The Cure For Fear Of Commitment
Earlier today I was contacted by a coworker looking for information. The CIO at one of his customers was looking for proof that IBM is committed to Lotus Notes. At first I had the typical "Here we go again" reaction. But instead of getting emotional, I decided to simply make a list!
While writing this, I could not stop thinking that there has probably never been a time when Lotus was actually more dedicated to Notes! New clients, new features, new integration, new partner alliances, new applications, it is really quite amazing!
Let's collaborate, feel free to mention things I've missed.
In general, Lotus Notes is a central hub for the rest of the Lotus Portfolio. For example, there is integration with Sametime for chat, calendar and web conferencing integration for both Sametime and Sametime Unyte meetings, integrated Lotus Symphony, integrated Activities, and integrated Quickr. Does that sound like a product that is not getting attention?
- In August 2007, IBM shipped Lotus Notes/Domino 8, probably the most thorough and feature packed redesign in the product's history.
- Notes 8 introduced a new user interface for the client, enhanced mail, calendar, and contacts, a powerful new framework for developers to build composite applications, free integration of Lotus Symphony for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations, and a lot more!
- Domino 8 provides Mail recall, Improved Out of Office, Improved mail threads, AdminP performance improvements, Automatic cleanup of bookmarks on database delete and move, Major upgrade of cluster replicator, Major I/O rate reductions, Compression of design elements. You can read more in What's new for the Domino server.
- At Lotusphere 2008, IBM announced:
- The acquisition of Net Integration Technologies leading to the introduction of Lotus Foundations, helping bring Domino to the SMB market.
- Lotus Protector, an integrated suite of messaging security offerings that will augment the security of the Lotus Domino e-mail environment.
- IBM Applications on Demand for Lotus Notes provides Lotus Notes and Domino customers a hosted and managed environment for their mail and collaborative applications.
- The future integration of SAP business processes and Lotus Notes, code named Atlantic
- Lotus Notes 8.5 beta for Apple Mac OS X
- Lotus Notes support for Linux on Ubuntu, Redhat, and Novel SUSE
- In February 2008, IBM shipped Lotus Notes/Domino Lotus Notes/Domino 8.0.1 , including amazing new features such as:
- Live Text and Widgets which allow Lotus Notes to recognize patterns in text, such as addresses, stocks, shipping numbers, etc. and perform appropriate actions such as displaying a map, the weather, stock quotes, news items, etc. Widgets also allows users to add Google Gadgets inside their Notes client.
- Domino Web Access Lite
- A redesigned Blog Template
- Lotus Notes Traveler providing out of the box mobile support for e-mail, calendar, address book, journal and to do lists to Windows Mobile devices
- The Domino server now has 64-bit support , document compression.
So what about roadmaps you might ask? Well there are huge plans for the future versions of the Notes client, the Domino Server, and Domino Designer. We've publically talked about* things such as:
- Calendar enhancements including better iCal support and Group calendaring.
- The future Domino Designer running in Eclipse. This will provide developers the modern UI they have been asking for, a ton of new features, including the new XPages design element.
- A new "Web 2.0" makeover for Domino HTTP applications.
- For the Domino server, simplifying Notes Identity management and authentication, options to replace Domino Directory with alternative LDAP directories, optimize and reduce attachment storage, further reduce I/O bandwidth, improved quality of service with the Domino Configuration Tuner (DCT), and Dynamic Group Policies.
* All future plans are subject to change!
- On the marketing side, there has been Notes/Domino 8 content everywhere.
- Full page Notes 8 advertising in ComputerWorld, eWeek, InfoWorld, Baseline Magazine, NetWork Computing, and Information Week.
- The Clear Your Desktop Campaign
- Demos and commercials on YouTube.
- Web sites such as CNBC, AOL.com, CNN.com, Forbes.com, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, and Facebook, and live events around the globe.
- The new "Cool Stuff" web site
- There is a ton of training material including demos, tutorials, education, videos, as well as a new Notes/Domino Best Practices Wiki.
Whew... my head hurts even trying to round up everything we are doing for Lotus Notes/Domino. Is IBM committed?, I'd say so!!!
But the vitality of a product is not dependant just on the vendor that develops it. An active community is key indication of a product's health. No time in the history of Lotus Notes has the our community been so active. Take a look at sites such as: OpenNTF , TakingNotes podcasts , IdoNotes podcasts , Planet Lotus , IdeaJam , BleedYellow , LotusUserGroup.org , NotesBerry.org , and the Turtle Partnership's Widget catalog. Our community is amazing, and I can't thank them enough for their commitment to Lotus.
So there you have it, now what does your CIO think?
Tweet
While writing this, I could not stop thinking that there has probably never been a time when Lotus was actually more dedicated to Notes! New clients, new features, new integration, new partner alliances, new applications, it is really quite amazing!
Let's collaborate, feel free to mention things I've missed.
In general, Lotus Notes is a central hub for the rest of the Lotus Portfolio. For example, there is integration with Sametime for chat, calendar and web conferencing integration for both Sametime and Sametime Unyte meetings, integrated Lotus Symphony, integrated Activities, and integrated Quickr. Does that sound like a product that is not getting attention?
- In August 2007, IBM shipped Lotus Notes/Domino 8, probably the most thorough and feature packed redesign in the product's history.
- Notes 8 introduced a new user interface for the client, enhanced mail, calendar, and contacts, a powerful new framework for developers to build composite applications, free integration of Lotus Symphony for word processing, spreadsheets, and presentations, and a lot more!
- Domino 8 provides Mail recall, Improved Out of Office, Improved mail threads, AdminP performance improvements, Automatic cleanup of bookmarks on database delete and move, Major upgrade of cluster replicator, Major I/O rate reductions, Compression of design elements. You can read more in What's new for the Domino server.
- At Lotusphere 2008, IBM announced:
- The acquisition of Net Integration Technologies leading to the introduction of Lotus Foundations, helping bring Domino to the SMB market.
- Lotus Protector, an integrated suite of messaging security offerings that will augment the security of the Lotus Domino e-mail environment.
- IBM Applications on Demand for Lotus Notes provides Lotus Notes and Domino customers a hosted and managed environment for their mail and collaborative applications.
- The future integration of SAP business processes and Lotus Notes, code named Atlantic
- Lotus Notes 8.5 beta for Apple Mac OS X
- Lotus Notes support for Linux on Ubuntu, Redhat, and Novel SUSE
- In February 2008, IBM shipped Lotus Notes/Domino Lotus Notes/Domino 8.0.1 , including amazing new features such as:
- Live Text and Widgets which allow Lotus Notes to recognize patterns in text, such as addresses, stocks, shipping numbers, etc. and perform appropriate actions such as displaying a map, the weather, stock quotes, news items, etc. Widgets also allows users to add Google Gadgets inside their Notes client.
- Domino Web Access Lite
- A redesigned Blog Template
- Lotus Notes Traveler providing out of the box mobile support for e-mail, calendar, address book, journal and to do lists to Windows Mobile devices
- The Domino server now has 64-bit support , document compression.
So what about roadmaps you might ask? Well there are huge plans for the future versions of the Notes client, the Domino Server, and Domino Designer. We've publically talked about* things such as:
- Calendar enhancements including better iCal support and Group calendaring.
- The future Domino Designer running in Eclipse. This will provide developers the modern UI they have been asking for, a ton of new features, including the new XPages design element.
- A new "Web 2.0" makeover for Domino HTTP applications.
- For the Domino server, simplifying Notes Identity management and authentication, options to replace Domino Directory with alternative LDAP directories, optimize and reduce attachment storage, further reduce I/O bandwidth, improved quality of service with the Domino Configuration Tuner (DCT), and Dynamic Group Policies.
* All future plans are subject to change!
- On the marketing side, there has been Notes/Domino 8 content everywhere.
- Full page Notes 8 advertising in ComputerWorld, eWeek, InfoWorld, Baseline Magazine, NetWork Computing, and Information Week.
- The Clear Your Desktop Campaign
- Demos and commercials on YouTube.
- Web sites such as CNBC, AOL.com, CNN.com, Forbes.com, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, and Facebook, and live events around the globe.
- The new "Cool Stuff" web site
- There is a ton of training material including demos, tutorials, education, videos, as well as a new Notes/Domino Best Practices Wiki.
Whew... my head hurts even trying to round up everything we are doing for Lotus Notes/Domino. Is IBM committed?, I'd say so!!!
But the vitality of a product is not dependant just on the vendor that develops it. An active community is key indication of a product's health. No time in the history of Lotus Notes has the our community been so active. Take a look at sites such as: OpenNTF , TakingNotes podcasts , IdoNotes podcasts , Planet Lotus , IdeaJam , BleedYellow , LotusUserGroup.org , NotesBerry.org , and the Turtle Partnership's Widget catalog. Our community is amazing, and I can't thank them enough for their commitment to Lotus.
So there you have it, now what does your CIO think?
Tweet
