Author: Gregg Eldred

This is a weblog with some basis in IBM/Lotus Notes & Domino software, when I feel like it or think of something that might be interesting. Other than that, we'll see where this goes. The views expressed in this blog are mine alone, and do not reflect the views of NextStep Technologies, LLC. If you think otherwise, you are mistaken. © 2003-2020 NextStep Technologies, LLC. All rights reserved. The rights to all logos, images, etc., are owned by their respective owners.

One Thousand Miles, 19 Hours, and a Motorcycle

Eight riders started at 4AM Eastern, from Willowick, OH, rode to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, turned around, and rode back to Willowick. One thousand seventy-three miles in 19 hours.

We completed an Iron Butt ride!

Clicking on the picture will open an interactive map, where you can zoom in, see some pictures, and read some ride statistics.

Some thoughts about riding (or attempting to ride) 1000 miles in 24 hours. In no particular order.

4AM is damn early. Be sure to get to bed early. It may help to have a couple of beers, a bourbon, to help you get to sleep. But don’t drink too much, you have to get up early and you don’t need a hangover.
Keep yourself hydrated. At every stop, I drank water and/or fruit juice to keep my fluid levels up. Saturday was a hot day and it required continual fluid intake. The night prior to leaving, open some water bottles and drain some water from them. Then, put them in the freezer. You will have some rock solid bottles of water that you can put in a small cooler. They will slowly melt as you ride and provide you with ice cold water for the entire trip. They also double as ice to keep fruit cool.
Keep snacking. There isn’t time, nor do you want to, to have a meal of any size. Fruit, granola bars, nuts, energy gels, maybe some jerky, are quick snacks. The linked energy gels do not require liquids to wash them down. However, some of them taste pretty bad. Regardless, I think they helped and it doesn’t take long to ingest 2 ounces of gel.
Invest in a pair of bicycling shorts (these are shown inside out, so that you can see the padding, you will NOT look like a baboon when wearing them). The extra padding will go a long way to make your ride more comfortable. However, with them under your pants or armored riding pants, you may find that you walk like you’ve got a full diaper. It’s worth the extra padding.
Know how far you can travel on a tank of gas. In my testing, I was able to get 42 miles per gallon. However, the actual ride was moving at a quicker pace than 69-72 miles per hour because the speed limits were higher in Michigan. I-75 ranges from 70-75 mph in some areas. Because of that, my fuel economy dropped to 33-36 miles per gallon (I do not have stock pipes on my bike, which makes a big difference in fuel consumption at higher speeds). Because of this, I was the rider with the shortest range. Plan your gas stops for the person with the shortest range. In this case, it would be me. The ride leader adjusted two stops because there was no way I would make the planned stops.
This wasn’t my ride, so I followed. As the person with the shortest range, we could have changed the gas stops. That didn’t happen, the ride leader simply tacked on an additional stop. If it were me, I would have adjusted as we rode. Sure, that part of the planning would have gone out the window, but our stops would have been consistently 120-130 miles apart. As it was, one stop was only 60 miles from the previous stop. That cost us 40 minutes (we stopped at the same gas stations twice, going up to Sault Ste. Marie and back). It’s a small thing, but I was personally responsible for the additional stop and I didn’t like that feeling. I’m grateful for an additional 40 minute break, though.
If you are worried about range, you may want to consider a jerry can. However, the additional weight may reduce your range, too.
While the weather did not show rain along the route, I still packed my rain gear. As it was, we missed some early morning rain in the Cleveland area. It didn’t rain at all along the route. Still, I was prepared.
Speaking of packing, pack as light as possible. The less you have, the less you need to track.
I rode in a full face helmet with a Sena 10S as my travelling companion. Through it, I can listen to music, hear Waze give me directions, and, if there are others in your group with Bluetooth headsets, the ability to talk to them. It worked, as always, exceptionally well. However, a charge will only last about 16-17 hours. Which meant that the last 90 miles or so, I was travelling in silence. I did bring the charging cable, but with only 20 minute stops, there wasn’t enough time to get a proper charge. Not sure how to remedy this situation, since the Sena doesn’t have extra battery packs or fast chargers.
If you are starting out early, and your start point is not within 15-20 minutes of your home, I highly recommend that you get a hotel room. First, you won’t have to ride any sort of distance to get started. This means a few more minutes of precious sleep. Next, and most important, after you return, your bed is only a short ride away. I cannot stress enough how tired you will be at the finish. The thought of riding more than 20 minutes, at least to me, was depressing. Thankfully, the hotel I booked was about 3 minutes from the staging area. I was in the room, showered, and watching a little television before some of the riders were home. Also, during the last segment, all I found myself thinking was “how soon can I get in bed?” Not exactly the smartest thought, but knowing that the final ride of the day was only a mile, at worse, from the staging area, really made me feel good.
The Iron Butt Association (IBA) allows the use of Spotwalla for tracking your ride. This was the first time I used the app and I do like it. It may replace EatSleepRide as my preferred riding app. That said, before embarking on a 1000 mile ride, download the Spotwalla app, create an account on the Spotwalla site, configure the app, and then use it to track your ride. As you are using it, remember to post pictures and comments on your ride. When done, you can submit your Spotwalla trip, along with all of the paperwork, to IBA.
The use of Spotwalla also allows for the sharing of your ride with anyone and everyone. At a glance, your significant other, parents, friends, can see where you are, where you’ve been. Not only does this make the ride more inclusive, your significant other/parents/friends are aware that you are still moving or at a gas stop, reducing the anxiety of the ride for everyone.
Spotwalla seemed to get people to text me at points in the route. I cannot overstate the boost I got from people texting me their good wishes, their recommendations for sights to see at specific stops (sorry, no time for sightseeing), and general snarky comments. Keeping it light and funny made the time on the bike seem to go faster. Thank you for your text messages.
Speaking of IBA, our ride leader is an IBA member. That means easier paperwork for the other riders. It’s like he is a sponsor. When we completed the ride, we each provided him with three gas receipts; start, midpoint, end, along with the mileage written on the receipts. He is responsible for submitting our ride to IBA. It really was easy. If you are not riding with an IBA member, pay close attention to the guidelines. Since we were all starting from Cleveland, our route choices were limited to east, west, and south. I’d highly recommend that you plan a route for every direction, so that you have a chance to miss bad weather come ride day.
Put all of your receipts in an envelope and keep the envelope in the same place. This reduces or eliminates hunting for the envelope when you need it at every gas stop.
It may seem stupid to mention, however once you’ve decided on your route and gas stops, it doesn’t hurt to call the gas stations. You want to make sure that they are open 24 hours, have more than 4 pumps, and allow the use of credit/debit cards at the pumps. If you have to run into the shop to pay or to get your receipt, you are losing precious time that could have been used to eat or drink something. Or to use the bathroom.
We limited our gas stops to 20 minutes. That is just enough time to get gas, get your receipt and take a photo of the receipt with your odometer reading, eat and drink something, and to use the bathroom. There wasn’t any time for much more. Remember, you can ride 1000 miles in about 16-1/2 hours at 60 mph. Add in 8 gas stops at 20 minutes, you are now at 19 hours.
When I ride by myself, 20 minute gas stops and no lunch or dinner is my preferred method of riding. This ride fit my style of riding but at much greater distances.
There could be time for a proper lunch or dinner. While that is an enticing thought, don’t do it. You will get tired as your body digests a large meal. You will also need to stop for additional bathroom breaks. As I said above, just keep snacking. I didn’t get hungry or tired (I was tired, but it was from riding, not eating).
Do a full check of your bike before leaving; pads, fluids, tires, cables, lights, everything. You don’t need a mechanical problem out on the road. And you most certainly don’t need to ride on tires that need replacing.
This is not an easy ride and can be dangerous. In most cases you will be riding highways with cars and trucks. Even at 4AM in Cleveland, with extremely light traffic, I saw some pretty stupid drivers. We rode Michigan; deer are an ever present danger. More than any other ride, you have to keep awake and alert. In our case, we started in the dark and ended in the dark. Do not ride faster than your headlights can illuminate. In the light of day, you can see the idiots better, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t relax.
As they say, there is safety in numbers. Riding in a group helped a lot with safety and visibility. It may have also helped that, as tail gunner, I was wearing a high visibility, military spec vest. One, the leader could easily see me at the back of the group. Next, riding in the dark, I stood out like a beacon. Finally, it has an ID pocket. You know what fits in it? My EZ-Pass. Going through toll booths was a breeze (just make sure that you orient it properly before starting out). While I did have to wait for the others to pay their tolls, if everyone in our group had an EZ-Pass, we could have saved several minutes at each toll booth.
If riding in a group, do not skip the safety meeting prior to starting. Go over staggered riding, hand signals, a reminder of the route to the first gas stop. The leader should also tell the group the expected speed at which the group will travel depending on road conditions, weather, traffic. If you experience toll booths, the procedure for moving through them.
Do not allow yourself to get cold. Leaving Cleveland at 4AM, it was a bit chilly. I didn’t ask the other riders, but as I always ride in armor, I was pleasantly cool. The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is markedly cool than the mitten. Wear layers, stay warm. If you’re cold, you’ll burn more calories which makes you tired. Especially at the start and end of your ride. Don’t look only at the high temperatures for the day you riding, look at the low’s, too.
Ride with someone you’ve ridden with and trust. I was fortunate to have two people on the ride with whom I’ve ridden many times. Not only are you engaging in friendly, pointed banter at the stops, which makes the ride more fun, you are riding with people that know you. They knew when I was tired, even though I didn’t say anything. They knew when it didn’t look like I was having fun and did their best to change my attitude. And we all had someone we could lean on at the most trying points of the ride. In short, we relied on each other to push through the hard parts and finish the ride. Also, when you broach the subject of “1000 miles in 24 hours” with your significant other, knowing that you will be riding with people that she knows and trusts, goes a long way toward acceptance of the insane thing you have in mind. “I may not like, but at least he’ll be riding with Aaron and Harvey. I know they’ll keep an eye on him.”
Most important: The IBA checks mileage reports based on Google Maps. Because odometers and speedometers are notoriously wrong on motorcycles, be sure to map your ride using Google Maps to confirm the distance. For example, when we finished, odometer readings ranged from 1,023 to 1,074 miles. Google Maps is the one, true measure of distance traveled.

This is a tough ride. The worse part for me was the start time. Frankly, I didn’t think I would be able to finish the ride, as I was pretty tired from lack of sleep. But, when we arrived in Sault Ste. Marie, I was feeling great and ready for the ride back home. I don’t know if I qualify it as “fun,” but I can say when we finished, I felt that I had really accomplished something. Hopefully, the points above are helpful.

Ride safe.

One Thousand Miles, 24 Hours, and a Motorcycle

The year after I bought my bike, I discovered the Iron Butt Association. It’s members have completed a 1,000 mile motorcycle ride in 24 hours. I knew then that I wanted to do that ride and I added it to my Bucket List of motorcycle rides.

Last year, watching Paul Mooney complete the ride, gave me the impetus I needed to actually attempt the ride. I talked with several other riders until one stepped up and said “Let’s do it,”

Now is my chance.

On Saturday, 4 August, at 4AM Eastern, I will be riding 1000 miles in 24 hours with 9 other riders. We will be leaving Willowick, OH, riding to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, turning around, and riding back to Willowick. And we’re doing it for a charity.

Starting at 3:30AM Eastern, you can track the progress of the ride by clicking here. The link is updated roughly every 5 minutes or so. It’s near real time. Thankfully, I have a phone charger on my bike, so I won’t worry about losing battery power.

If you’d like to contribute to the charity, all of the information can be found on the GoFundMe site.

Paul was extremely honest and helpful when I asked for his advice. So, I am very well prepared. Last Sunday I rode 150 miles (plus a little more) on the Ohio Turnpike to know, exactly, how far I can go on one tank of gas. That was a 300+ mile ride. Amazon has been delivering packages with items that should make the ride more comfortable, my stops more effective, my body more prepared.

I’m am really looking forward to this ride. Click the ride link, above, and come along with us. And, there will be Monkey and Donkey pictures along the way. They will, as always, ride with me.

Investigation of Age Bias at IBM

A month ago, I posted an excerpt from a ProPublica report that turned anecdotes of IBM firing older workers, into some real reporting. This month, ProPublica has reported that the US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is investigating the claims made in their article.

More than five years after IBM stopped providing legally required disclosures to older workers being laid off, the EEOC’s New York district office has begun consolidating individuals’ complaints from across the country and asking the company to explain practices recounted in the ProPublica story, according to ex-employees who’ve spoken with investigators and people familiar with the agency’s actions.

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ProPublica: Cutting “Old Heads” at IBM

But when high tech suddenly started shifting and companies went global, IBM faced the changing landscape with a distinction most of its fiercest competitors didn’t have: a large number of experienced and aging U.S. employees.

The company reacted with a strategy that, in the words of one confidential planning document, would “correct seniority mix.” It slashed IBM’s U.S. workforce by as much as three-quarters from its 1980s peak, replacing a substantial share with younger, less-experienced and lower-paid workers and sending many positions overseas. ProPublica estimates that in the past five years alone, IBM has eliminated more than 20,000 American employees ages 40 and over, about 60 percent of its estimated total U.S. job cuts during those years.

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#domino2025 Webcast

I, along with a reported 1,500+ others, attended the IBM/HCL #domino2025 webcast today. I was happy to hear the excitement in the voices, the number of questions being answered, and the overall positive reviews from the faithful. But then, the skeptic in me kicked in, and I wasn’t that surprised at all; IBM/HCL was preaching to the one group of people that would be overjoyed to hear about the future of IBM Notes/Domino.

After some introductions, IBM/HCL launched into their presentation. The first slide that caught my attention was titled “Experience in Domino V10:”

I sure hope, that after my last post, the highlighted area is well and truly delivered when the product is released, sometime in late 2018.

Then, there is this slide:

I suppose that “Rocks JavaScript” is a fun little phrase. However, it is the “future proof” and “abundant skills” that caught my eye. I’ve heard a similar take on “future proof” as it dealt with earlier releases, hell, I can probably find something like it from the R5 days. But if you don’t keep pushing forward, you find yourself at the back of the pack. And then there is the “abundant skills.” I don’t know a damn thing about Node.js, however if you tell a prospective developer that he will be working on Node.js in Domino or with Domino, is that a guarantee that the developer will be happy to sign on? Or, do you play it safe and not even mention Domino?

Keeping an eye on the Q&A chat, there was a lot of “yes, we are looking into that,” but there was also this question and answer:

This really pleased me, as it appears that IBM/HCL actually listened to us. What gets delivered this year will probably be a “bit” different, but at least they were reading IdeaJam. Mr. Skeptic wonders, though, “What took you so damn long?” Years of adding ideas, voting on them, IBM had a gold mine of improvements from the people that actually use the product, in the real world. Your customers were telling you exactly what you needed to know to make the product better. But then, some other things probably got in the way. Hopefully, this is the one area that HCL will leverage to their advantage.

Time for a poll question.

That looks pretty good. And, based on the reactions from the presenters, exactly what they were expecting.

Finally, their “Go to Market” slide.

So, they’ll be presenting their vision and slides to more of the faithful this year. Good, get them all happy to see the new version. However, what’s the plan for those that aren’t attending THINK or any of the user group events? And by that, I mean, those that may already have Notes/Domino but never attend any of those events? Shouldn’t you be contacting them in some manner, letting them know what is on the horizon? Allowing them to realize that they aren’t running “legacy” software? That is a pretty tall order, I know, but there is only so much THINK and user group attendees can do for Domino 10. You are basically rebooting Domino, how about rebooting how you communicate with your customers, from the little shops to the large corporations?

Finally, about the presentation itself. It assumed a lot of knowledge from the attendees. There were a lot of jargon and abbreviations thrown around with no explanation of either. Based on the Q&A chat, I wasn’t the only one confused at times by what I was hearing and seeing. If you’re going to use jargon and abbreviations, please allow the speaker to explain them so that nothing is lost during the presentation.

Overall, I was very happy to see and hear the new directions that Domino is taking. There is a lot on HCL’s plate and it will be very interesting to see what is delivered later this year. Hopefully, we’ll continue to see the progress that HCL is making during the year and also learn more about the message that will be delivered to the marketplace.

Goodbye IBM Notes: City of Cornwall

A couple of articles on the same topic, the City of Cornwall has decided to move off of IBM Notes to Microsoft Office365 (emphasis, mine).

Cornwall’s information technology department is asking to spend almost $900,000 on software and equipment to keep up with the times.

The budget is proposing $898,000 for several different projects. There is a three-year phase in for a Microsoft Office upgrade and desktop virtualization.

. . . There is also money for moving corporate emails to Microsoft Outlook which will more seamlessly integrate with the other programs the city uses. The migration to Microsoft programs will lead to the city abandoning Lotus Notes, a software suite now owned by IBM, in favour of Microsoft’s shared and remote-computer platforms.

There is also money for a new records management system called for social housing after the province pulled support for implementing such systems recently in favour of producing their own system.

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But the “money quote” comes from a second article:

“Hallelujah!” Coun. Bernadette Clement remarked on word the city would be ditching Lotus.

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That is exactly the problem IBM has long confronted but never addressed. Now, that same sentiment will spill over to HCL. You can argue the technological advantages of IBM Notes/Domino all you want, but it doesn’t make any difference in the minds of a lot of users and, more importantly, the decision makers with the purse strings.

So, I ask, “IBM, how is Domino 10 going to change those people’s minds?” Because until you can show me that the updated version is positioned to make people think well about their Domino investment, and I don’t mean the faithful that have attended some or all of your #domino2025 webinars and sessions, it won’t matter. Oh, you’ll keep some accounts that were waffling, maybe gain a couple of new ones, but until you can change the minds of the users, all of the work you are doing on Domino 10, and beyond, will only make the faithful happy.

HCL and IBM Domino

A very interesting view of HCL, a company that has bought the Intellectual Property (IP) of several companies, IBM included.

HCL’s strategy is underpinned on investments of $1.1 billion in licensing intellectual properties (IPs) from companies and then building products around them for clients.

The trouble is some of the acquired IPs are decades-old and are ceding share to rival offerings. A case in point is HCL’s acquisition of International Business Machines Corp.’s (IBM’s) Lotus Notes, a product that is fast losing relevance in today’s world.

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“Building products around them for clients.” Maybe that will allow for increased awareness of Domino within the existing customer base. But it doesn’t appear that it will translate in gaining market share from Google or Microsoft. However, I don’t think that gaining market share is what HCL is hoping. Hoping for a cash cow, it’s more believable that HCL wants to get more revenue out of existing customers to recoup their investment. If they win a few new customers, well, that’s just gravy.

#Domino2025 Virtual Jam – What’s the Point?

Sure, a bit of a clickbait title, however, why not?

I attended the #Domino2025 virtual jam today. The first half (or more) was primarily focused on Application Development. The remaining time was on Mail, Calendar, Contacts, Sametime, the Notes Client, and iNotes. Throughout the presentation, the moderators allowed 10 minutes of open Q&A and also asked us to answer some survey questions. Sadly, none of the survey questions included an option for “Not Applicable,” “No development needs,” or similar answers. You had to pick an option, even if it didn’t apply to you or your company.

It was during the conversation about mail, calendar, and the Notes client that I perked up. I watched the online Q&A, I listened to the speakers, I listened to the audience. It was then that it struck me – IBM is asking the same questions they’ve asked us over the years. The online Q&A was filled with the questions you’ve heard and asked throughout the years. The answers were all pretty much the same, “thank you for your feedback.” In fact, IBM had a Twitter widget in the Jam, that was watching for mentions of the hashtag #Domino2025.

Being a bit of a realist (I’m trying that word out, instead of “cynic”), I tweeted and received a reply:

Now, who among you have attended Lotusphere/Connect/whatever over the years? Did you attend the sessions “Ask The Developers?” “Ask the Product Managers?” That line, “we’ll take it back with us,” is a handy phrase from both of those sessions. Realistically, it means that nothing will happen.

Now, back to the Jam. What is the point? IBM is asking the (remaining) faithful for their opinions. I ask, what have you done with all of the opinions we have provided to you over the years?

Let’s start with IdeaJam. There are still ideas, voted on by people that work with the products, on that site. What did you do with any of those ideas? Why wouldn’t you go to a site that is designed for ideas, mine them, and implement the most popular ones? This site goes back years. At any time in the past, all you had to do was to take a look and implement some of them. You would not be in your current position of asking, yet again, for our thoughts and ideas. Further, if you had implemented some of the more popular ones, you may not be in your current position.

Next, every year, in January or February, you gathered the faithful in Orlando. You had two, specific sessions, where the audience asked for features, direction, and wishes. I am guessing that none of you ever wrote down the questions or the answers and never “took it back with you.” Although, I do know one person that did. And you didn’t like that he would return, year after year, to simply ask for an update. Yet, as far as I can tell, nothing ever came from those sessions, popular as they were.

Finally, your sales reps and technical reps appeared in companies that used your software. They were told certain things, they were begged for certain things. What happened to all of that feedback? Who collated that information and turned it into enhancement requests? Which Product Manager added those items to the build list and delivered those features?

It is telling that the very people that bet on the success of IBM software, that shared their wants and needs with IBM, were, in essence, ignored. These were people that made their living selling, listening to customers, upgrading, creating applications, using your software. And they all told you how to make it better. You chose not to listen.

Now, here you are again, hand out, asking for feedback, answering with “we’ll take it back with us.”

I’ve read many editions of this book, in many different formats, the ending is always the same.

IBM Shipped Malware-Infected Flash Drives to Customers

In a security alert, IBM is warning that it inadvertently shipped malware-infected USB flash drives to some of its storage hardware customers as well as to customers of some Lenovo-branded products.

A Trojan – known as Faedevour, Pondre and Reconyc – is present on USB flash drives that have been distributed to some users of IBM and Lenovo Storwize systems, which are virtualizing RAID computer data storage systems.

Not good. But, I did find some humor in the article, under the heading “Destroy or Wipe the Drives.”

Devices also can be rendered useless, for example, with a screwdriver and hammer.

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The Register: Pennsylvania sues IBM for fraud

Ouch, “frequent personnel churn.” Too many subcontractors and not enough actual IBM employees?

“Despite being paid nearly $170 million, IBM never delivered the modern, integrated [computer system] it commit[ed] to build, instead delivering failed promises and a failed project,” alleged the complaint, which additionally claimed that: “Frequent IBM personnel churn came to be a defining feature of the … project”.

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