The raw and the cooked
April 12 2004
Readers of the Notes/Domino 6 discussion on
IBM Developerworks (nee LDD or notes.net) saw a couple
of postings
on Friday about Oklahoma State University's in-process migration from Notes/Domino
to Exchange. I haven't been involved in the conversation at OSU in
months -- I actually blogged
about some of my interaction
10 months ago, following a competitive webcast on e-Promag.com. Lots
of questions then, but it all went dark shortly thereafter (and I never
got a response to my note sent to Ron King at the time).
The next I heard about this was at Lotusphere 2004, when Jonvon introduced
me to a guy named Andrew who worked at OSU. John's
written up the Andrew/OSU story on his blog.
Anyway, the migration is underway now, and outsiders can watch the whole
process through a discussion
forum on okstate.edu. I'm
not sure I agree with the story that OSU has cooked up about their reasons
for migration -- they seem to have the whole thing hinged on TCO, yet they
are keeping their Notes application infrastructure in place (as is typical
in these increasingly rare migrations). Heck, the
knowledgebase app they are using for the migration is a Domino app!
It is interesting, and of course disappointing, to watch this migration
take place, raw and unedited. Some good learning points about how
and when IT should focus on user needs and requirements rather than what
appears to be migration for migration's sake.
Of course for every negative, there's a positive. A bit later
today, I'll have A new posting on lotus.com/weblog
about a win at a customer I've been working with for the last couple of
months, including the very solid reasons why they've selected to continue
to use Notes/Domino.
Post a Comment
- 2
jonvon | 4/13/2004 8:54:00 AM
was hoping his blog would start up on april 1st, but i guess he hasn't had time... i know he's been really busy lately.
- 3
Randy Shimizu | 4/13/2004 3:25:54 PM
Microsft's offer to bundle Exchange with free versions of Office could pose a significant challenge to Notes.
IBM needs to be much more pro-active in going after new customers.
- 4
OSU IT guy | 8/9/2004 1:30:03 PM
The migration at OSU is, IMO, mostly a product of politics. We got a new president who brought a number of cronies with him from Texas Tech, most of whom displaced experienced people already working here (including one who is suing for the loss of his job). The new VP in charge of IT was one of these cronies with a strong affinity for microsoft products. Among other things, he negotiated a site license for most microsoft applications which allows all staff and students to legally use any MS software covered by the agreement at no charge, even at home. This includes Windows XP, Office 2003 suite and more.
Also IMO, the migration is/was a part of empire building and/or to be seen as powerful or as "movers and shakers" by making sweeping changes. The migration from Notes was probably also pushed by MS to some degree as a part of the site software license negotiation.
Off the record (but on the world-wild-web), the new regime ruffled a lot of feathers on campus from the start. To top it all off, two young, apparently inexperienced people brought in from TTU illegally accessed files at TTU while in the employ of OSU and used that acquired software without the permission of TTU. These were people at director and asst director positions. They (Brandon Labonte and Mike Hewitt) were found out and it has resulted in their resignation, the resignation of the new VP of IT (Gary Wiggins) and a $40,000 license settlement for the pilfered software.
In light of all that shakeup, the migration has, shall we say, been slowed somewhat.
We had a long talk. His situation is much the same as the one at (what used to be) my main client -- MS Good, IBM Bad!
I have Andrew's last name and email address if anyone that I know needs it. I should probably just post it since JonVon posted his picture -- there are even links on the OSU discussion database.