Until recently, I'd just never had a need to try out Lotus Notes on a USB stick, even though the ability to do it has been around since Notes 7.0.2 was released.

However, the planets were aligned, the moon was full, the tide was high, and I was onsite at a client running 7.0.2 when the VP of Operations asked if it was possible to put Notes on a USB drive with a few databases so he didn't have to bring a laptop overseas.

A quick Google search led me to the great step-by-step instructions from Chris Whisonant , and I was able to be off to the races and playing with it that afternoon.

(I won't repeat the steps here, you can follow Chris' steps which worked like a charm.)

But here's what I ended up with. A fully-fledged Notes client on a USB drive, along with several demo-versions of in house databases locally placed on the drive (the request was to not connect to any servers, as that would also require a VPN client, so we placed the databases locally and showed the user "Island mode").

The irony is that most users can all recognize "Island Mode" as they've seen it in the bottom right many times since they've been using Notes. But when you tell them what it means (to use Notes in a disconnected state), that's when the lightbulb goes off and they have an "A-ha!" moment. I love it!

The user was floored when we showed him how easy it worked:

1. Put the USB drive in the computer. Notes does a self-install, and an icon appears on the desktop and it launches itself.

2. Work as normal.

3. When you stop the USB drive from the system tray, Notes automatically uninstalls itself, and removes the icon from the desktop. Done!

It's one thing to hear about it, it's another thing entirely to see it in action. The IT person next to me looked at me and said, "OK, that was pretty darned cool."

So I've learned another great use for Notes on a Stick - a quick way to show demo's of production databases. Whether you are a consultant and need to demo your work onsite, or if you're a vendor and want an easy way to show a sample of your software, this is a great solution.

Chris Whisonant - Lotus Notes 7.0.2 - NOMAD Review --> http://cwhisonant.blogspot.com/2006/09/lotus-notes-702-nomad-review.html

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