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


Wed 18 Feb 2004, 09:10 PM
Way back in May, I first asked whether Notes was booming or bombing.  Nine months later, the evidence seems even more clear to me that Notes is booming.  At Lotusphere, people were cautiously optimistic about Workplace, and flat out enthusiastic about Notes/Domino.  Gone were some of the fears (dare I say, IBM-fed fears) about the imminent demise of Notes.  Sessions featuring Notes/Domino topics, including my own, were packed to overflowing.  

Aside from the enthusiasm at Lotusphere, which could easily be said to be biased, I have little to go on except for the direct evidence of my own business and the indirect evidence of those I know and admire.  The past nine months have (easily) been the best of the seven plus years I have been in business, and the year ahead is shaping up to be as good or better.  Evaluations of Midas are up.  Enthusiasm for @Midas Formulas is up (and would be up further, I imagine,  if I would release the beta already, which I am avoiding by writing this post).  Sales for COEX! Links are better that I could have anticipated.

So, help me out with the indirect evidence.  How is the business climate where you are?  If you sell products, are they selling well?  If you sell services, is the demand finally picking up?  If you host apps or websites, are there many people wanting to host?  Let me know if I am living in my own bubble that could burst at any time or if this is something bigger and the enthusiasm from Lotusphere is more than a fluke.

Copyright © 2004 Genii Software Ltd.

Wed 18 Feb 2004, 01:48 PM
We are working on COEX! Links Version 2.0 right now, and I thought I'd mention it both to solicit any wishlist items from COEX! Links users potential users, and also to describe the major enhancement.

Current Situation
In COEX! Links 1.0, doclinks (and view links and db links) are converted automatically in the Domino router to one of three formats, an NDL attachments, a hyperlink based Notes URL link, and a text based URL link.  Thus, a doclink might become 

Inline GIF image

or it might become 


or it might become 

Notes:///852564840021BE86/95DE39B3D87082958525647B0016A59B

Each of these has its advantages for different users.  Outlook users may need to use the NDL format, because Microsoft doesn't let the Notes:/// format pass through successfully.  Web users might prefer the second format, as it looks nice (the text is configurable) and fits where a doclink used to be.  Other e-mail users might prefer the text link which will either become hot automatically in most mail files, or can at least be copied and pasted into a browser.  Still, there is an un-met need...

Meeting the un-met need
One of the assumptions behind all of these options is that the user still has a Notes client, yet one of the most requested features for COEX! Links is to be able to work in an environment where there are no more Notes clients.  The Domino server still exists, but the Notes clients aren't there, so all three of the formats in COEX! Links 1.0 leave you stranded.  Therefore, we are making a small, but significant, change to allow this need to be met.

In Version 2.0, you are able to specify an http URL with configurability (and some mapping to keep links sensible).  Now, that same doclink mentioned above can be turned into either


or 


As you will notice, these links do not require access to a Notes client, thus freeing clients to provide their own adaptions to the original Notes documents linked to.  In one database, you may want to change the link to


while in another, you might want to change the link to


which is also possible.  The format can be specified separately for each database, and in each case, it can be either a hyperlink (link hotspot) or a text link.

Any other wishes or un-met needs?
COEX! Links has been very successful, but the untapped need for such a product is much higher, so if you are a potential user and have a nagging concern or far out wish or even just a question, let me know here or contact us.

Copyright © 2004 Genii Software Ltd.