Death as track record vs. suggestion

November 20 2004

In my presentation earlier this week at SNUG, the Dutch user group for IBM Websphere & Lotus Software, I used a slide I've been using most of the year to describe Microsoft's track record in collaboration.  Some of you have seen this...





Image:Death as track record vs. suggestion




I use it to make a simple point.  When considering a company's future direction for collaboration software, one must carefully examine the past.
In the case of Microsoft, that track record has been inconsistent at best.  (In fact, the slide needs updating to include the spectacular flare-out of Exchange "Kodiak")  It is hard to know whether this week's set of collaboration technologies (comprised of fourteen different products in the "smart connected organization") is going to be around for the long term.  Thus, I think it's completely reasonable to examine the current and future products and plans in the context of the past track record.
In the case of IBM Lotus, the track record, though not perfect, is very solid.  Fifteen years of Notes/Domino -- near perfect forward and backward compatibility and additive evolution.  Releases delivered relatively on-time, and with promised capabilities.  Announced plans for Notes/Domino 7, 7.x, 8, and public commitment to releases beyond that.  Steady updates and enhancements to team collaboration, instant messaging, document management products.
As has often been the case this year, the SNUG audience had a very strong reaction to the "graveyard" slide.  Marnix Kemme, SNUG chairman, wrote yesterday: "The evaluations on your presentation were very very positive!  Would you be so kind to send me a copy of your presentation (freelance graphics, powerpoint or pdf are all OK)? I've heard a couple of people mention the graveyard slide in particular ..."
Well, one person in particular seems interested, though I don't think he was at SNUG.  Microsoft employee Peter de Haas seems quite excited that I've given Microsoft Netherlands' upcoming seminar some visibility.  Why wouldn't I -- it's useful to everyone to know what Microsoft's approach is to marketing to Lotus customers, especially when it flops between the "migrate away from Notes" view and the "we love Notes and want to integrate with it" view (see GaryDev's new comment at the end of that thread).  In this particular case, though, I think it is funny that Peter is complaining about honesty (see comments in thread on his blog).  In the "graveyard" slide, I am merely stating the public track record of Microsoft's current and past efforts in collaboration.  Microsoft Netherlands' event invitation seems to say that Notes is going to be substantially different in the future...based on what track record?  (I hear that the original version was more blatantly inaccurate)
So where does honesty cause problems, Peter -- when the truth is described visually for impact, or when it is left out of the discussion altogether?

Ed Brill | Highland Park, IL USA Category:  Microsoft  Add/View Comments [25]

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  1. 1  Peter de Haas http://www.peterdehaas.com | 11/20/2004 1:34:00 PM

    ...So where does honesty cause problems, Peter -- when the truth is described visually for impact, or when it is left out of the discussion altogether? ...

    I was not acusing you of dishonesty. It is just that there are so many versions of the truth. I do not agree that the past is always a good prediction for the truth. Sometimes I think a company needs to have the guts to make drastic changes.

    I was discussing the graveyard slide because I've heard some rumours about it. I have to say what I heard created a different perception. Thanks for sharing it :-)

  1. 2  mugadafino  | 11/20/2004 4:32:22 PM

    so.. the graveyard slide.. does this mean that Microsoft sucks at collaboration or do they try and deliver more things to the marketplace - where some fail and some don't ?

    so.. let's look at Lotus..

    Lotus Forms, Lotus Organizer ( using Domino as a back end) Weblicator, Esuite,(that was a big flameout) DOLS, Domino.Action anything..Domino access for Outlook version 1, Lotus FAX server, Javapplets for web mail, Domino Everyplace, Discovery Server..

    am I missing any ? Yes Domino has a great track record with compatability ( except for the 4.5/6 to R5 Web apps when everything went to hell) but the point is... with best laid plans and architecture . some win and some lose..

  1. 3  robert  | 11/20/2004 5:10:22 PM

    @2 "with best laid plans and architecture . some win and some lose.." Exactly!

    Lotus Organizer - leftover from the "office suite" wars. Made obsolete by Palm devices, and more recently the Blackberry.

    eSuite - ahead of the times, back when everyone predicted "all you need is a web browser". It made advancements to the Java language, introduced the InfoBus, and sparked changes to the web browser's object model -- you're using them today.

    Domino Everyplace - blazing new trails before there were any standards in mobile devices/phones. Even today the various manufacturers can not agree on standards. This is changing.

    ILWWCM - I wonder about this one. There are better content solutions out there. We'll see.

  1. 4  Henning Heinz  | 11/20/2004 5:41:44 PM

    I think there is a big difference.

    Promised but not delivered vs. delivered but unsuccessful.

    I do not know what is better. If IBM would have asked me the list would be much shorter (although mugadifino even missed some).Fortunately I am such a modest person.

    <TROLL MODE OFF />

  1. 5  Peter de Haas http://www.peterdehaas.com | 11/20/2004 5:42:39 PM

    typo in my earier comment.

    I meant the past is not always a good prediction of the future.

  1. 6  Charlie Wood http://globelogger.com/moonwatcher/ | 11/21/2004 7:37:16 AM

    Ed-

    As someone who reads a lot of computer industry history, I've been unable to find a good account of the groupware wars. I'd really like to know more of the history behind Notes, Exchange, etc. Do you know of any published books or papers that go into detail? Thanks! (And yes, I love the tombstone slide. :)

    -Charlie

  1. 7  Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 11/21/2004 7:51:03 AM

    Interesting question.

    I've often half-kiddingly said that I'd write just such a book if I ever leave IBM. I don't know of anyone who has done so. Gartner has published a couple of older research papers called "The Great Train Wreck" which covered it as the wars started and a bit later...but nobody's come back to it that I'm aware of.

    Ping me offline via e-mail (ed@edbrill.com) and we can discuss some other ways of piecing it together.

  1. 8  Eric Parsons startingblockcomputing.com | 11/21/2004 1:11:12 PM

    What are the chances you would publish that slide in great enough resolution for wallpaper.

    With the recent "rumors of my [Domino] death" being bantied about, it would sure look nice.

  1. 9  Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 11/21/2004 1:40:50 PM

    I need to make a few updates... let's say that there will be a new version around by Lotusphere '05.

  1. 10  Carl http://www.iminstant.com | 11/21/2004 4:10:13 PM

    Mugadifino...

    Lotus Forms - No need when ccMail users migrated to Exchange and Notes.

    Lotus Organizer, still available as part of Lotus SmartSuite, still a shipping product, and an update was just shipped (for both Windows and OS/2 version) Organzier at one point had 20million+ registered users, a few brave folks at Lotus tried a management buy out, but the buy out was killed from above, why? Because the plan was to include a simple mail client into Organizer and have a killer mail client that could be OEMed to compete with Outlook Express. Why killed? It would make Notes look bad. Where's Schedule + today?

    Weblicator - Rendered uneccessary by Browser offline caching, and some features replaced by DOLS.\

    eSuite,(that was a big flameout)- Wrong product, wrong architecture, wrong time. At the time eSuite was launched, it should have continued with the ActiveX approach of Lotus Components, sadly there was a religious belief within IBM that anything Java was holy, and anythign Microsoft was evil. Customers requirements kind of got lost in the process. Lessons from eSuite? A lot of the client UI technologies were applied to Raven, and now Workplace.

    DOLS - Still shipping

    Domino.Action - Probably a handful of customers.

    Domino access for Outlook version 1 - Was replaced by a later version, now works with Outlook 2000, XP and 2003, much better than early versions.

    Lotus FAX server - yep can't argue with that being dead

    Javapplets for web mail - Java Applets for pretty much any UI are a bad idea.

    Domino Everyplace - Still shipping maybe under a different name

    Discovery Server - Still shipping

    Now there is a long list of dead Lotus products, you just didn't name many of them :-)

  1. 11  mugadafino  | 11/21/2004 4:15:12 PM

    which ones did I miss ? :)

    discovery server is dead BTW { Link }

    cc:mail - now that deserves a whole thread to itself - especially how Lotus drove cc:mail users into the arms of Microsoft by having a crappy MTA with major support problems..

  1. 12  Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 11/21/2004 5:20:08 PM

    that would have to be multiple chapters in my book :)... the MTA wasn't the only reason.

  1. 13  mugadafino  | 11/21/2004 7:51:27 PM

    well it might have been huge number of engineers they had working on it..

  1. 14  Peter de Haas www.peterdehaas.com | 11/22/2004 2:41:00 AM

    Looking at all the comments, I am glad I didn't bother too much with Lotus' history. :-)

  1. 15  Nathan T. Freeman  | 11/22/2004 4:37:45 AM

    "It is just that there are so many versions of the truth."

    That's has to be the single most Microsoft-ish statement I've ever heard. I'm simply stunned that any professional in the computing industry would dare make such a comment, particularly on a site frequented by so many technicians.

    Perhaps such confusion over boolean values relates to the quality and reliability of the MS product line?

  1. 16  Neil http://www.ngower.me.uk | 11/22/2004 6:02:42 AM

    Carl (10) - I think IBM should put Organizer into the Notes Client asap. Many execs I know have Notes, but use Organizer, if the 2 were combined you would have the ultimate corporate tool. IHMO

  1. 17  Carl http://www.iminstant.com | 11/22/2004 6:10:31 AM

    Neil, I can't argue with that, the promise that R5 would have Organizer functionality has still not been met. If I had a dollar for everytime I head the comment "I wish Notes had Organizers planner" I could be retired...

    I wonder if Workplace will have a yearly planner view?

  1. 18  Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 11/22/2004 6:44:43 AM

    I will say, the Workplace team is distinctly interested in Organizer's functionality.

  1. 19  Carl http://www.iminstant.com | 11/22/2004 8:30:50 AM

    I didn't know about Discovery server being end of lifed, thanks for letting me know. Geez another product I worked on is dead...I see a trend developing...

    With regards to Organizer, The general UI and it's gestures are 13+ years old, but people understand it straight away because it makes sense, it's dissapointing that more of the UI wasn't adopted by Notes.

  1. 20  Neil http://www.ngower.me.uk | 11/22/2004 10:49:31 AM

    Ed.... Can the Notes/Domino team also get distinctly interested in Organizer functionality, perhaps in a 7.X timeline, I would hate to see Notes/Domino fall behind the Workplace mail/calendar offering.... Lets get it in both.

    Vote for Planners in Notes 7, and Gant charts !!!!!

  1. 21  Nick Halliwell www.comware.net | 1/18/2005 10:26:05 PM

    Some more Lotus products that Died:-

    Components. Remember that the small active X applets that has a spreadsheet, a chart module, a project planning, module a drawing module, a file viewing module . It was a great product. eSuite kill it.

    Domino.Merchant. This was Lotus/IBM's 1st attempt at a shop front, I guess that Websphere killed that one off.

    Notes Reporter. A great tool that used Lotus Approach to allow you to create reports of a Notes NFS.

    Lotus InterNotes News/InterNotes Web Publisher. Never used these, but I think there dead!!! (:-).

    LN:DI. I guess that you could say that Domino. Doc took over this but the functionality changed and I guess so did the rest of the scanning technology, so may be not fair to say dead, just RIP.

    Lotus Phone Notes. Allowed you to access Notes apps via a touch tone phone. Such as a fax back system.

  1. 22  Axel Janssen  | 6/27/2007 2:25:59 PM

    <lobbying_effort>

    So then how comes that why not integrations-wise collaborate with like-minded people. Integration not only with Websphere classic who rip-and-replace each and any EJB version. EJB1.0, EJB1.1, EJB1.2, EJB2.0, EJB2.1, EJB3.0. Except EJB2.1->EJB2.0 none of those were downward compatible.

    Why not cooperate more with springframework, heavily used inside Geronimo? They take downward compability very serious. They are 99.8% (except some corner cases). Such (very few) corner cases did exist in Domino, too, by the way. Certain formula magic which worked in 5, but did not in 6.

    </lobbying_effort>