It's early Wednesday morning here at the 'sphere and the human aspects of myself feel as through they are beginning to return, which is VERY welcomed. As I lay in bed watching the lightning my mind began to wonder on what a fantastic Lotusphere this really has been, even with my limited participation. Still ticked that I couldn't go to JamFest, but oh well. But I got to thinking about the theme of Lotusphere 2008, Emergence.
The Random House unabridged dictionary for the word Emergence is as follows:
1. the act or process of emerging.
2. an outgrowth, as a prickle, on the surface of a plant.
3. Evolution. the appearance of new properties or species in the course of development or evolution.
Evolution. I don't think that there is anyone in the Lotus community that has been following things over the last couple of years can say that there hasn't been a solid evolution of the product line. Look at what was announced on Monday morning about Notes/Domino 8.0.1, Domino 8.5, Symphony, the new Eclipse Designer client, widgets in Notes. They are all a solid evolution of the product line. I really think that the die hard Outlook/Exchange people are going to have a hard time giving the "Lotus Notes sucks" line. They will, but they are going to have a hard time backing it up.
I would dare say that there is even an Evolution of management at Lotus taking shape. In the past OGS's there was always the "nudge-wink-let's make fun of Microsoft" comments here and there. I applaud Mike Rhodin for calling Office what it is. Monopoly. A waste of corporate resources on a product line that can EASILY be replaced with new technology.
There has been a very clear evolution in our community. Look at the increased number of blogs about Lotus. Just take a look at PlanetLotus.org. Many of the sites that appear on there I've known about but many more I've never heard of before. The one thing I notice with all of the blogs is that they share both from the heart and the head about the product line and their areas of knowledge. The growth has gone as far as to now have a special function at Lotusphere to award the Best Blogger as voted on by others in the community. Congratulations Jake! Do other software communities do things like this? The evolution of our community just doesn't stop at blogs. New technology adoptions like Twitter, Facebook and other social software keeps us all up to date as to what's going on around us. The evolution revolution doesn't stop there! Lotusphere Idol. What a fantastic idea! Calling out to those in the community to take a shot at coming up with a session idea for Lotusphere. Then pitch it live in front of judges and attendees and see what happens. I really think that the session is going to evolve over the years and will likely become one of the cult favorites like Bill and Paul's Worst Practices session.
Evolution is and will continue to happen in the Lotus community. Both from IBM and from all of us that are a part of the community. How will you evolve with it?
How will you embrace it?
No comments:
Post a Comment