Category Archives: Community

NTF Needs Your Help

Posted on by Posted in Community, IBM/Lotus, Notes/Domino 1 Comment

Anyone who has been in the Notes/Domino community for some time knows Nathan T Freeman, also known as NTF. He was one of the founders of OpenNTF back in 2001, and has been blogging and presenting on Notes and Domino related subjects for many years. I have learned a lot from him over the years.

Nathan T Freeman (center) at ConnectED 2015.

Nathan has always been a very colorful person in the community. I just found out that Nathan is having some serious health issues. His wife Lisa created a GoFundMe to get some help with the medical cost. If you have ever benefitted from something Nathan wrote on his blog or talked about at one of his many presentations over the years, or if you used OpenNTF as a source for code, consider donating to help Nathan and Lisa.

Update on 04/11/2021 by Bob Kadrie: “Nathan was readmitted to the hospital today with unstable vitals, including low blood pressure and oxygen. His heartbeat is also unstable, so they cannot transport him to a larger hospital that may be better equipped to treat him at this point. His doctors are now saying he most likely has a week or less to live.”

Update 2 on 04/12/2021 by Bob Kadrie: “Nathan has was moved to a larger hospital earlier Sunday evening in order to receive more specialized care. Once he was examined, it was determined he was experiencing complete organ failure.
He was then given Fentanyl and placed in a medically induced coma to make him comfortable,
Nathan just passed with his family by his side. He was an incredibly dedicated husband and father. He was also generous, funny. and the best intellectual sparring partner I’ve ever had.
He touched a lot of people in his short time here. He will be missed by many.
Please continue your generous donations in order to assist his family with the massive medical expenses they’ve incurred and in their transition during the days ahead.
Thank you all for bringing a little security to Lisa, Lillian, Meta, Axiom, and Ira Belle. Sandy and I are so sorry for everyone’s loss.”

The GoFundMe goal has been increased, to help Lisa and the children. They will need all the support they can get.

CollabSphere 2019 – Less than five weeks left!

Posted on by Posted in CollabSphere, Community, Domino 11, HCL, MWLUG, Notes/Domino Leave a comment

If you haven’t registered yet for CollabSphere in Boston, time is starting to run out. The conference starts in less than five (5)  weeks, and the special price for the rooms at the conference hotel is only guaranteed until October 4.

If you haven’t been to CollabSphere, or its predecessor MWLUG, you have been missing out. It is a very inexpensive confernece (only $100 this year, thanks to generous sponsors), with high quality speakers for the sessions and workshops. The opportunity to network with other customers, business partners and representatives from IBM/HCL is incredibly valuable, in my opinion. There are both organized and impromptu social events during the conference, as well as before and after for the ones arriving early or leaving late.

If you are in the New England area, there is no reason you should not attend CollabSphere, now when it is taking place on HCL’s home turf, where many of the developers live and work.

With Domino 11 coming out at the end of the year, I am sure we can expect some very interesting and exciting announcements at this year’s conference. And don’t miss HCL Day on Monday, with a large number of sessions covering everything from their Cloud Program, the changes to licensing, the HCL Customer Advocacy Program, and much more.

I hope to see you at CollabSphere, especially at my session on Tuesday at 2.00pm, where I will talk about Node-RED and show some cool things you can do with it.

 

 

 

CollabSphere 2019 – Submission deadline is closing soon!

Posted on by Posted in #DominoForever, #IBMChampion, CollabSphere, Community, HCL, IBM/Lotus, Notes/Domino, Sametime, Verse, Web Development Leave a comment

CollabSphere_2019

The deadline to submit an abstract for sessions at CollabSphere 2019 is tomorrow, Sunday August 18. If you want to speak at the conference, you don’t have much time to act.

So why would you like to speak at CollabSphere? Perhaps your reason is the same as mine was when I started speaking at conferences: I wanted to give back to the community from which I had learned so much over the years. I wanted to share my knowledge with other developers, and perhaps inspire them by showing what could be done with Notes and Domino.

What if you are afraid of public speaking? That is absolutely normal. With practice you get more used to it, and one place where you can practice it in a safe and encouraging environment is at Toastmasters, an international organization focused on public speaking and leadership. There are local Toastmasters clubs all over the world, and you can join at any time.

Even if you are not speaking, you can still register to attend the conference. This year it is held in Boston, close to the HCL office in Chelmsford, and we can expect a lot of exciting news about Notes and Domino 11 (which is due in the end of the year), and perhaps even about Domino 12. This is a can’t-miss conference!

HCL Software Creates Portal for Customers and Partners

Posted on by Posted in Community, HCL, IBM/Lotus, Notes/Domino, Sametime, Verse Leave a comment

HCL_Software_PortalHCL Software today launched a brand new portal for customers and partners. HCL Software is a part of HCL Technologies, and this new division was announced as late as yesterday (June 1, 2019) at the same time as HCL announced that the purchase of IBM’s collaboration products had been completed.

The new portal is built using Domino and Portal, and provides customers and partners a place where they can receive product information, learn about purchasing software, get support, connect with partners, and much more.

If you are a customer of IBM Notes, Domino, Sametime, Verse or Connections, or if you are a Business Partner, go to http://bit.ly/mlnHCLw3 and sign up. At the moment the sign-up is disabled, due to the acquisition. But I would suggest to check back in a few days.

Are you a Champion? Nominate yourself or someone else!

Posted on by Posted in #IBMChampion, Community, IBM/Lotus Leave a comment


The yearly nomination of IBM Champions is once again open. Do you know someone who deserves to be recognized for their contributions to the community or to IBM? Nominate that person!

Do you think you deserve to be an IBM Champion? Nominate yourself! I know it feels strange to nominate yourself, but you are the one that knows best what you have been contributing. There is no way for IBM to know what everyone out there have been doing during the last year, not even if they enlisted IBM Watson…

So how are the IBM Champions selected? Here is the list of criteria IBM published:

We want IBM Champions who:

  • Demonstrate both expertise in and extraordinary support and advocacy for IBM technology, communities, and solutions.
  • Share advocacy and influence within and outside their organizations or customer engagements.
  • Influence and mentor to help others make the most of investments in IBM software, solutions and services.

[Significant] contributions [over the last 12 months] must be above and beyond a nominee’s job duties, but may be internal or external. The list below is just a few examples:

  • Regularly blogging or creating other technical content
  • Speaking at multiple events
  • User Group Conference Committee member (involves the planning and execution of one or more conferences, events, or meetups)
  • President, Leader, or Board member of a worldwide or local user group
  • Providing customer references
  • Regularly being an advocate for IBM products inside your organization, making connections, and educating users

Now is your opportunity to recognize people for what they have been doing during the last 12 months. And don’t be shy, submit a self nomination as well, if you think you deserve it.

Nominations are open until October 22 at https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/community/blogs/ibmchampion/entry/2018ChampionNominations. Don’t miss the deadline!

 

Six Days Left…

Posted on by Posted in #Domino2025, #IBMChampion, App Modernization, CollabSphere, Community, IBM/Lotus, Lotusscript, MWLUG, Notes/Domino, Uncategorized, Watson 1 Comment

I have finished the slides for my presentation at CollabSphere in Ann Arbor next week. I just have a little more code to add to demo database, and perhaps throw in a bonus or two…

My session will be next Wednesday (July 24) at 9am in Grande III.  There are still a few seats available for CollabSphere 2018. The cost is only $100 for 3 days of presentations, workshops, and networking, This is great value for the money!
Don’t miss the latest from IBM and HCL on Notes and Domino 10, Nomad and probably a surprise or two.

 

 

My session at CollabSphere 2018

Posted on by Posted in #Domino2025, #IBMChampion, CollabSphere, Community, IBM/Lotus, MWLUG, Notes/Domino Leave a comment

My session Elementary! – Consume Watson Services using Node-RED and Domino 10 has been accepted at CollabSphere 2018. It has been scheduled for first thing in the morning on Wednesday, July 25 at 9.00 am.

During my presentation, I will show how you can integrate IBM Watson into both Notes applications and web applications. You will see how you can use the new Lotusscript classes for HTTP and JSON in Notes/Domino 10. These classes will be used to connect to IBM Cloud, where a Node-RED instance will be used to consume Watson services. By using just a few lines of Javascript, we will translate text between different languages, as well as converting text to speech.

CollabSphere will be a great learning opportunity, especially if you are interested in node.js and how it will be integrated into the upcoming Domino 10. There are a number of sessions focusing on Node.js and Node-RED, and I highly encourage every Notes developer to attend them. Here are just some of the sessions:

This three-day conference will immerse you in an intensive exchange of knowledge and fun with other members of the ICS community. If you have not registered yet, it is about time.  Note that the guaranteed room rate will only be available for one more week.

I hope to see you in Ann Arbor, MI in a few weeks.

Come see me at CollabSphere 2018!

Posted on by Posted in #Domino2025, #IBMChampion, App Modernization, CollabSphere, Community, IBM/Lotus, Lotusscript, Notes/Domino, Watson Leave a comment


I will be presenting my session Elementary – Consume Watson Services using Node-RED and Domino 10 at CollabSphere 2018, taking place in Ann Arbor, MI inn just a little over a month (July 23-23). If you haven’t registered yet, hurry up! This amazing conference that Richard Moy have been arranging for 10 years now will be full of news and sessions about Domino 10. If you are a developer, you should be very excited. There are a large number of session focusing on everything from classic Lotusscript and the new improvements coming in Domino 10 to sessions about Node.js and how it is supported in Domino 10. There are even introductions to Node.js and Node-RED, and how you can use them in your Domino environment as well as making yourself more marketable.

In addition to all the technical sessons you also have networking and social events. Don’t miss out on this great and inexpensive ($75) conference!

CollabSphere 2018 – Still time to submit abstracts

Posted on by Posted in #Domino2025, #IBMChampion, CollabSphere, Community, IBM/Lotus, MWLUG, Notes/Domino Leave a comment

The deadline for submissions of session abstracts for CollabSphere 2018 has been extended to Sunday, June 3. This is your opportunity to share your knowledge with the community. Register on the brand new CollabSphere website. The link is http://collabsphere.org/ug/collabsphere2018.nsf/sessionabstract.xsp.

This year we can expect a number of session on technologies more or less new to the Domino community, for example Node.js and React.js, as well as what’s new in the upcoming Notes and Domino 10. So if you haven’t registered for Collabsphere yet, take this opportunity to register and experience the learning atmosphere, networking and a lot of fun.

Hope to see you in Ann Arbor in July for the 10th MWLUG/CollabSphere conference!

 

 

CollabSphere 2018 – Registration is Open

Posted on by Posted in #Domino2025, #IBMChampion, CollabSphere, Community, IBM/Lotus, MWLUG, Notes/Domino Leave a comment

The conference formally known as MWLUG (Mid-West Lotus User Group) is now renamed CollabSphere. This year the conference will be held in Ann Arbor, MI on July 23-25.

Visit the brand new website at www.collabsphere.org to learn more, to register for this very cost-efficient conference, or why not submit an abstract for a session?

I have been attending MWLUG for several years myself, and it is an excellent conference. High quality speakers presenting over 50 sessions and workshops, networking with representatives from IBM as well as with presenters and other attendees and an exhibit floor where sponsors and vendors are showing their products and services.

With IBM expanding its portfolio of products and services, and with the new innovations in the rejuvenated  Notes and Domino product line, this will be the conference to attend this summer. Expect some exciting news to be presented at CollabSphere, and to see more of the latest version of Domino, due to be released in the second half of 2018.

I hope to see you at CollabSphere, and perhaps even see you present!