Gmail 10GB Attachments...Isn't That Quickr?

Didn't IBM do that many years ago with Lotus Notes integration with Quickr (formerly Quickplace)?

Let's see.  I choose a file from Google Drive (Quickr) and insert a link into a Gmail (Lotus Notes).  Then, I send the email to a user.  If the user is authorized to the file, he/she downloads the file from Drive (Quickr) and voila.

Google markets it as 10GB attachments and the crowd goes wild at the...ahem...innovation.

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2412534,00.asp

A Rose By Any Other Name

Here's an article I did for MC Press which covers IBM's long overdue replacement of the Lotus brand, IBM Traveler support on IBM i and the COMMON Europe Top Concerns survey. 

In the Wheelhouse: A Rose by Any Other Name

IBM rebrands one of its most revered products, and we take a good, hard look at COMMON Europe's Top Concerns survey. Plus, IBM i gets native support for the product formerly known as Lotus Notes Traveler: IBM Traveler.

IBM Previews New Lotus IBM Notes and Domino 9!

Lotus Notes is dead. Long live IBM Notes!

With most other Lotus products slowly getting "bluewashed" in recent years, it made sense that IBM would eventually rebrand Lotus Notes and Domino as IBM Notes and Domino. Even the icons are changing from the familiar Lotus yellow to IBM blue. Pushing aside 20+ years of Lotus brand equity, the move to the second most popular brand in the world (along with the 100+ years of brand equity) is much needed; it's the right thing to do. 

Read more here.

Traveler on IBM i

IBM Traveler, formerly Lotus Notes Traveler, is planned to be supported on the IBM i operating environment in Q1 2013 according to the IBM Notes and Domino Social Edition preview and announcements. 

I've written about the full IBM Notes and Domino Social Edition preview on MC Press Online in my next bi-weekly column coming on Monday, November 13th.

Many IBM i customers, including myself, are ecstatic with the news.  Thank you IBM!

IBM i Access for Web Part II: Getting Productive Without All the Green Stuff

Here's a recent TechTip I did for MC Press Online about using the modern web based interface for IBM i:

TechTip: IBM i Access for Web Part II: Getting Productive Without All the Green Stuff

Let's look at some other features of IBM i Access for Web, including how to convert spooled files to PDF and how to manage your IBM i from mobile devices or Lotus Notes.

Last time, we had a look at how to set up IBM i Access for Web and briefly explored the Web-based 5250-style interface. We'll go a little more general this time, showing you how to do some neat things with the product.

Still Printing Oodles of Spooled Files on Tractor-Fed, Greenbar Paper?

 Paper, how I loathe thee. The only thing I loathe more than stacks of greenbar is an output queue loaded with spooled files older than three months; it's paper just waiting to happen. And chances are it will! Wouldn't it be great if IBM i offered a quick, native way to convert a spooled file into PDF format?

You can do this with IBM i Access for Web. 

Read the full tip at http://www.mcpressonline.com/internet/techtip-ibm-i-access-for-web-part-ii-getting-productive-without-all-the-green-stuff.html

Locking Down QSYSOPR From IBM i Users Who Have *ALLOBJ Authority

A few months ago I posed the following question on Twitter: how do you restrict delete rights on the QSYSOPR message queue for an IBM i user with *ALLOBJ special authority?

I had a few responses ranging from:

• Take *ALLOBJ special authority away from the user and restrict rights for that user on the message queue.  That's easier said than done but a perfect example why programmers or operators shouldn't have *ALLOBJ special authority. 
• Create a never ending program that allocates the message queue so that nobody can remove any messages while the program job is running. 
• Nothing.  You can't do anything about that. 

While at IBM Rochester this week I offhandedly threw that problem out there.

Laural Schneckloth Bauer, one of the fantastic people from IBM Lab Services whom I've been working with, mentioned that the easiest and most unobtrusive method of restricting rights would be to:

• Create an IBM i Group Profile with *ALLOBJ authority
• Add the user to that Group Profile
• Explicitly restrict delete rights on the QSYSOPR message queue for that user.  

That user still maintains *ALLOBJ authority to everything except for objects you explicitly specify.  Neat huh?