We made it!

January 30 2004

So much to blog and catch up on....
Another Lotusphere is in the books.   Thanks to all of you who were here and made it special; and to those of you following along at home, I hope that I and the other bloggers have been able to give you a picture of the event (10,000 hits per day on this site would certainly imply that this was the case ;).
One of the great things about this week is that I am going home proud of everything that happened, or didn't happen, here in Orlando.  The track  content that we selected hit the mark -- and even held a few surprises and sleeper hits.  The announcements were covered positively.  The buzz was positive and upbeat, mostly.  The demo really wasn't smoke and mirrors, for those who keep hearing the persistent rumor that something in it was.  The networking was cool -- walking to Ask the Developers last night, I estimated that I recognized one out of every eight or ten faces in the crowd -- truly a testimonial to how important the community aspect of Lotusphere is.  And it was great to catch up with friends old and new... people who are important to me are part of this event, and it was so cool that we were able to celebrate it in healthy yet connected ways.
There's a ton of stuff to catch up on ... I'll probably blog some more from the airplane home....but for now, I simply say "see you next year!"

Ed Brill | WDW Dolphin, Orlando FL USA Category:  Lotusphere 2004  Add/View Comments [15]

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  1. 1  Ben Poole http://www.benpoole.com | 1/30/2004 9:33:04 AM

    So who did the closing session?!

  1. 2  vowe  | 1/30/2004 9:45:08 AM

    Notes applications in Workplace Client on Windows only is not good enough. Mac is not committed yet, as I understand and for Linux you are still weighing your options. Definitely not in four months and for the end of the year I am not holding my breath.

  1. 3  Alan Lepofsky  | 1/30/2004 9:59:55 AM

    Here is a quick recap of the closing.

    It began with Lotus VP of Marketing, Jean-Marc Favennec going over some of the statistics of Lotusphere 2004. How many people attended (up 15% from last year!), how many certification exams were written (~850 if I remember correctly), and even how many bottles of water were drank! Then in a very powerful move, he had the 4 other VP's of Lotus (Development, Products, Sales, and Services) join him on stage. Each of them took a few minutes to recap what Lotusphere 2004 meant to them, and then they publically stated their personal commitments to 2004. This is big folks.

    To answer your question, comedian Richard Jeni ( www.richardjeni.com) than came out and entertained us. I have not laughed that hard for a long time.

    The session ended to great applause, as Lotusphere 2005 in Orlando Florida January 23 - 27 was announced.

    One more thing I forgot to mention, at the beginning of the session Jean-Marc thanked several people for making Lotusphere happen, including a minute long standing ovation from the crowd to Sandra Marcus, the Queen of Lotusphere, and one of the world's nicest people.

  1. 4  Ben Poole http://www.benpoole.com | 1/30/2004 10:09:51 AM

    Good to hear the numbers are up; would be great to have another big increase next year.

  1. 5  Joe Canadian  | 1/30/2004 11:19:42 AM

    I heard in one of the sessions that the Notes app in the Rich Client was accomplished via an Active X control. Is that true?

  1. 6  vowe  | 1/30/2004 11:52:28 AM

    That was confirmed to me by a few people involved in building it.

  1. 7  vowe  | 1/30/2004 11:55:25 AM

    How many attendees in total, how many of those from IBM?

  1. 8  Ben Poole http://www.benpoole.com | 1/30/2004 1:45:17 PM

    ... IBM keep laying people off ;-)

  1. 9  Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 1/30/2004 3:21:03 PM

    whether it was or wasn't an ActiveX (and the product managers tell me that it was not) doesn't really matter. The final implementation isn't done yet. The point is, you WILL be able to run Notes applications inside of the Workplace client technology, and the goal is 100% functionality (as you know, Volker, from the answer you received at the press conference).

    Other comments

    - I never heard that Linux was a maybe commitment for the Workplace client. It is unclear how the Notes client functionality will be rendered in Workplace client technology on Linux, but the commitment was made.

    - Volker, the overall # was in the 5200 range (I don't have the slides, but I know The Libby wrote it down in her reporter's notes). We wouldn't break out how many are IBMers.

  1. 10  vowe  | 1/30/2004 4:15:17 PM

    OLE embed, ActiveX, COM. It is only available on Windows. I see a commitment for Linux but not for the Mac. I first had the impression it was there but when I checked my notes I could not find it. Wishful thinking on my part, maybe.

    Yes, there was a commitment for Linux. Not doable in four months for sure, Harish seems to think in 10 months. I believe that when I see it. Like the Apache Domino plugin that was promised a long while ago.

    I do NOT believe what I saw at the Opening Session, that was only smoke and mirrors to me.

  1. 11  Erik Ferrari  | 1/30/2004 8:41:26 PM

    The people working in the dining tents are always helpful in providing information. This year they did 6000 portions for the Tuesday lunch. You do the math.

  1. 12  Scott S.  | 1/30/2004 9:41:25 PM

    Total Attendees: 5,273.

    I took a picture of the actual slide because I knew I would be asked this question when I got back.

  1. 13  Josh Humphrey  | 1/31/2004 7:39:47 AM

    In 2003 did they give away one free ticket for every 5 an organisation bought? I believe this year was the first time my company was offered this kind of deal.

  1. 14  Rock http://www.LotusGeek.com | 1/31/2004 4:45:23 PM

    ...that the attendance number included staff and speakers. I know there were about 300 speakers (Holly confirmed that to me), and on Sunday it was said that there were 3,800 customers. So, I think that means there were about 1350 or so BPs, and then staff and speakers.

    Overall a nice increase!

  1. 15  jonvon  | 1/31/2004 11:37:33 PM

    won't tell you the story very well, i know i had seconds on two different days. all that walking makes me hungry!

    :-)