advisor. But the Advisor conferences are considered by many attendees to be second to Lotusphere in where to get the latest information on IBM/Lotus technology. And I don't think that type of conference is an appropriate forum for a company or speaker who has an express goal of getting developers to switch platforms.

It is appropriate to talk about Microsoft technology integration at an IBM/Lotus conference. It is *not* appropriate to have that information presented by someone or some company who wants you to use SharePoint, OneNote, Office XP (or whatever they are calling the collaborative application development platform for Office), and Visual Studio to develop all your applications. Isn't this the year that Microsoft has targeted Domino developers to get them to migrate their applications?

I sat in a meeting last week with Microsoft talking about their connector to allow Outlook to be used with a Domino backend. There was an attempt to position it as a license issue (cheaper than Notes client), while forgetting the fact that they stated earlier that you needed the Notes client .dlls to run the connector. They also touted how their connector worked with the latest versions of Notes and Outlook, but didn't reveal that it was still in beta until I explicitly asked about it. Does this sound like a company who cares about your Domino investment, or a company who wants to turn you into a Microsoft shop?

25 - Quick timeout... We're getting dangerously close to comments crossing the line to "spikeability".

26 - Lets not confuse the two issues --

Actively attracting developers is a key microsoft strategy. It has always been -- it was for Borland as well back in my earlier career days. In fact, as a tech support guy some crazy number of years ago, it was a Borland rep. who handed me a full C++ 2.0 package (a box like a suitcase) complete with a full manual set and instructional videos. That got me started in C++ programming and was my introduction to objects.

That kind of recruitment is exactly what Microsoft does well, that IBM does terribly and needs to do better. Microsoft wants to empower developers to succeed, thus using their products. IBM seems to want to push technologies to drive their huge consulting machine (the big money). I frankly prefer Microsoft's methods. My value pack (ehem) from IBM costs 10 times what my Action Pack from Microsoft costs.

Personally, I like being courted. When I get <messed over> by IBM because they want to push new stuff, I suddendly don't matter unless I'm going to push the new things. When I get <messed over> by Microsoft, at least I get a kiss first.

The other issue you bring up is a business issue -- If a salesrep is encouraging a customer to circumvent or otherwise violate license agreements of competitors, its unethical. If its a mistake, its a big one. Microsoft's use of their leverage power from one product to the other and back is, due to their Monopoly, an ethical and legal problem. But again, not what we're talking about.

If Advisor doesn't envite key folks from Lotus to talk about how to use their Notes clients to get more out of thier office environment, its because ....well....IBM doesn't have anyone left to do that. It was Gary's thing and he couldn't get them to see the value in it. Who would they envite? Henry and Rocky would be great guests. John Head maybe. There are many. Why aren't they getting those invitations? The marketing at IBM has failed to the extent that the world believes (even customers who have both) that Domino people need help working with Microsoft stuff, but that nobody with Microsoft stuff wants to work with Domino. Its stupid to think that, but its the way the market sees itself right now.

Want change? Push advisor to invite someone to tell that side of the story.

27 -
To answer the question:
"when will we see cross-germination at a .Net conference "
http://notes2net.advisorevents.com/
This used to be a VB.Net conference that I've changed to an "Entending Lotus Notes with .NET conference"

28 - I value everyone■s opinion here. If you think I■m in the wrong, I■d like to know, ex-Product Managers have very thick skins so don■t worry about offending me. It was surprising that folks want me to speak at Notes/Domino events but, when you think about it, makes sense. The Advisor combined Conference covers Notes/Domino, Web Sphere and .net. You sign up for one and you can attend any sessions. John and I talked about putting my sessions in the .net track but found that .net developers for the most part don■t care about Notes/Domino.

It looks to me like the problem comes from my having fun with the title ■Technical Evangelist■. (Missionary work, saving developers ■) It seemed funny to me. But it could be offensive to some. I want to keep Notes applications around for a long long time.

29 - After finally finding this thread, eventhough it's fairly old allready, I do want to make a short statement here too..
Gary is not as famous here in germany as he is in the US, as such we wanted him (as this year again) to show us, Domino Developers, what we can do about combining these two worlds. In germany the Lotus Based community is very strong, and there are at least 4 Dominu fora which have specific boards about the dotnet and MS related questions. We want to help people, and as such had (and again this year) three sessions about combining the information. We also talk about Java, we will try to get SAP integration in this year as well, and IF we find a speaker allow both rational and DB2 integration as well.. We will even have a session about RSS, which is clearly a none domino thing.. still developers want to know about these things, and thus we want to inform people how to do this stuff, and well someone who wants to tell us about them is then welcome.
Gary is in my opinion the best one to tell us how to do this in the dotnet area, from his background and current position that is.
And yes, we had no sponsorship from either MS or IBM last year, and for this year things are still open on those two as well. Currently we stand 'alone' together with our other sponsors. Still we will inform those people with these topics again and again. We do have 4 parallel sessions running, so no one needs to visit the dotnet sessions, there are other notes based sessions running at the same time.
Nice thread here though, I found this through google by the way..

30 - I haven't looked -- you mean Advisor has published the bio with purposely outdated and inaccurate information? If so, I think you're right. Its a bad thing.

31 - Look again at what I wrote... The .Net information being presented can be and/or is useful. Allowing Microsoft company representatives who want to "show us the way" to present that information is inappropriate.

Let's take your opening paragraph that we (as business partners) are not representative of the attendees at conferences. The typical attendees don't want to take sides in vendor wars. They sit in a session where they are told that it's much easier to build apps in VS.Net to manipulate Domino databases. And look at how you can get to SQL Server natively. And look at how it integrates into Sharepoint. And you really don't need Domino to do that, as you can store your data in <whatever MS's latest push is>. This must be all true, as it was from a speaker that was endorsed to speak at an IBM/Lotus conference. The attendee goes back, makes a commitment to start learning VS.Net. They start building applications that just use MS technologies because there isn't much integration information out there, and the information that is out there is coming from Microsoft. If this is one of *your* clients, Andrew, you better start looking for a replacement client, because you're not needed any more.

This is about more than just technology and how you can hook things together. It's about mindshare and technology companies pitted against each other. At an IBM/Lotus technology conference, I should be getting information on how to integrate other technology with my Notes/Domino environment, keeping Notes/Domino as the primary focus. I shouldn't be getting information on how to relegate Notes/Domino to a secondary role in how it plays with another company's platform. And that's what a Microsoft evangelist is there to do.

If you can show me a Microsoft conference where Ed or Alan or <fill in your favorite IBM presenter here> are invited to speak, I may change my mind. Give them an opportunity to show Microsoft developers how to use Domino to build better collaborative applications that integrate with Microsoft. Give them a chance to "show them the light" or "save" them from being locked into a single platform that is controlled and changed at the whim of a single vendor.

Once the laughter dies down and the tears dry out from the Microsoft conference organizers, I can tell you what the answer will be... no.

And by the way, this *isn't* about Gary. It's about Gary's role at Microsoft, his expressed reason for presenting this information (see his blog), and whether someone in that position should be a speaker at an IBM/Lotus conference.

32 - Interesting thought. I have been a bit surprised by seeing Gary back speaking at Notes conferences. On the other hand, I'm not sure when it is appropriate and when not. After all, most people using Notes use Windows and other Microsoft technology to access it. Using .NET to access Domino is not that different. If anything, I a am a bit relieved that IBM isn't trying to squeeze everybody under the monolithic J2EE umbrella.

Still, allowing/inviting a Microsoft zealot to speak at your IBM conferences does seem a risky proposition.

33 - How can a speaker's advertised bio "not [be] related to the conference"?

34 - Tom, your perspective may not be representative.

Most people the shows target are not, as you and I, people who have made the substantial part of our living pushing one side or the other of the product wars. Our customers -- the people we are responsible to look out for (at least that's how I see my role) are trying to get things done with technology and would prefer not to choose a side in these vender wars.

Since clearly this is about Gary, I'll go there as well. Gary brings a wealth of understanding from his work with Lotus Notes into what real collaborative applications need to do, and how developers need to work with these tools.

While you (and sometimes I) may feel defensive about suddenly seeing a microsoft "push" get its nose under the tent at "our" shows, the customers are actually getting a big benefit. I've said before, in very different context, that where Gary is most effective is in showing what can be done with these cool new tools. I say that here again.

At LotuSphere, the hottest sessions (well most <grin>) were about interoperability. That's because Customers live in a world where they DO have high end Windows environments, Visual Studio based applications, .Net based intranets, and at the same time Domino databases and data. Gary's work is another representation of the one big strength Microsoft has always had. They have always really well understood and catered to the way the individual office worker or developer gets his or her job done. They may fall down alot at the enterprise level, but at the desktop, they've held supremacy for many years.

I'm betting customers really appreciate what they learn from Gary.

The other thing to consider, is that if our stuff is really good enough to beat their stuff then lack of information about the other should not be necessary to us in that battle. Information kept from customers is not a positive way to advance our own position and its not a positive way for our combined industry (which IMCO has failed miserably at creating simple and reliable tools for end users) to advance.

--Andrew

35 - I contacted the Advisor folks and sent them an updated Bio. They say they were going to bug me next month for speaker materials. (I didn't know there was a bio on the site until Ed pointed it out.)

Am I proud of my role at Microsoft? ... I'm sure I will be once I've earned it by doing good things for the customers. I am proud of LotusScript, Domino Designer and even what I can do with Visual Studio.Net.

36 - "Gary now works for Microsoft, specializing in Domino and .NET integration issues."
Not really what I thought you'd do with this. I mean, that's not really your job at MS, is it?
http://blog.advisor.com/blog/garydev.nsf/plinks/GDEF-5WC37X

37 - correction -- I don't know if they were a "sponsor" --- I meant to say that they did not "put on" the show.

I recall that Microsoft even sponsored LotuSphere once.