Lotusphere is always something special … and not being at Lotusphere is always a bit sad. Unfortunately LS2006 was the last I attended in person in Orlando.

Whenever possible I followed the bloggers on-site through the week and especially the Opening General Session (OGS) … but of course it’s not the same as being there.

This time IBM offered a live stream of the OGS and it was a great experience. It eases the pain of not being there a little bit. And it was fun to interact with those being in Orlando as well as with some of the over 1,200 viewers of the livestream.

Sitting at a Munich Starbucks and being directly connected to a live event happening in Orlando … another example how small the world became today and what technologie can do nowadays.

Regarding the OGS itself I have mixed feeling. Michael J. Fox was a great speaker. Kudos for IBM’s choice this year. It was somewhat sad to see his current condition and what Parkinson had done with this great actor … but it was inspiring at the same time how he challenges himself. I’m not sure if I would be able to speak in front of several thousand people under that circumstances!

In regards of the products: IBM Connections Next looked very impressive. But for Notes / Domino it becomes clear that the product is alive and in good condition but without adding connections you definately are missing the cake. To get full value of what the next-family is offering Connections is a “must have”. And I am not sure if I am really happy about that.

The cat is out of the bag in terms of names: The next version of Notes/Domino will be called Notes / Domino Social Edition. I am fine with that “official” name but still curious what the “street name” will be. Still smells a bit like Buzzword Bingo added to a product name ;-)

But renaming “Lotus Live” into “IBM Smart Cloud for Social Business” is a bit weired. I agree with @EdBrill that “Smart Cloud Engage” isn’t that bad but why not sticking with “IBM Smart Cloud” for the product line. That’s what the people will call it anyway. Adding “Social Business” is just Buzzword Bingo, too!

I am sure the attendees of Lotusphere 2012 will explore a lot of great stuff … and also this was a good overall OGS I missed the “There’s one more thing” that’s really exciting.

Notes/Domino is far away from being dead or killed. I think it’s like the new black backpacks for the LS 2012 attendees. There may be only black outside … but there’s a lot of yellow inside ;-)

(backpack picture found at: http://noteshexe.de/blog/?p=2012)