Lotusphere 2010 Report - Monday, January 18 - The Shat storms the Sphere

Several years back on The Turtle's website, I made a prediction and repeated it every year since.   That prediction has finally come true.  William Shatner was the special guest speaker this morning at Lotusphere 2010.  So with that, I guess I might as well pack up and head back to Ohio, right. 
Not likely. 
That was just a great way to kick off, what I think, is probably the clearest presentation of the future of the Lotus product family that I think I had really ever witnessed at a Lotusphere OGS.  Rather then try to brain dump and add to the echo chamber already blogged by others on PlanetLotus.org, I'm going to stick to some observations of the OGS. 
One that sticks out most is that there wasn't really any mention of, "here's what's coming in the next release of Notes/Domino" like we've seen in years past.  This year, a new tactic was played.  Instead of just focusing on the Notes/Domino future, those announcements were all rolled into the Project Vulcan one.  Project Vulcan, while still very conceptual, looks to truly revolutionize the playing field when it comes to that old Notes/Outlook debate.  That debate just isn't going to be there any more.  I look forward to hearing more about this one in the future.  Another aspect of the Project Vulcan announcement is that, (from what it sounds like),  Lotus is going to put a lot of hardcore effort into getting 8.5.2 out the door and make that work right and then start working on Vulcan.  That is great for us Admin's that are tired of constantly trying to catch up...like me.
But the BIGGEST news I heard about today that has excited me the most is the new fixpack for Lotus Traveler.  FP1 for Traveler 8.5.1 now allows for iPhone/iPod Touch  users to accept meeting invitations.  Something that was missing from the initial release.  Also announced today was support for the Android is coming later this year. For those that might be concerned about Android security, it was stated that the Android will have it's own client and not store the data natively to the Androids own PIM.  So that is something to look forward to and will hopefully be secure.
Today's themes and announcements still lead me to believe that the days of  "I AM" are gone forever.  Lotus software is not about the one, but the collective.  The collaboration tools that are there can make organizations strong.  But now it's up to us to go home and spread the message to those that need to hear it. 
But, there is one draw back to today.  Now that Shatner was the guest, who am I going to start guessing now?  Probably Dale Ernhardt, Jr.  For now, I'll stick with that.
Goodnight, Orlando.  Tomorrow comes too soon.