A half hour to productivity? Come on. Really.
Category NoneNo way. I didn't believe it, based on my experience for a little over 2 years with WebSphere Portal Express. In 2003, it took me almost 100 hours to get that going. It was a monster. Then it was 30 hours, and finally with the latest shipping version I got it down to about 6 (including integration with an 8-server Domino lab, it started to even feel impressive). Not too shabby for the extreme amount of functionality you get, but it's still not a half hour!
So when Mike Rhodin said we could have Workplace Services Express 2.0 installed from 3 CDs (the ones in the Lotusphere backpacks, which BTW are a lovely fashion statement in any venue) in 30 minutes, I didn't believe him. I mean, I really like Mike, we get along great and had some great conversations at Lotusphere, but somebody had to be feeding him that line. No way could a product with its underpinnings in WebSphere Portal (899-page installation guide) that installs and configures WebSphere Appplication Server, a database (Cloudscape) that acts as a directory, and has additional functionality and lots of new portlets be up and running in 30 minutes. Let me spell it out for you. I-M-P-O-S-S-I-B-L-E.
Not.
First I beefed up one of my later-model servers to have the minimum required 2 GB of RAM. Unfortunately that's all that would fit. It has a hyperthreaded 3 GHz processor and disk space to spare, so I figured it might run OK. With the cover back on, I started the installation and checked the time: 3:12 PM. A couple of dialog boxes asking for an administrator's name and password, and it was off and running. Coffee break. Email check. Now it wanted CD #2, and I checked the time: 3:21 PM. Hmmmm. But the progress bar only said 15%, so I was still pretty confident that there was a lot more going on than file copy operations, and that my theory that Mike was duped into claiming 30 minutes by the Deep Blue team might still hold. CD #3. 3:36. Ha! It was slowing down, and only at 38%. Time for more coffee. I'd give it 5 minutes and declare victory.
3:41...done. Wow.
Mike, I owe you a beer. Time to go play with my new toy. Next steps for me will be total integration with the Domino/QuickPlace/Sametime/Portal lab here, including Domino LDAP for the directory, MSSO and embedding some Domino-based portlets.
In the meantime, go see what it does.
P.S. In case you're wondering, this isn't the first time I've been wrong. There were two others. I think.
Comments
Posted by Matthew P Henry At 05:38:11 PM On 02/09/2005 | - Website - |