Q: Will Bill and I be presenting
the Worst Practices presentation?

A: No

Why not?  I’m sure you guys can
figure that one out…….

I will copy this post onto the
ILUG Website, but have found the
the vast majority of the questions I have received are repeating frequently.
 Hope this helps people.

Q: Why are you guys doing this?

A: We are not really sure.  It
seems like a great idea, then takes up a considerable amount of time and
a week before Eileen
and I swear we will not do it
again.  Then everyone turns up and its great, and we start planning
the next year.  (BTW  - If this one goes well, we have some plans
to make this event bigger next year, in many ways).  So in short,
we are doing it for the Karma.  Everyone that I know that will be
at this event are great people and good fun.  Its worth it.

Q: Where should I stay?

A: At this stage, we are not recommending
the hotel where the event is on, simply becuase they are very expensive.
 There are numerous places to stay.  Go to the Hotels
link, the the Wiki
or Eileens
site to see some suggestions.

Q: Can you tell me what is the best
airport to fly into?

A: Dublin Airport (DUB).  Fly in
on the Wednesday and leave on the Sunday.  Then you can see a lot
of the city.  And if you have not been here before, it is a wonderful
city.Information on getting to the city is on the ilug website.

Q: Any suggestions on things to do
in Dublin at the time?

A:  Plenty – check the Wiki

Q: How did you get all these world
class speakers?

A: Kimonos and Sake.  Ask me at
the event.

Q: How is the event free?

A: Sponsors are covering the cost.  The
two primary sponsors are IBM and Blackberry.  They have been great
for us.  

Q: Can we pay some sort of token
cost?  We feel guilty for not contributing to this (yes this is asked)

A: Thank you! we are discussing ways
to allow people pay something towards the event.  It will be voluntary.
 Stay tuned…

Q: Don’t lie – you are in this to
make money

A: No, we are not.  It is a strictly
"not for profit" gig.  Our books are "open" for
sponsors.

Q: It is a bit unfair that someone
that works for an IBM Business Partner in Ireland is arranging this event.
 Obviously this is a sales gig for your employer

A: Go away…  It would be MUCH
easier if it was.  My employer is not a sponsor (they want to be).
 This is to stop that annoying question.  In turn, to keep it
fair, I don’t permit any BP to sponsor as a services company.  That
may change in the future but not yet.  I have had to turn down BP
sponsors even when we need money, just to keep this event from turning
into a services sales day or just to stop accusations of such.  I
even take leave to organise the event on the week it is on.  Aside
from that, I have not seen anyone else stepping up to arrange it.

Q: Can we sponsor?

A: Yes.  Look at the sponsor
link and contact me for more information

Q: I would of expected more assistance
or room rates sorted etc.

A:  This is a free event – you
are VERY lucky people.  

Q: Those dates don’t suit me

A: See answer above

Q: Can you do deep dive sessions
(like classroom/lab sessions)

A: No.  We don’t have the facilities

The Lotusphere Comes to you event in
Ireland will be held in the
Davenport Hotel, Dublin 2 on 28th
March 2007.   It is a full day, free event.  Well worth attending.
 To register a place, click
here.

I host from home. The main reason is because it suits me to have full control (admin weenie) so I can “play”. But, I take ONE weekend where I do not bring my laptop and the server dies. So ILUG2007.org and pmooney.net were down. Thanks to Bill and Warren for fixing it over the phone… Of course, now they have keys to the kingdom (oh christ!).

Update: It seems that SMTP was the issue. Address 59.41.182.146 hammered my site trying to relay SMTP mail for hours. Thanks China!

Sponsors are a bit easier to come across
this year then previous years.  But, we still have to raise enough
money to keep the event free.  And today, I got a big commitment.
 Yep, Research
in Motion are coming on board
as a premium sponsor (along with IBM) and really helping us out.  
I cannot thank them enough (especially the wonderful and ever helpful Lizzie
Hancock) for their support at the first ILUG and now the third one.  
As ever. they show fantastic commitment to the Domino product suite and
to events like these.

But wait.. .there’s more…

Its a little tradition that there is
a prize draw at the end of the ILUG, and all the sponsors have prizes to
hand out.  Be it iPods or whatever.  BlackBerry are giving away
the new 8800
unit (the pearl with full QWERTY keyboard and GPS built in).  One
word.

Sexy…

Registration is well past 50% full now.
 This event is free.  The speakers are very, very good. Register.

Now.

I was given permission to make
this document available for download.
 It is short and compares transactions between Sharepoint and Websphere
Portal Server.  Makes for quick, and interesting reading.

DVD’s arrived in the post yesterday.
 I only had the time to scan through them, but just like last year,
it is interesting (and embarrassing) to watch yourself present on screen.
 Boy do I cringe and want to scream at the screen "if you say
"em" again, I will kick your ass" and then remember its
me…..

So I will force myself to watch my presentation
of worst practices (with Bill) and clustering performance (with Kathleen)
fully once… and then they will gather dust with last year’s dvds.

Staying with my mother tonight… so
currently checking mail, RSS, Skype, IM clients and blogging from DIALUP
connection……… the pain, the pain.

Seriously.. how did I manage for all
those years on a dialup line.  I was not even sure there was a modem
with this laptop!

We have been asked a lot of questions
based on accommodation in Dublin today, and I was smartly advised to put
a wiki up on the site so people can talk among themselves.  So go
to the
ILUG site and under Resources,
you will see a link to the
Wiki I chucked up in about 2 minutes
(credit to Ben
and
Openntf here).

Go nuts and collaborate…

Update… Ben Poole has made
some changes and fixed some parts of the Wiki I broke… Hurrahh

I wanted to give the pearl a good run
before I wrote about it.  This included 7 trips away, with two to
the states, one Lotusphere and months of being on the road.  As many
would know from this site, I am a heavy windows mobile device user.  I
have used every HTC model since the O2 XDA came out many years ago, and
upgraded through all the models.  My last one was the HTC wizard.
 I liked the wizard.  It was a capable phone and mobile
device, and a distinct improvement on previous models.  Considering
I have 4 years experience on them and never owned a Blackberry unit, I
decided it was time to try them out by giving it a good run.  I have
managed BES servers for years, and written on them in the past, but was
a newbie to the model as an end user.  

As for phone usage, I am deemed a heavy
mobile phone user.  My O2 bill should be shipped in a parcel and
is often the grounds for rows in the office.

In short, the Pearl is a very capable
device, offering good looks, versatility, durability and ease of use.  It
took a bit of getting used to for me, but knocked the pants out of the
current windows competition.  Now, lets look at it over a few basic
categories.

Update: – I have added in a few
comments on battery life, based on email questions at the end.