Poor Lauren… the terribly deprived child did quite well out of Santa, and today at last got the chance to try out a couple of things that were in her Christmas sack.

The first was a radio-controlled hovering UFO that we’d seen at a large well-known toy store in London (you won’t have to think too hard). We opened the box today and found that part of the structure was broken. Very disappointing, but I have to congratulate the store’s customer service – the guy I spoke to was as polite and apologetic as you could possibly hope for, and he gave me a freepost address for the item’s return and promised a replacement.

Postponing plans for the maiden voyage of the UFO, the other item to try out was the chocolate fountain (what was Santa thinking?). This was taken out of the box, and I discovered that while it did heat up as it was supposed to, the motor (for the purpose of pumping molten chocolate) didn’t work. So that’s another item we’re going to have to arrange the replacement of.

Quality control problems at the North Pole do you think? Thank goodness the Archos 605 is working properly (famous last words).

You’ll be pleased to know that the Archos 605 versus Apple iPod touch argument was resolved during the festive season. The wife very generously procured an Archos 605 plus DVR Station for me, while I furnished her with a tasty new iPod touch. This had the knock-on effect of a new-ish iPod for me, as she graciously passed on her iPod Video to me (to replace my faithful old 4th generation iPod). Lauren also got a new iPod (a blue nano), and this was welcomed by my older sibling Steve who is an Apple shareholder.

So, having played with the Archos 605 for a couple of days, was it the right decision? It’s a resounding ‘yes’. Now, the first thing you might say is “why have you got two devices Daz, an iPod and an Archos, when one iPod touch could have done the job?”. That was covered in an earlier blog post, but as a quick summary…

• The iPod touch’s top-of-the-range 16gb capacity isn’t enough for me (I have 9gb’s worth of music before I even start thinking about movies)
• I wouldn’t consider moving the music off the iTunes / iPod combination
• The Archos has a much better screen (larger and better resolution)

The first issue I came across with the Archos was getting DVD content onto the device, and after some experimentation and exchanges of opinion with Choddo, I went for DVD Ripper from Xilisoft (I already have another Xilisoft utility for getting movies onto iPods, but it wouldn’t work for the Archos – typical). Here lies one of the downsides of the Archos, that once you’ve bought the device you haven’t finished spending – I could actually have used iPod-ready movies but then I would have to have bought a plug-in to play them, so you have to spend either way.

Next, which format to rip to? Windows Media Video worked fine, but for some reason was very slow to rip… The Simpsons Movie would have taken (I estimated) about 10 hours. But I then discovered that the XviD AVI format worked on the device and was a lot quicker to rip.

The Archos 605 is WiFi-enabled so you can use it to browse the web… if you buy the Opera browser plugin (another £20). The case that comes in the box is rubbish (a flimsy pouch that offers about as much protection as a bus shelter in the event of a comet hitting the Earth) so chalk up another £20 for a decent case. So, there’s £60 gone on top of the cost of the device.

However, despite coughing up a few extra quid the overall experience is worth it. While the iPod touch wins for slimness and it’s user interface, the display on the Archos is beyond comparison (and you can also navigate using buttons if you want to avoid swiping your mucky digits all over the touch screen). The Opera browser is excellent (Opera are doing a good job, along with the browser on the Wii and OperaMini on the BlackBerry), there’s seven free ‘widgets’ available, the photos are crystal-clear, and the promise of being able to record from the Sky Plus box sounds great (despite my low expectation of anything to do with Sky).

Given the trouble promised at the UK airports in January (just in time for my trip to Lotusphere) I think the Archos 605 is going to be a godsend… perhaps I just need the battery extension pack.

It would appear to be Christmas Eve, so I’d like to wish the readers of dadams.co.uk a very merry Christmas. The wife’s Christmas playlist is ringing out of her iPod (as it has done since mid-November) so once again I’m struck by the idea of ‘I Wish It Could Be Christmas Every Day’ and how grossly impractical that would be. And while we’re on the subject of ridiculous song lyrics… ‘White Christmas’… lovely song, lovely idea, but totally irrelevant as we enter what I believe to be my 37th consecutive Christmas without snow.

Anyway, have a great Christmas, don’t drink and drive, be grateful for what you get and enjoy the Doctor Who special.

One thing I try to avoid is the fairly pointless feature war between Lotus Notes and Microsoft Outlook… not because I think Notes will lose (far from it) but because it detracts from the true business value of the Notes client (collaboration, security, off-line usage, etc).

However (do you know where this is going?)… one thing sure to spark off at least fifty comments on Ed Brill’s blog is any entry that pitches Notes against Outlook. Whether it’s feature comparisons, usability, look ‘n’ feel or the fact that “everyone likes Outlook and uses it at home” the debate becomes heated.

So, with that in mind, I was interested when Ports informed me of an entry in the Microsoft Outlook Team blog. The article describes how an Outlook 2003 user could configure Outlook so that all messages, even those that were sent by the owner of the inbox, could be seen in threads in the inbox. Now, you’ll note it specifically says “Outlook 2003″ so I’d be interested to know if the same procedure is necessary in Outlook 2007 (answers here please).

The solution to this dilemma is to take all of the messages you sent and throw them back into the inbox folder. They call this the “Ultimate Inbox”. Personally I think this sounds like the ultimate nightmare. Your inbox is for incoming e-mails. Good e-mail management says that you should deal with e-mails, place them in folders, mark them for follow-up, archive them, or delete them. A clean inbox says you’re in control and can focus on your real job. An inbox with hundreds of e-mail means it’s out of control. Why the hell would you want to add more e-mails to your inbox?

Okay, perhaps I’m spoilt with Notes 8. The message threads in Notes 8 will draw the e-mails together regardless of where they are, whether they’re ones I’ve sent or ones I’ve received and placed in a folder. And it doesn’t matter where you look at the thread – you could start in a sub-folder or the ‘all documents’ view.

Finally, consider the fact that many people say Outlook is easier to use. Then take note of part of the instructions from the Outlook Team’s article:

“This rule makes copies of outgoing messages so you’ll end up with two copies, one in your Inbox and another in your Sent-Items folder. If you have a small mailbox quota you should prevent Outlook from keeping a copy of outgoing messages in the Sent-Items folder, clear Save copies of messages in Sent Items folder in the dialog below (screenshot omitted). Now you have the Ultimate Inbox!”.

The Ultimate Inbox which is potentially storing two copies of every e-mail. Personally I think Notes 8 offers the ultimate inbox. And we haven’t even started on the subject of searching yet.

Hampshire’s favourite football manager is spouting crap again. On occasionally-serious footy web site Football365.com Mr Ferguson (pictured here with Ruud van Nistelrooy) delivers these pearls of wisdom…

“Arsenal are playing well, but it’s a long season and they know that, too. They will drop points, there’s no doubt about that.”

This is an incredible revelation – I had just assumed that Arsenal would win every single game from now on. This comes as a big blow to me, and I’m sure Arsene Wenger will spend a few sleepless nights coming to terms with this news.

Dame Alice goes onto to discuss their recent defeat at the hands of Bolton…

“If we hadn’t lost to Bolton then we would have been in a great position.”

Right, but you did lose to Bolton, so get over it. Naughty Bolton for denying ManYoo of their God-given right to win every game. And naughty Bolton again for not trying very hard against Liverpool and letting them win 4-0.

Both Alan Lepofsky and Ed Brill have posted articles about extending Notes 8 through plug-ins and composite applications… but I thought I’d share this one with you, a great example of something being rolled out within IBM. Chris Freestone of the Lotus Technical Sales team here in the UK has developed a plug-in which provides members of the Financial Services business unit with a quick reference guide to who in Technical Sales (across the five IBM software brands) has expertise in which products.

The data source at the back-end is a good ol’ Domino database, but it could be anything (just a matter of Chris telling the Eclipse plug-in what to read). And you can see from the screenshot here that the names are made live by the wonders of Sametime… double-clicking starts a conversation with the person you’re looking for (even if they’re on a mobile device).

This is version 1.0, and I know that Chris already has some enhancements planned for the next upgrade (actually this should be version 1.0.1 because he did a small tweak to make it automatically collapsed when opened).

So, it’s a great example of quickly and easily extending Notes’ functionality, addresses a business requirement (quickly finding and connecting with people), and also demonstrates integration with other plugged-in solutions (i.e. Sametime). Nice one Chris. Try doing this with Outlook.

Today marked the 16th anniversary of the day I started with Lotus Development (now part of the IBM Software Group). After two weeks in Customer Support I wanted to leave, but I stuck at it, moved onto Technical Sales (eventually became the manager of North Region), and I’m now loving my current role of Messaging & Collaboration Sales Leader for UKISA.

When I started at Lotus, we were using Notes version 2.0a, and 1-2-3 version 2.4 for DOS was the top-selling product. Windows 3.1 hadn’t yet been released, and Lotus were actively supporting OS/2 as an alternative. All these years later, I’m still based at Lotus Park in Staines (despite the frequent rumours that the location will be closed).

Only once during the sixteen years have I actively pursued a job with another company, nothing came of it and I’m really quite glad about it.

After more than sixteen years Notes is still in the market and we have the best product ever. 2006 saw continued year-on-year growth, the Lotus brand grew by 23% for the year, 2,000 companies joined the Notes / Domino customer base… and according to IDC we grew market share while Microsoft slipped. The whole portfolio is the strongest it’s ever been and there’s more great stuff to come (I’m particularly excited about something coming in 2008 that I can’t say too much about).

Domino, in so many ways, knocks spots off Microsoft Exchange… if only so many companies didn’t have an inexplicable case of Microsoft-lust. Still in this quarter we have enough Exchange knock-out opportunities to keep me believing there are enough people continuing to see the light.

Having been handed a very unlikely life-line by Isreal at the weekend, all England had to do was draw (at home) with Croatia. Just a draw.

McClaren decided to drop Paul Robinson because, as far as we the public could see, he had been unreliable… so Scott Carson started in goal. David James, with years of experience under his belt and having a great season between the sticks for Portsmouth (ignore the Reading game), was the second choice. Irony, as we know, is a fickle mistress, and thus Croatia’s first goal was caused by Carson’s schoolboy error (apologies to any schoolboys reading this).

By the time the second Croatia goal went in, I was at the stage of not being able to decide whether the drama unfolding was comic or tragic. By half-time I had the awful feeling that I wanted a third Croatia goal so that McClaren’s misery could be absolutely, gloriously complete. England were utterly rubbish in the first half. While Croatia looked well-organised and dangerous on the break, England were a shambles.

Croatia obviously had better studs on their boots as they seemed to manage to keep their footing while England slid around like Oliver Reed appearing in ‘Magic Moments from the Keystone Cops on Ice’ (while pissed). And who decided it was a good idea to let our American friends pound the pitch wearing body armour in a game that’s based on diving headlong across the turf… in Autumn, when it’s wet and there isn’t much sunlight? Wembley Stadium, the pride of England, sported a Sunday league-style surface.

As the seconds ticked away, following England’s two goals and Croatia’s third (in the words of the Incubus song “you should be careful what you wish for”) it was pointed out that we could still qualify if Andorra pulled a goal back against Russia. Andorra has a population of about 72,000 but Andorran’s are a minority in their own country (more than 67% of inhabitants are of other nationalities)… you get the point, it wasn’t going to happen.

The BBC web site reports that Steve McClaren has insisted he will not step down. Well, if he doesn’t do us all a favour I hope the FA do, preferably tomorrow.

So that’s it, no UK teams in Euro 2008. Northern Ireland got very near and should be very proud – “something to build on” would be an understatement. Scotland (I’m proud to be half-Scottish) got very near too and did far better than was expected – just falling at the last hurdle, but against world champions Italy there is nothing to be ashamed of. England on the other hand… I’ll use Ports’ word… “pathetic”.

First bit of news… I’ve recorded yet another video, this time for VNU. It was an interview-style video, mainly about the Lotus brand and Notes 8, but also touching on other parts of the portfolio. I did it in one take, but we did another so they could get some flexibility in the final edit. A bit quicker than my ZDNet performance.

Secondly, my frolleague Brendan Tutt is this week’s star of ZDNet talking about social software… specifically, although not mentioned as per the rules, Lotus Connections. Brendan is a modest man, but I think you’ll agree he does a great job, a very polished delivery, on this subject. Click on the piccie to access this masterpiece.

Finally… oh I love this. The power of viral marketing. It’s a bit of a poke at the Redmond giants and an advert for Lotus Symphony all in one. Check out “Tired of Feeding the Machine?” on YouTube. You might be interested to know that there have been over a quarter of a million downloads of Symphony since it was first announced, and those downloads are continuing at a steady rate.

And while I’m at it I might as well mention that I’m now running Notes 8.0.1 (beta 1). A few new things (like e-mailing a Symphony document directly from the toolbar, and the mail quota indicator), it has Sametime 8 built-in (nice) and all-in-all it seems a bit more zippy and responsive than 8.0 (and this is on a old laptop which I’m using while my T60 is being repaired).

I wasn’t going to write anything about this match, but I can’t let this go. Following today’s 2-2 draw, Moan Utd’s whining old scrote of a manager Dame Alice Ferguson accused referee Howard Webb of favouring Arsenal. Hang on, was he watching the same match as me? In the match I watched, ManUre got a free kick almost every time Arsenal made a tackle on a Utd player. In the same match, Utd’s Anderson committed three bookable offences yet only got booked once (and hence he avoided being sent off). Also, during this match, Utd were awarded a free kick when the odious grease-monkey Ronaldo fell over with no contact whatsoever from Gael Clichy. And finally, the referee wouldn’t have given the second Arsenal goal had the assistant referee not spotted that the ball had clearly gone over the line. So if that’s favouring Arsenal, I hate to think what would have happened if he’d got it in for them.