It's all about the people
But Lotusphere isn't just technology, it's also about community and people, having fun in the sun, though mostly the fun happens after sunset. Blogging of sessions was commonplace, and the opening session and some others were live-blogged.

Indeed, Gurupalooza was blogged from the stage by one of the panel. And as we waited for the closing session to start, blogger comments on Lotusphere were picked up and displayed on the screen.

Jamfest, first tried last year, re-appeared, an evening of playing music with your peers, or just watching, listening and seeing that some of them do have a life away from a computer.

There were the usual parties: official, private and off-the-cuff - sadly, though, Wednesday night in Animal Kingdom was rather a rain-soaked affair, but made up for by spending the rest of the evening with good company in Kimonos. Finally, there was even a boat-race (well documented at http://www.lotusphereboatrace.com), with heats, final and prizes, run on the Swan's lake. Figure A shows Alan Bell and Aoife Moloney celebrating their win.

FIGURE A


Alan and Aoife beat out the competition. Roll over picture for a larger image.

Stay tuned for my next article in this series, where I take an in-depth look at the Notes 8 announcements.

Richard Echeandia a Senior Technical Editor for DominoPower Magazine and is President of Advecticus, at http://www.advecticus.com.