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A few weeks ago, Packt publishing sent me a copy of Marie Scott's and Thomas Duff's book IBM Lotus Sametime 8 Essentials: A User's Guide.

The first thing you'll notice, is this book is not a feeble attempt at a book, if reviewed purely by weight then this one makes it into the Super Middleweight class (284 pages), this is not the sort of bantamweight dummies book that you'd find inside a Lotusphere bag to make up space, this is a real book with more than just pretty screen-shots. Don't get me wrong, this book is perfect for the kind of person that would read a dummies book, but it contains a lot more useful information than you'd ever find in one, and there are plenty of screen-shots for those that are more visual in their consumption of information.

So I should point out that I am friends with Marie and Tom, and I even have a mention in the first few pages of the book, and there is mention of a few of my companies products hidden away in the pages too, but anyone that knows me, knows that I can happily pick holes in things that friends, foes or myself have created with equal ease. So with that out of the way let me begin.

So firstly this is a users guide, this isn't a guide on how to administer your Sametime, how to change a users name, or move a user from one Sametime server to another, this is an end user guide. If you're looking for a Packt Sametime Administrators guide you're going to have to wait, good news though, you at least can wait knowing that an Administrators guide is in the works.

The book recognizes that there are some people running the stand-alone Sametime client, and some running embedded Sametime, and points out the capabilities of each. The authors are smart enough to realize that not every Sametime user is running IBM Lotus Symphony, so they have a small section showing how Sametime presence awareness can be utilized in Microsoft Office, Outlook and Sharepoint.

At times I felt the book maybe went into a bit too much detail on the client, like is there anybody out there that really doesn't understand that the bold icon makes text bold, but then I thought about it and yes there are, these are the same people that call support desks complaining they haven't received any Instant Messages all morning, because it turns out, they had not loaded their Sametime client.

The book is targeted at Sametime 8.0x users, and not Sametime 8.5. This makes some sense as the majority of Sametime users are still on versions earlier than 8.5. There is an appendix on Sametime 8.5/8.5.1 however that gives a good introduction to some of the features available in those releases.

The only issue I have with the book, is the section on telephony, at no point in this book is TCSPI or client telephony based solutions mentioned, yet more people are probably making calls from Sametime using TCSPI than Sametime Unified Telephony (SUT). Admittedly the chapter is titled "Speak Up - Taking Advantage of Sametime Unified Telephony" so I suppose I shouldn't complain that it doesn't mention alternatives. The fact of the matter however is that SUT right now is not a good fit for a large percentage of Sametime customers, and alternate solutions from telephony vendors actually are. If there was one chapter that felt like it was written using IBM materials, this is probably it. Having said that, this is an end users guide, and as most Sametime users don't have SUT, this chapter really won't matter to them that much, but will give them an idea of things they might want to ask their administrators for.

The meat of the book is spent on the features that end users will use and should care about, and for that reason this is a great book for Sametime users and one that I happily recommend to Sametime users.

Given my history with Lotus Sametime - I was an Offering Manager for the product for 4 years - and having answered no small number of questions about how it works, I was very interested in taking a look at this book.

I found the book to be a very thorough and well-organized look at how to use Sametime instant messaging and Web conference features, running from the basic embedded capabilities in Lotus Notes all the way through Sametime Advanced and Sametime Unified Telephony. For users new to using Sametime, or even those moving up to a "modern" version from Sametime 3.1 or its ilk, this would be an excellent "how-to" guide as well as a reference companion. While the concept of "instant messaging" is something most people are familiar with these days, Sametime is packed with enough features and capabilities that it's helpful to have a resource that walks through all of the capabilities, explains the preference settings, and highlights some of the more advanced (and less-than-obvious) features.

Authored by Marie Scott and Thomas Duff, who should be no strangers to those in the Lotus community, the book is very well laid out and walks through topics including using Sametime in Lotus Notes, setting up and using the Sametime Connect client (from setting up your the contact list up through transferring files and screenshots, and everything in between), scheduling and leading a Web conference, using chat rooms, broadcast communities and instant share in Sametime Advanced, and using Sametime Unified Telephony. The Appendices cover new features in Sametime 8.5 and 8.5.1, as well as using Sametime in other applications such as Lotus Connections or Microsoft products... and even contain a link to the Sametime song.

The books is structured in a way that covers the basics before moving on to more advanced features, something novices should appreciate, as they should the use of accompanying visuals, preference setting descriptions and index in the back.

I'd highly recommend this book to anyone starting to deploy Sametime or upgrading to Sametime 8.x, and it's certainly a worthwhile reference to stick on the office shelf for new hires using Sametime for the first time.

(Disclosure: PACKT Publishing provided me with a complimentary electronic copy of the book for review purposes.)

IBM Lotus Sametime 8 Essentials was written by Marie Scott and Thomas Duff and first published in September 2010. Both authors are well known speakers at conferences including Lotusphere.
The book is only available in English, but this is not a showstopper for readers from other countries with an average knowledge of english language.

The writing style is clear and understandable. You can feel that the authors know what they are writing about and that they have great skills in presenting technical content to non-technical audience/readers.

IBM Lotus Sametime 8 Essentials was written for end-users. No matter if you are a Sametime "newbee" or you want to become a Sametime "power user". On 270 pages it covers almost every aspect of IBM Lotus Sametime 8.x. Even as an administrator or a supporter in a servicedesk you should consider to order a copy of this book.

While reading, you will always find some things you didn't know about IBM Lotus Sametime. For example, I didn't know that you can add a user to the contacts list by simply right click the user in the Domino Directory and choose the "Add to Sametime contacts list" action. I have completely missed this feature in the past.

Chapter 8 shows how to install and use the Sametime mobile client on Blackberry, Windows Mobile, Nokia and Sony Ericsson. The iPhone is not covered in this chapter.

You will find the relevant information on page 241 in Appendix A. Could have been more verbose. I guess that this information has been added very close to the deadline. I'm sure that we will read more in a 2nd edition.

Appendix C lists many valuable Sametime ressources including a link to the "Official" Sametime song.

In other reviews I always complained about the quality of screenshots. The images in IBM Lotus Sametime 8 Essentials are well choosen and show only the relevant information. Again this is an indicator for the author's skill in presenting. Well done, Marie and Tom!

Fazit:
If you are using IBM Lotus Samtime in your organization and you want to learn in detail how to use each feature from start to finish, this book is for you.

If you not yet use IBM Lotus Samtime in your organization, buy a copy of this book for one of the decision makers. A great overview of all the things that can be done using Sametime to increase productivity. Way better than all the glossy broshures from IBM marketing.

I was asked by Packt Publishing to take a look at one of their newest releases IBM Lotus Sametime 8 Essentials: A User's Guide. While written by community friends Tom Duff and Marie Scott, I can safely tell you that if you use Sametime 8.X in any form, you can not go wrong with this book.

I could have never believed that you could have written a 300 page book, for users, about Sametime. Is there really that much to know about sending an instant message or setting up a web conference? After reading this book, I can tell you there is plenty to know - and far more you never did. For me, this is a great reference. As a user of Sametime since the first version came out, I learned a new tip or feature every chapter. For a user who is not as technical as many of us, this will be a great source for learning.

Well organized and very well written. One of the things I dislike most about books with more than one author is disjuncture writing styles across chapters or within, this book has zero of that. Tom and Marie got a tone set for this book early on and it never goes away. It might be the best use of consistent tone in a technical book I have ever read.

My only concern or negative comment on the book would be that if someone was brand new to Sametime, this might be a bit overwhelming. Just the sure amount of info the user can take in might scare away some of the newest of users away. But overall, this book is an accomplishment that both Tom and Marie should be very proud of.

On a side note, very cool to see PSC's Luis Guirigay as one of the official reviewers of the book. Nice work Luis!

You can read a sample chapter of the book here and follow this link to purchase the book - both electronically and in paper form. Let's just hope we see this on the Amazon Kindle bookstore sometime soon!

Disclosure: I was provided a free copy of the book for review purposes. Originally written on [...]

A common problem with IBM Lotus software is the apparent lack of resources focused on the end user. PACKT Publishing seems to be stepping into that void; they have several titles dedicated to the user of IBM Lotus software. Their latest title, IBM Lotus Sametime 8 Essentials: A User Guide, by Marie Scott and Thomas Duff, is, as the title suggests, essential for any user of Lotus Sametime instant messaging. It would also make an excellent resource for those tasked with training end users with the software. Written in a very conversational style with plenty of screen shots to assist the reader, Marie Scott and Thomas Duff have created a book that will assist both novices and advanced users of Lotus Sametime.

Contents:
Preface
Chapter 1: At the Starting Line: Know Your Sametime Client
Chapter 2: Getting Connected: Configuring and Using Sametime for Lotus Notes
Chapter 3: Getting Connected: Configuring and Using Sametime Connect
Chapter 4: Managing Your Connections: Making the Most of Your Sametime Contacts
Chapter 5: Power Chatting: Making the Most of Sametime Instant Messaging
Chapter 6: Spread the Word: Connecting to other Messaging Communities
Chapter 7: iNotes and Sametime-Chatting from the Web
Chapter 8: Going Mobile-Installing and Using the Sametime Mobile Client
Chapter 9: Meeting Basics-Using Sametime to Create Virtual Meeting Spaces
Chapter 10: Meeting Beyond the Conference Room-Using Additional Sametime Meeting Features
Chapter 11: Take Your Instant Messaging to the Next Level-Sametime Advanced
Chapter 12: Speak Up-Taking Advantage of Sametime Unified Telephony
Appendix A: Sametime 8.5 and 8.5.1 New Features
Appendix B: Using Sametime in Chat-Enabled Applications
Appendix C: Additional Sametime Resources
Index

Marie Scott and Thomas Duff begin with the basics and effectively build to the advanced features of Lotus Sametime, some of which you may not experience in your environment., By "basics," I mean that they actually explain why someone would want to use instant messaging, providing some very good use cases. Once done, they move into the two Sametime clients; the embedded client and Sametime Connect, a "free standing" instant messaging client (think AOL IM, for example). While it arrives early in the book, the most useful chapter, in my opinion, is Chapter 4: Managing Your Connections. This is the chapter that I feel most people will read and review long after the reading the remaining chapters. In this chapter, the reader will learn how to add and remove Sametime contacts, how to sort their contact lists, create and manage groups, and much more. It is basically the normal day-to-day activities that every user will experience when working with Sametime. The other chapter that will see a lot of use is Chapter 5, Power Chatting. This could be seen as a "fun" chapter, the one where you learn how to use emoticons and to create your own, making use of spell checking, and sharing portions of your screen. Once you have mastered the basics of Sametime, Chapter 5 shows you how to use many of the little known features of the software. With a solid foundation, Scott and Duff proceed to teach you more advanced features of the software. Quite a few of them are difficult concepts for most people, however the easy, conversational style of writing that Duff and Scott employ make even these chapters easily consumed. Again, it helps that they make liberal use of screen shots to allow the reader to see and understand their points.

IBM Lotus Sametime 8 Essentials: A User Guide is a book that should be on every bookshelf of the Sametime Administrator, Sametime trainer, or Sametime user. For the Administrator, it will assist when explaining usage in a manner that will help you to assist your users with many tasks. The trainer will find a wealth of information for their classes and it would make a good give-away for the exceptional students in your classes. For the user, this could be viewed as your "Using Sametime" bible. Some chapters may not be applicable, however you will receive an excellent education into the use and possibilities of Lotus Sametime. Those possibilities could be used to create thoughtful and reasoned arguments to have your organization leverage their investment in IBM Lotus Sametime to add voice, video, to Sametime, to connect Sametime to other messaging communities, and to explore unified telephony. Should your organization elect to extend Sametime, you will be viewed as a "power user" as you will be well prepared for those features.

If there are any criticisms to this book, they rest solely with IBM, not the authors. While reading this book, I was struck by the sheer number of possible preferences available to the user and Administrator. While I use Lotus Sametime, I rarely think about, or use, the preferences; IBM Lotus Sametime 8 Essentials: A User Guide examines nearly all of them, and it is quite a list. Without this book, navigating the preferences would be a daunting task for all but the most patient person. With this book, and the exceptional Index, the preferences are not quite as extreme. Multiple authors focusing on one topic in one book may suffer from different writing styles and voices. I don't know if Scott and Duff were of one mind when writing or if they have an exceptional editor, however the book appears to be have written by one person; it flows very well. If you use Lotus Sametime, IBM Lotus Sametime 8 Essentials: A User Guide is a worthy addition to your bookshelf.

Disclosure:
Obtained from: Amazon
Payment: Purchased