Linux Journal SuitWatch: Views on Linux in business (updated)
February 19 2004
Doc Searls writes in today's newsletter:
In other words, Exchange is a competent product. There are lots of increasingly competent competitors that work with Linux ...but I don't see a huge market rush toward any of these solutions, even when the problem being solved is just getting off Exchange (which many customers want to do, in spite of its virtues). At least not yet. (And if I'm missing something, please tell me.)Searls lists ten different Linux mail servers in his story, but neither Lotus Domino (which runs on two flavors of Linux) or Lotus Workplace Messaging. Both of which have, in fact, made significant inroads into the Exchange migration market. One example is Netflix, who migrated from an always-crashing Exchange environment over to Domino on Linux (mentioned in this article).
The rest of Searls' article is pretty intriguing. It quotes an anonymous IT guy as saying that Outlook is "kick-ass", that Notes is "totally proprietary", and that Exchange is deeply entrenched.
I would argue that it's Outlook that is deeply entrenched, not Exchange. With 6.5.1, Lotus is releasing an updated Outlook connector that is pretty "kick-ass", too. And there are customers who migrate from that "kick-ass", entrenched Outlook client to Notes all the time. One of you is working on such a migration right now!
This is one of those cases where IT departments have to decide what is best for their business. Sometimes, that makes for change in the organization. Who amongst us hasn't worked on a migration project in IT (Reminder, I was in IT before I came to Lotus ten years ago...)? I know I'm talking to a lot of IT organizations that are ready for change, and just need to find the right silver bullet to sell the project. I think there is a whole holster-full of 'em coming from Lotus in 2004.
Update -- There is a discussion available connected to this article on the Linux Journal site.
Updated Link: Linux Journal SuitWatch: Views on Linux in Business >
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- 2
Colin Pretorius http://www.e-md.co.za/web/colin.nsf/ | 2/20/2004 2:17:51 AM
These are open-source, Linux guys. The Exchange opinion is one person with a skewed perspective, but your average person reading Linux Journal is anti-Notes because Notes is closed-source, and a humungous, all-encompassing platform that goes against the Linux bag-of-tricks ethos.
That's the perspective I get from following local Linux user groups. These guys haven't the foggiest idea what Notes is really about, but 'proprietary, big' is far as they get, and go no further.
IBM's noises about moving to a 'standards-based' platform probably don't do much to dispel that opinion amongst the pundits who listen to IBM say these things.
I don't think anyone expects IBM to open-source Notes/Domino, and we simply have to accept that Notes will never be popular in the open-source community. Different worlds...
- 3
vowe | 2/20/2004 4:03:23 AM
I have to side with Colin. Coming from the Linux perspective you will never even look at Domino for a solution. It only works the other way around: You want Domino and look at Linux.
- 4
Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 2/20/2004 6:53:46 AM
For sure, one of the reasons that Lotus didn't consider porting the existing Notes client to Linux is that it was never clear that there was a new, untapped market that would generate the kind of incremental revenue needed to support such a port. The demand for Notes on Linux has always come from an existing Notes customer perspective. While that doesn't mean it should be ignored, it's a very different business case.
On the other hand, I've seen several cases, especially in the Linux-on-big-iron world, where there has been demand for Domino originating from a Linux community. Domino 6.5 was ported to zSeries Linux for that reason.
Either way, seeing a Linux guy give MS Exchange platitudes doesn't sit right with me. How could it be described as any more open than Notes (it's actually less open)? How can it be even described as fitting the definition of "groupware"?
- 5
Nathan T. Freeman | 2/20/2004 4:01:13 PM
"More open" is just ludicrous. Ed, if you want to track more open source advocates towards Domino, I can think of an open source initiative that *might* carry some mileage with them. If the *platform* isn't open source, but some of the applications for it are, that's at least a leg-up on the Outlook/Exchange environment. :)
- 6
Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 2/20/2004 4:14:13 PM
I just posted a link from the article on Linux Journal's site over to this blog entry, so maybe several open source fans will be reading these comments. Those fans should visit www.openntf.org to see what Nathan is talking about.
- 7
Bernard Devlin | 2/21/2004 9:28:09 AM
I was very disappointed to see IBM discontinue the SBS for Linux. My suggestion is that it is re-marketed and sold through Linux resellers.
But let's face it, people who don't use Notes don't get Notes. I've posted a couple of extensive comments on the Linux Journal site. I've tried to bring out a (very) few of the salient points in comparison with Exchange, and with other products that will be seen to compete against Domino on Linux.
Before I started my business I spent about a year evaluating these other Linux products, because I did not want my business expansion plans to be restricted by the costs of Domino licenses. (This was pre-Express). But I came to the conclusion that Domino was still the best choice available.
I started to dig deep inside the IBM site, and found (quite by accident) the SBS. I immediately bought multiple copies of it and the user authorizations, before I even had any staff. And weeks later as I had told my colleagues of my business plans they went looking, but it was gone. Heck, when I was trying to buy it from IBM the sales people denied it existed - in the end I just gave up on them and bought it from the website (altough true to all my dealings with IBM - they messed up the invoicing).
So...bring it back for ND6 (I would probably go out and buy more copies just to be using ND6 myself). And get out some publicity to Linux users about what benefits Domino brings to them... security, productivity, scalability, interoperability. If the price is right, and they understand the benefit, and they can buy it without the vendor denying it exists, I think Linux users are a potential market.
Truly Domino does not have a competitor. It is just that those who don't know Domino don't know this.
Great article - shame about the crap content.
(Warning this is a Friday 5pm rant)
I've worked in a few companies that use Outlook and I've *NEVER* seen them use:
- Group calendaring
- "Shared folders"
- Calendar delegation
- Or any so-called "groupware" features.
Never. Why is that?
And these were companies committed to getting the *most* out of their Exchange/Outlook environment. In fact the most advanced feature I've seen from Outlook has been: out of office and ability to read someone elses Mail. Anything more complex than that is just not used. Not even using a Web Client to read their Email was being used.
And doesn't this statement from the article seem a little out of place:
"It's not so totally proprietary as Lotus Notes"
When read in context of the previous paragraph:
"I have a Linux desktop too: a dual boot Mandrake; but I can never get it to work with Exchange, mostly because I have to go talk to the guys in black robes running the Exchange server. And they don't make it easy."
Funny - I can read/send email, access my Calendar and really collaborate with Domino from my Linux Desktop using just Mozilla Mail and the Web Browser. And I've been able to do this since R4.5 (pop/imap).
And I can only laugh at this comment:
"Exchange isn't just email. It's business groupware done right"
Exchange is not groupware - jokeware maybe...
Do a search on whatis.com for groupware and you'll see Domino listed as number 1. Coincedence?
http://whatis.techtarget.com