Captain Oblivious :: Lotus Notes 8

Lotus Notes 8 - Converting Widgets and Gadgets into Sidebar?

Why hasn't IBM written something to take a widget or gadget from Google or Yahoo or Apple and turn it into a Notes 8 and SameTime Sidebar app? Seriously, am I the only one who sees announcements like this one at Lifehacker, for turning any web widget into a Vista Sidebar gadget, and wondered why this same idea isn't bundled with Notes 8?

So far I've seen a couple of articles about how one could create an app that supports the Sidebar, and they aren't for the faint of heart. I'll be the first to admit that I'm not a Java guru, but I like to think I'm reasonably bright (settle down, Mooney), and I've got no intention of writing the amount of code necessary to surface something in the Notes 8 Sidebar. Call me lazy, but if I've got a fantabulous desktop widget that's based entirely on HTML and Javascript (say, the weather forecast one we all use, just for example), why can't I simply import it into the Notes 8 Sidebar? If IBM wants people to live in Notes even more than we already do (and the arrival of the Productivity Apps sure makes it seem that way), then why should we have to rely on our desktop to hold these simple "instant information at your fingertips" widgets?

Or am I being an idjit? Which at least rhymes with widget...

PS If you aren't subscribed to Lifehacker already, get with the program, mkay?

Technorati Tag: notes8beta

Comments

1 - Over the weekend, my Bloglines had this at the devWorks site:

"Extending IBM Lotus Notes V8: Sidebar and toolbar"

{ Link }

But the link doesn't work and I can't find it through a search. The gadget option would be great though. Searching for "gadget" at the ND8 forum yields one hit from Mary Beth: "yes we are also looking at other sidebars and gadget type things". So there's hope. Emoticon

Posted by Chris Whisonant At 05:10:58 AM On 04/10/2007 | - Website - |

2 - Here's the missing link:

{ Link }

Posted by Vitor Pereira At 06:11:42 AM On 04/10/2007 | - Website - |

3 - Oops my bad. They pulled the page and are now redirecting.

Posted by Vitor Pereira At 06:18:15 AM On 04/10/2007 | - Website - |

4 - @Chris: Hope is good. But code talks.

Wait. Where have I heard that before? Emoticon

Posted by Captain O At 07:33:02 AM On 04/10/2007 | - Website - |

5 - You cant be that bright. You keep getting your month and day mixed up in your dates.... Emoticon

Posted by Paul Mooney At 10:31:57 AM On 04/10/2007 | - Website - |

6 - LOL. Thanks Vitor - I just saw it come through Bloglines again! There's even some code Rob... Emoticon

Posted by Chris Whisonant At 12:52:45 PM On 04/10/2007 | - Website - |

7 - @Chris Yeah, that's one of the ones I saw before. Like I said, not for the faint of heart. But all we probably need is some smart person (which excludes me) to wrap that all up into a widget container and import wizard. Emoticon

Posted by Captain O At 12:56:38 PM On 04/10/2007 | - Website - |

8 - I think it's a good idea, too. (And that article is up on the site now, but you do need to be an Eclipse developer to take advantage of the new capabilities. Someday, Component Designer will let the rest of us create sidebar and other components for Notes 8...

Chris

Posted by Chris Reckling At 07:07:37 PM On 04/10/2007 | - Website - |

9 - @Rob,
Thanks for shaming into subscribing to LifeHacker. Emoticon

Love your idea of widgets. Love'em.

Posted by Curt Stone At 05:31:41 AM On 05/03/2007 | - Website - |