"Notes is dead!" I remember that claim very well, when the first web server appeared in corporate intranets. This was when Notes Server 4.0 was around. In the official Lotus training materials there was a lengthy chapter, why Notes was better than a Intranet. Thinking back makes me laugh. Along came 4.5, 4.6 and suddenly it was no more Notes is better than the Intranet, but "Notes is the Intranet".
With the arrival of Domino (In R5 the server was finally renamed to make the survival of server and client an independent option) the slogan was "Domino is the best choice for your Intranet". The focus has shifted now. Domino became a neglected (do I smell Websphere) work horse of corporate information management. Blessed with many valuable features like granular access control and rapid development, Domino is considered a legacy application. Before Lotussphere 2004, where IBM made a strong commitment to Lotus Domino, it looked like IBM wanted to abandon the platform in favour of the Websphere product line. Since nobody (besides the captain) wants to stay on a sinking ship, moving away from Domino became a strong demand.
If that makes sense, is left to everybody's own judgement (or the sales pitch of your IT provider). How this is possible is the topic of this website. We will publish articles, statements and information about this topics here. So check back often.

1. Mike03/31/2004 22:50:10

Lame site. Why write it in Domino if thats what you are trying to get away from? Why does it say 2 comments exist for the main post yet I cant see them?

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2. Heini03/31/2004 23:45:20

To Mike.
I think the intention of this site (and of the people behind it) is not to convince people to move away from Domino but to make a business if a company already has decided to move away (for whatever reason).
Heck you can even hire IBM for a Notes to Exchange migration and they will do it if you are willing to pay their price.
Unfortunately this is a very sensitive topic in the Domino world.
Just my 2ct
Heini

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3. Bart04/04/2004 00:20:36

If it is lame or not depends on the contents and so far I only see 3 postings about Notes is dead or not (yawn) and no useful information, pros or cons.

Wht moving away if you yourself states that IBM clearly pointed out theire Notes / Domino strategy at LS2004?

Oh, wait. It's what your consulting company is selling

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4. 04/04/2004 01:17:52

I share your sentiments. Notes is wonderful in a way but there is no way to make a living from it anymore. FYI your site has been mentioned in the Partner forum and you are being flamed by the big guns so be careful what you say. I suggest you change your heading unless you like a bit of controversy. Mike and the boys are in a comfort zone and they do not realize how tough it is to talk Notes even in a Notes site. Jake is far smarter and probably realized the writing was on the wall a long time ago hence the great articles on PHP. Mike has no place to speak anyway as most of his posts these days are very subtly asking for comment on the value of Notes. He only gets as many responses because everybody is so concerned about what IBM is up to.

I have spend the last few weeks working on SBS and MS technologies and although I severely dislike it does work and looks good. There comes a time when fighting a loosing battle is no longer fun. Yes, you are a big fish in a small pond and not a sardine in a sea of MS but the small pond is drying up.

Just a comment, Alan L asked the forum to comment on features that Outlook lacks. He says "I don't use Outlook, so I'd love help compiling a list!" Now, I could say that if Alan did use Outlook 2003 he would not want to go back to Notes but that is to simplistic. Outlook 2003 does look nice with some great features but it comes with its own set of problems.

However, no matter what anybody says no major companies are flocking to Notes but they are deploying MS technology. There are a few Notes 4/5 to 6 migrations in progress or being planned but very few new green field sites. The only two outspoken proponents of Notes in IBM will tend to disagree but although I would like to be cynical as to their assumed answer they do a great job under exceptional circumstances.

All we as Notes experts can do is sell the cross platform integration capabilities. Ie, show how good Domino works in legacy mode. What the hell did IBM expect when always giving us half a solution. For crying out aloud man, a Notes 7 screen snapshot shows a blacklist and a whitelist that was implemented by Vince in the OpenNTF Mail Experience template ages ago based on a flag that has been there since day one of V6! How pathetic is that. Now I am f*king upset. This is why the Notes experts give up on the product. We use simple things like spam blocking using the OpeNTF template, go to a customer site, install a pukka version of V6.5.1 and rave about the features etc etc and the get damn egg on the face because IBM could not be bother to add Vince■s setting the standard mail template. While I am at it, there has been a lot of posts on how to extend the rules capabilities but do they listen!!!! NO!!! That is why people do not WANT Lotus Notes anymore.

IBM conveniently adheres to rules and standards that suit them and totally disregard where the industry is going. Yes, we know pushing RPC protocols over HTTP port 80 is against the rules but who the hell cares. It works and MS outlook now works transparently across firewalls. I posted a comment a few years ago about running Lotus Domino on 1352 and 80 and it used to work but it has now been disabled. DOH!!!

I say go for it. Lets tell it how it really is without the little comfort zones.

Lotus Notes, the illegitimate love child of IBM. It is only tolerated so long as it and its friends are sitting quietly in the corner.

PS. the more I try and move away from Declan's amazing template the more I realize how many features I will lose. Lotus Notes can be wonderfull!

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5. Stephan H. Wissel04/04/2004 10:07:51
Homepage: http://www.wissel.net

Hello Anonymous,
thx a lot for your comprehensive post. When I started the site, I didn't anticipate how much it did sting. Got some nasty anonymous comments (cowards! Show yourself). Since I'm a big fan of Domino, you can expect a balanced content. I'm sharing your grief regarding the slow speed of update to the Notes email client platform. IBM got both the knowledge and the tools, so what is holding them back?
stw

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6. 04/05/2004 15:27:08

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