I'm flying out to Spain on Tuesday (22nd April) and do not return until the following week - So I intend on uploading the version I have as at Monday 21st April. Obviously I will not be around for a week to answer your mails.

What I would ask anyone that downloads the software to do is provide "Constructive Criticism", "Ideas on future development", "Bug Reports", "Code Enhancements", "Additional bits of functionality" etc - this way I will be able to gauge how people 'really feel' about open source/joint development initiatives.

If I get a chance I shall also put up a 'forum' on DominoBlog.com for communication whilst I am not around.

If after reviewing the software you wish to "lend a hand" in future developments then feel free to contact me. After all it is a very unique piece of software - every blog that uses the template can look completely different to the others by simple changes in a Notes Document - The end user never has to change the design at all.

More things to come soon...

One thing it has given me though is insight into both camps - i've never been into the Microsoft v Lotus/IBM thing - my take has always been the best solution for the situation (I'm also a qualified Financial Advisor - so I'm trained to give 'best advice' - not just on the highest pay day!!) - er yes thats now two confessions!

Anyway - to my point. This weekend saw me speaking to one of my customers about a problem they had - a problem that simply could not be fathomed out without 'looking under the bonnet' - so to speak. They had a Lotus Domino/Notes infrastructure - well within 10minutes I had been setup so I could see exactly what was happening on their servers - via my Broadband connection from my 'Home Office' (web cam coming back soon). I could go into the databases concerned - bring a copy to my laptop - do a fix - check the logs - change the security etc etc - without moving and over the broadband connection it was not much different to a server on my Local Area Network (LAN).

It reminded me of the 'power' of this software we all use - and I for one 'Do not understand why every business doesn't use it'! - Ive worked extensively with Microsoft Exchange across Europe - and I can tell you its a 'pain in the arse' to do half the things you come to expect with Lotus Notes.

And it only does 'mail' !!

I'm working on the article I mentioned last Friday - coming soon (customers have used my time up - who needs them?!!) - I've also been discussing it with Chris at DominoGuru who is dusting off an old, in draft article on exactly what I was talking about.

By the way my comments are messed up at the minute - Servlet problems at DominoDeveloper.net - not got time to get them to sort it out - especially as I'm planning to migrate this site very soon!

Here's another simple idea - but maybe not so obvious at first - say you want to get rid of Domino HTML in your forms and so want to set your form property "Treat Documents as HTML". Thats works to a point - but if you want to start sending parameters etc - you get the Domino error "Documents treated as HTML cannot be edited". Well I have the simple fix for this - that some may or may not know about - tip article tomorrow!

Its becoming a very good week! - First Leicester City Football club beat arch rivals Nottingham Forest in a fantastic game last night in Leicester to pretty much secure a return to the top flight of English football (I know most people outside the UK will be going - what? - I can add - Nottingham is where Robin Hood used to live).

Another reason to be happy is I have finally got my Broadband Internet Access back today - only 9 days after it was supposed to be installed at my new house! British Telecom managed to cancel the order internally without telling anyone (they even confirmed it had been installed) - because they claim "It was ordered before I moved in" - well shoot me down for planning these things!

Because they cancelled it - I spent 4 days with my ISP trying to resolve 'a fault' - before BT told us what had happened - and then I had to reorder and get back to the end of the 4/5 days lead time - fantastic!

Finally - whilst everyone has an opinion on the rights and wrongs of the US/UK action in Iraq - (and i'm not going to express my opinion here - you will always offend someone) - can I just say that the guys and gals that were sent out there (following orders as we all do in our jobs) have done a fantastic job and it looks like (fingers crossed) a peaceful situation will be upon us soon - I feel happy today that the people (who are the important ones in all of this) seem to be at last having 'their freedom'.

Well I can tell you - that line came to mind today - I've been working my **** off (feel free to put what word you like there) over the weekend to drag the DominoBlog.com blog toolkit out of 'beta' phase and into a version I could almost trust to give to people - apologies and thanks go to the people who have been the victims of 'early adoption' - smoother sailing ahead - I hope!

I've a stack of things to do at the moment (more on those another day) - but a priority over the next week or so is to get this site transferred to the blog software - afterall if I don't use it how can I expect anyone to take it seriously?

Hopefully as well - daily blogs on this site will be returning - I've been on 'blog' leave of late to recharge my thoughts and mind!

Well I have finally moved into my new home - its such a trial moving - I've lost count how many times I have done it over the years.   The broadband connection was supposed to be in on monday (I have my priorities) - but at the point of travelling to London on tuesday morning it was still not working - the ProjectDX.org 'whiteboard' will be back together with the project's other employee - 'monkey' (who's junk mail count goes up by the week).

I'm in London a couple of days this week and probably next week - and I also have a some days lined up for DominoBlog.com development - I also hope to head for Spain at the end of the month - March was so so hectic so I need a holiday!!