Lotus Sphere 2008 comes to you, and I went to it.

LotusSphere 2008 comes to you was on in the Dublin Software Lab this April 2nd 2008.

The presentations and accompanying podcasts should be here shortly

The portfolio of products is quite impressive and there is a degree of integration that is really immersive. There were repeated reference to the various generations in the workforce which I suppose stresses the inter generational aspect of those who are now using IT as part of their daily work from college ages folks or the Bebo generation to those on the edge of retirement. Dennis King made the point that there are number of ways that people approach their use of software, they would be

document centric - those who are nearing retirement

people centric - many of those currently in the workforce

community centric - the newbies

Lotus Connections really seems like a concrete attempt to build much as SameTime is/was a concrete attempt to build corporate and secure Instant Messaging. I will udate this post when I can reference specific aspects of the presentations that were of interest

We were advised after the first coffee break that we should all remember it as the place we were when we heard that Bertie had resigned.

08:30	Registration
09:45	Welcome and introduction
10:00	Key Note – Lotus Software Strategy – Kevin Cavanaugh (was unable to make it and Dennis King did the talk instead) IBM VP Messaging & Collaboration
10:45	Coffee Break
11:15	Lotus Software Portfolio – Presentations & Demos from Lab Architects & Senior Developers
12:15	Lunch
13:30	Notes & Domino 8 & Beyond
14:20	Social Software for Business – Dennis King IBM VP Advanced Collaboration
15:20	Coffee Break
15:50	Unified Communications
16:40	Closing

We actually finished just a little ahead of time and I managed to make the 2nd last train out of Dublin. I spoke with a number of people over the course of the day who were attending from companies that are either current users of Notes or about to shift over. During lunch we had a look at a 3D visualisation project which was particularly impressive when looking at medical applications.

It was stressed again and again throughout the day that if people want to talk to the developers at another time that the DSL would be happy to facilitate it.

Throughout the day the Innovation Centre was hosting 'Meet The Developers' sessions with many of those developers working on the products that were talked about in the auditorium. Much like Word 2007, the Notes client has undergone major revisions and it looks pretty good.

PodSmart was one lower profile product that caught my eye, basically, it can be scheduled to generate podcasts from your email and RSS feeds to synch with you iPod for you to listen to while on the commute to work. and it also intersperses it with music so it's not twenty minutes of just Via Voice. Kind of like Morning Work Radio, new and traffic with some choons.