In the third-to-last slot at IBM Connect 2013, the Ask the Product Managers session is kicking off. Each product manager is introducing themselves:

– Ed Brill – he will be moving to a new role in IBM in the mobility area.
– Eric Otchet – Notes Traveler, Symphony. Traveler 9 will be great for BYOD.
– Scott Sounder – iNotes, Connections Mail, etc. Will be taking over from Ed. IBM Notes/Dominos 9 “rocks your blinkin’ face off.”
– Jeanette – IBM Docs. It’s shipping.
– Julie – Sametime (rich media parts). Excited about not requiring a laptop for much longer.
– Marlon – Sametime also. Very excited about “the new philosophy.”
– Lisa – Sametime (offering manager). Social integration features are great.
– Marc – Sametime (SmartCloud, etc). Ditto re social integration.
– (name?) – Domino Server. SAML is great.
– Ramsey – SmartCloud iNotes. Like the ability to instantly view any document.
– Dan – SmartCloud, on reselling.
– David – SmartCloud, on private clouds.
– Jessica – SmartCloud, works with business partners. If you don’t have social, you don’t exist.
– Dave – SmartCloud Engage. EU and Switzerland safe harbor.
– (name?) – Connections, and Connections Mobile. Transparency is good.
– Rene – Connections (on Pure, compliance, Content Manager).
– Luis B – Connections. Activity streams. Files. Communities. Wikis.
– Sean – IBM Docs, and Lotus Protector.
– Jane – Domino offering management. XWorks Server Next is coming in March.
– Pete – app development on Domino, eg., Domino Designer. XPages uptake has been great.
– Chris Baker – SmartCloud Notes offering manager. Have a certification program for business partners around this.
– Marty – Web Experience. Focus on SAP integration, and IBM Forms.

Questions:

1. Tim to Pete … When will you give Domino Designer on the Mac? It’s been promised for ever.
– Are working on v9. Are updating Eclipse.
– Mostly a testing thing.
– May provide a development use only server.
– Can’t commit to a timeframe.

2. David … How do we improve the process for getting software via Passport Advantage? You need to improve the web site.
– (Ed) all of IBM software uses one system. It’s hard to effect change across all of this. There is a lot of focus and effort across IBM, we’ll keep on it.
– (Jeanette) You need to make this a request for Business Partner day. Get the PA Executive to come and discuss the roadmap.

3. Connections has got increasingly better. But the ability to administer and backup the system is very poor / bad. Eg., users to delete a community, and then get it back.
– (Luis) Have a recycle bin in Files, Wikis, and something else. After 4.5 will be looking at this more broadly.

4. Re Domino 9 – why are you not supporting Windows Server 2003?
– We focused on 64-bit platforms. This is what we see customers moving to.
– But it should work. Will take it to the team.

5. Paul – Can we please have Quickr upgrade packs more frequently? Very keen on fixes.
– (Pete) We are thinking about it, for app dev related features – maybe in 2H2013. Fixes will come in v9.

6. Frisco – We are talking collaboration / social. How do we do external collaboration using an internal Connections environment?
– (Big applause)
– (Luis) Use SmartCloud Connections. Are merging this code into Connections on-prem. Won’t be in 4.5. Will come later.

7. We need encryption in XPages.
– (Pete) Yes, we are looking at it. May be able to leverage some of the work in Connections Mail.

8. Any plans for 64-bit version of the Notes Client?
– (Scott) Yes. But after v9.0

9. Big fan of DCT. Can you upgrade it more frequently?
– We will do it.

10. Are in the process of introducing IBM Connections. Have been using Sametime for some years. But Connections is “so darn complicated” to install. The import capabilities for profiles is not great. Please make the product lines better at communicating.
– (Ed) We agree.
– (Rene) For Connections, just released Connections HyperVisor Edition. Takes a lot of stuff, and can be deployed as an image / pattern. Should be able to be installed within one hour. Will do more of this.
– See a recent article on DeveloperWorks, about Sametime installation. Also see the configuration validation tool.
– Just use SmartCloud for Social Business. It’s an alternative.

11. We need a product manager as the gatekeeper to app dev. It’s done in Java. The API we are using is 15 years ago. It’s ancient. When will you update the API?
– (Pete) Lots of discussions around this. We need to preserve old applications, but would also like to move it forward. Looking at how to do both side-by-side. The developers will be taking another look at it.

12. Carl – Re the Notes Client 8.5.2 in Citrix. Company doesn’t want to pay more. Want to go to the Standard client. Are you going to reduce the memory footprint for the Standard Client?
– (Scott) It’s a fair question. We are always focused on this. But how we see this manifested / played out … perhaps take a look at iNotes.

13. Tim – what about true electronic signatures in XPages?
– (Pete) We will look at this when we look at encryption. The current iNotes approach isn’t ideal for XPages.

14. Mat – When is Traveler going to be part of the core Domino installation?
– (Lots of applause)
– (Eric) We will look at this.
– (Ed) In a not-yet-announced project, there is some of this work going on.

15. John – I like Windows 8 and touch. What about Social Edition in touch?
– (Scott) Bring it to the next session too. I’ll take it back.

16. Office 2013 attachment / file format isn’t changing, will Domino/Notes support these? (will there be a formal announcement?)
– (Scott) Bring it to Take the Developers.

17. A business partner in Germany, with lots of customers with Quickr on Domino. Who is responsible for this? What about migration tools?
– (Lots of applause)
– (Rene) Very good questions. Quickr will be supported for a long time. No immediate action by the customer is required. With Connections Content Manager, will provide a migration tool for moving documents from Quickr (on Domino/Portal) to Connections. For the other Quickr services – it depends a little. Customers can run in parallel. Are working with the services arm / business partners in addressing this.
– (Luis B) See ID308, there was a full presentation on this.

18. With Connections being a “platform,” think “how would an ISV extend this?” We need to be able to hook into it. We need extension points.
– We are looking at this.

19. I love IBM Notes. Under File Import, can only import Lotus 1-2-3 spreadsheets. Need something else.
– (The most applause ever)
– (Scott) Got it. Note that there is still “stuff” in the final builds to come.

20. Stuart – Thanks for the Mac support for the connectors. What about an app store for Connections? Do you have a plan for this?
– (Luis B) We have a catalog for partners. We may tackle this in the cloud first.
– (Ed) IBM Notes 9 has been announced, but not yet shipped. The remaining Lotus branding will disappear after that.

21. Darren – When will Quickr support Office 2013?
– (Luis B) Will take this back.

22. Business partner from Germany – lots of Quickr customers are using it for external collaboration with customers. Need a way of separating content.
– (Luis B) Understand. When we bring in SmartCloud code to Connections, this will be easier.

23. What about workflow? We need an easy-to-use / implement BPM solution for SMB market.
– (some applause)
– (Pete) There was a session on XFlow. It holds a lot of promise. Hears that Lombardi is overkill for many situations. Some thinking going on around this.

24. We are using Connections at the University, including for researchers. Need a way of publishing material out from Connections – which leads to some problems, eg., mainly around licensing.
– (Luis B) Let’s follow up after the session. Would like to learn more.

25. Please do a navigational hierarchy of features and functions in Connections.
– Will do.

26. (Declan) There are a lot of APIs that haven’t been documented or fully released? Is that coming?
– (Pete) Will talk about this internally.

27. (Robert) You are pushing for a platform strategy. We branded the platform, and people know it by our brand name. Please allow us to brand your products with our own internal name. Eg., users want “Chat,” not “Sametime.”
– (Ed) Will need copyright in our products.
– (Robert) But users don’t care.