In lieu of Collaboration University
So while every one else was having a great time in London at CU, I had the great fortune to spend a couple of days in Westford 5.
Obviously, I can't talk about very much that was presented there, unless it's already public. So on the matter of things that are public...
1) Domino Designer in Eclipse is beyond cool. Like, however cool you think it is -- even if you've already seen it -- it's cooler than that.
2) Non-summary item compression is coming in 8.0.1. It's sweet. 40% reduction in email file size is not uncommon. They're still testing the performance implications of it, but in some cases, things actually get FASTER when you turn it on.
3) FIPS 140-2 is complicated. And frankly, a bit silly. At the risk of disclosing too much, I'll point out that FIPS 140-2 CERTIFICATION is very different from FIPS 140-2 SUPPORT. If you do business with the US federal government, you should start the process of upgrading your Notes ID key strength. Sooner or later, you'll need it. It's probably a good idea if you need to be HIPAA compliant, too.
4) The Westford developers kick ass. Yeah, they write great code, but guess what else? They really do know more about the product than you do. Even if it doesn't always feel that way.
5) Mobile devices are a big deal. And I have a newfound respect for RIM.
6) The people that do security in Notes/Domino are scary smart. And they can peel the skin off your face with acronyms and algorithmic reference codes.
7) My colleagues in the Domino world are also really great, and I continue to be delighted by my level of respect for them. That being said, I think that from now on we should all refer to Andrew "Face Hugger" Pollack. (Please note: I mean no actual hostility about that. The man himself made jokes about his own tenacity.)
8) You might not be happy about performance in Notes 8. The developers hear you. And they care. A lot.
Flight time. Have a great weekend!
Comments
So, to pry a bit:
- How much more or less *private* stuff did you see that you can't talk about, and
- How cool was *that* stuff?
Posted by Erik Brooks At 11:43:26 PM On 09/21/2007 | - Website - |
Any idea what they can do about it (except suggesting to buy new hardware)?
Posted by Mika Heinonen At 02:07:37 AM On 09/22/2007 | - Website - |
@2 - Well, the most important thing they can do is publish guidelines for how to get the most out of your existing hardware. I started to do that here, and I will continue to do so in the next few days -- but obviously information direct from IBM is crucial.
You'd be surprised (or maybe you wouldn't be, really) how sensitive a complex SWT app is to video drivers, for instance. And because the entire Eclipse package looks like a web-based app, I personally suspect that aggressive software firewalls and the like are spending a lot of extra clock cycles worrying about what the program does.
You know the Vista "cancel or allow" thing? A lot of client firewalls try to do that with JARs, y'know. And Notes 8 standard is a LOT of JARs now.
In any event, clearly a lot of it has to do with configuration, or I wouldn't be able to get double the speed as someone with identical hardware -- which I do today.
Also, there's stuff they can do to the underlying code. Better caching, better handling of image files (there's a lot of PNGs in your mail/calendar now!) and a more simultaneous screen draw will all improve perception of performance.
Oh, and there's still a lot of underlying incremental improvements in the SWT platform itself. They're going to be adding support for OpenGL rendering, for instance. Which means that an OGL-accelerated video card can take advantage of it. (That gaming hardware will be good for something!)
Posted by Nathan T. Freeman At 08:44:33 AM On 09/23/2007 | - Website - |
Posted by John Head At 04:04:41 PM On 09/23/2007 | - Website - |
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<br />Thanks for the info, though. Glad to hear even more affirmation that IBM has finally "gotten" the product.
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Posted by Erik Brooks At 09:10:13 PM On 09/23/2007 | - Website - |
Now THAT would be cool!
"In any event, clearly a lot of it has to do with configuration, or I wouldn't be able to get double the speed as someone with identical hardware -- which I do today."
Well, I think software optimzation has also it's limits, but like you said it can improve 50% of the performance. Also OS swapfile optimizations and other stuff will count to that.
What could also improve performance a lot, would be that you could do a minimal Notes Java install, with only the stuff you want.
Posted by Mika Heinonen At 05:38:35 AM On 09/24/2007 | - Website - |
I'll try to get something posted today. Basically, it's pretty awesome stuff.
Remember the initial solution for displaying available assignments to a shopper? The one that minimized the amount of pass-thru on the view?
IBM is not unfamiliar with that problem.
Posted by Nathan T. Freeman At 07:11:29 AM On 09/24/2007 | - Website - |
Posted by Erik Brooks At 10:11:28 AM On 09/24/2007 | - Website - |