Genii Weblog


Civility in critiquing the ideas of others is no vice. Rudeness in defending your own ideas is no virtue.


Thu 29 Jan 2015, 02:46 PM
Paul Withers made an interesting comment to me today on Twitter (see below). Below that, see a portion of a slide from one of these sessions, ID106. Finally, see my video, First Test of Midas in Notes browser plugin recorded, released the first day the browser plugin was available publicly. The interesting thing that these three together point out is that IBM acted as if it could simply kill the king and eliminate the monarchy, but instead just had to replace it with another king.

Among the great strengths (and terrible curses) of Lotus Notes (aka IBM Lotus Notes/Domino, aka IBM Notes/Domino) has always been its versatile rich text. Not simply in documents, but forms, views and everywhere else, rich text is the underpinning of Notes and Domino. In Tolkienian terms, it is the king under the mountain. (Note: only I would ever describe rich text as "royal" without adding "pain in the ass" after that. I know, I know, it is hardly king of the heap for anyone but me, but it still supports tens of thousands of applications at many large companies, and supporting it pays my kid to get through college. Enough said.)

So, while IBM is happily proclaiming the end of Notes, all they have really done is put out Notes 7 (without Eclipse) and bundled it into a browser window. Same functionality. Runs LotusScript the same way. Support Notes and Notes mail the same way. Even supports addins such as the Midas LSX... because it is the same thing under the covers. The king is dead - long live the king.

Someday, Notes will go away entirely. It may be another decade, but when IBM has sessions about the "browser plugin", they are still supporting the monarchy that they despise so righteously. And on the bright side, we get away from Eclipse when we run Notes the browser plugin, which has been a dreadfully heavy load to bear.


Inline JPEG image


Inline JPEG image

Copyright © 2015 Genii Software Ltd.

Wed 28 Jan 2015, 09:46 AM
A question which you could pose at Ask the Developers and Product Managers is why the following email, sent internally via Notes to another user in the same domain, looks as bad as it does if that user happens to be reading from their mobile device or iNotes? Why hasn't this been fixed? Why can CoexLinks Fidelity do this without access to the core code when Domino and Traveler cannot within the core code? And if IBM can't, why not work out a deal with Genii Software to make it happen?

Of course, that might be rude and would probably be futile. So, while you are sitting in the Ask the Developers and Product Managers session, ask yourself why you would wait for IBM to fix something customers have complained about for a decade? Why not just try CoexLinks Fidelity today (or as soon as you get back from the conference)? Fill out an evaluation request, and it can be waiting for you when you return to the office. (After that, just for fun, try to find all the differences. Answer at bottom. Or if you would rather watch videos...)


Sent from IBM Notes 9.0.1 client to an internal user in same Notes domain

Inline JPEG image




Read by the recipient on a mobile phone







Read by the recipient in iNotes 9.0.1 (without CoexLinks)

Inline JPEG image



Read by the recipient in iNotes 9.0.1 (with CoexLinks)

Inline JPEG image




Differences to find
  1. Images from image resources lost (Traveler only, but iNotes if not on same server)
  2. Drop shadow on table
  3. Dotted border on table including spacing inside border
  4. Differentiated cell lines before each list and at bottom
  5. Checked and unchecked items show differently
  6. Text font size matches precisely (and adjusts dynamically on mobile device)


Just a few of the issues that  CoexLinks Fidelity fixes in both internal and outbound email. Have you filled out that evaluation request yet?

Copyright © 2015 Genii Software Ltd.

Tue 27 Jan 2015, 12:42 PM
One of the many entertaining (though stressful) activities at Lotusphere (now ConnectED) over the past few years has been SpeedGeeking. It is fun to watch people cram so much content and fun into a five minute session. But since I couldn't make it to ConnectED this year, I thought I'd do a second spur-of-the-moment sneak preview of AppsFidelity. Since 5 minutes is a long time on the web, even if it is a short time at a conference, I decided to do a one minute SpeedGeeking sort of preview of ePublishing using AppsFidelity.
 
Just so you know, there is much more to AppsFidelity than rendering magic attachments, but it is a fun place to start. More features will be available for preview as we get closer to release.
 
 
Best viewed in HD. Closed captions are provided for following in English or improved auto-translation.
 
 
 
If you have questions about AppsFidelity, don't hesitate to contact us for more information at sales@geniisoft.com.

Copyright © 2015 Genii Software Ltd.

Tags:

Thu 22 Jan 2015, 07:51 AM
Many in our community are headed to Florida for ConnectED (the conference formerly known as Lotusphere). Many, unfortunately including me, are not. But happily, there is still a Lotusphere Sessions database (and even more happily, I didn't have to make it). In deference to the shifting conference name, it is called ConnectOsphere 15. (Session db available -> here <-.)

But this sneak preview has almost, but not completely, nothing to do with ConnectED. It just so happens that the ConnectOsphere sessions database provides a perfect opportunity to show a sneak preview of AppsFidelity, a product now in development which will be released this quarter. The new product does a few different things, this sneak peek just showing one. But the main goal of all of them is the magic that you don't need to modify your applications, don't need to add scripts or agents or so forth, in order to get high fidelity rendering in HTML, MHT, EPUB and more. You just wave a magic wand, and the rendering is there.

As they say in your wake up call when you stay at the Dolphin or Swan hotels, have a magical day!

Apps Fidelity - Sneak Preview (watching in HD recommended - accurate closed captions in English are provided)



Inline JPEG image

Copyright © 2015 Genii Software Ltd.

Mon 12 Jan 2015, 10:28 AM
Granted, I know that IBM Verse is only in beta, but Mitch helped me test to see if the graceful degradation that is needed for both GMail and Outlook is also necessary for IBM Verse. Note that the bullets in both Notes and Verse show up with the embedded graphics, unlike Outlook and GMail. (Note: To be fair, Outlook and GMail do slightly better with the padding of the margins.)

From Verse beta (courtesy of Mitch Cohen)

Inline JPEG image


From Notes 9.0.1 client (rendering the MIME, not showing the rich text)

Inline JPEG image

Copyright © 2015 Genii Software Ltd.

Fri 9 Jan 2015, 11:22 AM
I was creating a slide show about CoexLinks Fidelity, and thought about using a Venn Diagram to show the expanding opportunity, but thought this might speak to people better.

Copyright © 2015 Genii Software Ltd.