IdeaJam(tm) feed for Peter von St�ckel

Lotus Technical Information / Other: Bring back the Sandbox on developerWorks

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 17:19:28 +0000

Author: Peter von St�ckel
Tags: notes.net developerworks
Idea:

In September 2010, IBM removed the Sandbox from developerWorks Lotus. With that removal, they also broke countless forum responses that link to specific Sandbox files, as well as links from countless blogs and web sites all over the world.

There are two ways to fix this. Either put the Sandbox back to where it was before, and thereby restore all broken links. The other way is to put it on OpenNTF, and make sure that every link to the old Sandbox is properly redirected to the same document on OpenNTF.

There are still lots of useful code and examples in the Sandbox, for both new and experienced developers and administrators, even if it's several years old by now, and I fail to see a good reason to remove it.

For the time being, the Sandbox can be accessed on my site: http://www.bananahome.com/ldd/sandbox.nsf

re: Bring back the Sandbox on developerWorks

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 17:42:02 +0000

Author: Carl Tyler
Comment: Totally agree

re: Bring back the Sandbox on developerWorks

Thu, 02 Dec 2010 21:24:52 +0000

Author: Gregg Eldred
Comment: <rant>
As I recall, IBM withdrew the Lotus Redbooks, then told us "wait, we will have the same great information to you in a wiki." Meanwhile, months went by before we saw any hint of a wiki. Now, they remove the Sandbox. Whether they take your advice or not, months will go by before there is any apparent movement toward OpenNTF or whatever replaces it (or not). While not perfect, it was still a very useful resource. And what do we have now? Nothing.
</rant>

I want to make it clear that I am not throwing stones at OpenNTF. What I am ranting about is the removal of a resource without an immediate alternative. If you knew that in 2010 you were going to remove the Sandbox, then you should plan for an alternative.

And fix the TechNotes that refer to the Sandbox. Like this one, for example:

{ Link }

re: Bring back the Sandbox on developerWorks

Fri, 10 Dec 2010 12:25:50 +0000

Author: Peter Presnell
Comment: I would like to see the resource consolidated with OpenNTF so there is a single source for all the "free" code. There may be intellectual property issues with the content of SandBox, but probably no more than exists with all the old OpenNTF projects that continue to be hosted.

re: Bring back the Sandbox on developerWorks

Wed, 15 Dec 2010 23:12:22 +0000

Author: Giulio C
Comment: The sandbox is a great place to easily deploy simple solutions. Rather than keeping Sandbox totally separate, it could be viewed as sub-system of OpenNTF.

I make this relationship because Sandbox applications are very simple projects and to unify it under one location reduces the fragmentation of ideas through disparate sites. Another reason I think they are related is that Sandbox applications are OpenNTF projects before the become "projects". So you can get the app out there, and should more functionality be needed it can be converted into a project.

So, OpenNTF is really the Sandbox on steroids. But having the old sandbox provides a means to follow the natural progression of an application from an idea to a more serious implementation if required.

But the sandbox should not clutter OpenNTF projects. Some distinction will still need to be made between a Sandbox app, and a project, as I would think only a fraction of apps actually become projects. Otherwise it will get "noisy" and dilute the benefits of projects in OpenNTF.

re: Bring back the Sandbox on developerWorks

Tue, 29 Mar 2011 14:32:47 +0000

Author: David Hablewitz
Comment: It takes more wisdom than I have to see the benefit of taking this away.
That's the politically correct way of saying that taking the sandbox away makes absolutely no sense.

re: Bring back the Sandbox on developerWorks

Wed, 06 Apr 2011 08:20:46 +0000

Author: Bill Malchisky
Comment: Although I don't code as much these days, even for admins the sand box proved to be a gem for utilities time and again. It is a treasure trove for developers. Reintroduce that gem of a place.

re: Bring back the Sandbox on developerWorks

Fri, 14 Sep 2012 03:53:14 +0000

Author: Michael Ward
Comment: IBM needs to re-host the sandbox due to the fact that there are hundreds, no thousands of different postings on IBM's sites and many other public sites that reference links to the sandbox for code to fix or find problems etc. I am glad I have a local copy.