Best journalist question of the day

January 24 2006

I've been hiding in meeting rooms much of yesterday and today, talking with the press about this week's announcements and the state of the market.  Yesterday afternoon, I met with three Japanese journalists for what was one of the best interviews I've done in a long time.

These guys were prepared!  They had excellent questions which reflected the Japanese cultural tendency to think long-term and in multiple directions.  I don't speak Japanese, but I know a few of the key phrases and intonations of the language.  Combine that with the "Engrish" (romanji character) pronunciation of many of the technical words, and I was able to understand most of the questions even before they had been translated.  The eye contact was intense, the laughter reflected in the creases in the corner of the eye, and it all worked despite my constant reminder to myself to say "hai" at appropriate points and never to use the word "no".

So what was the question worth blogging?  It was, essentially -- four years ago, you announced a J2EE-based collaboration strategy.  It was a two-lane highway.  Today we hear a lot of news about ongoing investment and enhancement in the core Notes/Domino technologies, and no two-lane highway.  What has changed and why?

I love this question (and I told the Japanese that I do).  The question is asked at user groups, by journalists, by CIOs.  It requires a philosophical answer, but is one that I get asked enough that I've honed the philosophy.

When Al Zollar stood on that stage four years ago and announced collaboration for J2EE, a number of things drove the decision.  The primary two still make perfect sense today.  

1) Software is becoming componentized.   You can see it in the way IBM and others build solutions today. The new Sametime uses an Eclipse framework, a Codec from someone else, etc.  Making components to provide collaborative capabilities is a good idea.  

2) J2EE, or alternatively .NET, have become the primary languages for application developers.  The forecast in 2002 was that by 2005, 80% of all new apps would be written in one or the other.  I don't think it happened that way -- for a variety of reasons, I think the number is lower.  But it is still a fact that a new computer science graduate from unversity is more likely to be focused on Java or .NET than anything else.  And convincing them learn to develop in Domino Designer is a challenge, because it's "proprietary" to one (albeit incredibly popular) platform.

So we had to start getting behind one of these development platforms, and as IBM, it makes sense that we chose Java.  The Workplace Collaboration Services, and many of the Workplace-branded products, reflect this.  But a funny thing happened on the way to J2EE-based collaboration -- market adoption of Notes/Domino continued, and more importantly, existing customers grew their Domino investments through larger user populations and increasing numbers of applications.

The problem with the "two-lane highway" was that there was an implication you would eventually have to move to the other lane, and it would take some superhuman feat to do so.  There's no ROI in migration, and IBM -- unlike our primary competitor -- just don't believe in it.  So instead of following separate and parallel development paths, we started finding ways to integrate the new, Java-based, componentized technologies with the existing Notes/Domino products.

This results in several things you saw/heard yesterday -- at the client side, Notes integrates with the Workplace Managed Client as a plug-in.  The next version of Domino will integrate portal technologies into the server.  They are still Notes and Domino -- running every Notes application that you do today, with no architectural changes required.  But now we integrate the Activities model into Notes; we integrate the components into Notes (Sametime 7.5 will provide the IM plug-in for Notes "Hannover").  It becomes the best of all worlds -- continuing investment and innovation for the products in use by 61,000 customers today, while adopting for the "nextgen" of Java-based programming.  Tools like IBM Workplace Designer help bridge the two, by providing a Java-based development tool that works like Domino Designer.  In a future version, it will even build rich client applications.

I have been at Lotus through this entire transition and journey.  And when I see what the development team has done to leverage our strengths and heritage, combined with tooling for the future, it makes me incredibly proud to be a part of all of this.  We're doing what's right for customers, not just what's convenient for us (whehter that be a 64-bit migration or an obsolesence of existing product APIs).  It takes more work, but the best and the brightest are making it happen.  And the best part is, it has made Notes even more powerful, and more useful, for the next sixteen years of its lifecycle.

Ed Brill Lotusphere 2006 Category:  Lotusphere ’06  Add/View Comments [11]

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  1. 1  Stuart McIntyre http://macsfacts.blogspot.com | 1/24/2006 10:04:52 AM

    IBM/Lotus have right to be proud of that heritage, and of the work that has been done in the last 3-4 years to leverage the history and to develop for the future.

    It is clear that there are (unwritten) comparisons here to another vendor's products in this marketplace, and to the very different heritage and future that we perceive that product to have. I for one am very pleased to be behind the IBM product rather than theirs.

    Great blog entry Ed, and here's to a wonderful next 16 years.

  1. 2  Dave http://www.weblayouts.net | 1/24/2006 10:09:08 AM

    Having never dealt with the Japanese in my work, I surely am missing some cultural nuances... so could you explain why you never say "no" to them?

  1. 3  Ben Rose http://www.jaffacake.net | 1/24/2006 11:18:59 AM

    @2 - In short, because they'd never say it to you.

  1. 4  Samuel deHuszar Allen  | 1/24/2006 12:31:35 PM

    Can I just say, Ed, that hearing you say "the next 16 years" in regards to Notes/Domino development is a very tasty phrase. One that I hope gets repeated over the megaphone as you guys shift the marketing machine into 5th gear.

    Also, --and I know you guys are thinking about these issues, BUT-- one of the reasons why many don't invest their development efforts in Notes & Domino is that there aren't a lot of books or resources available to noobs.

    As someone who has been joyfully digging in to the Domino platform over the past 2-3 years, I've been quite frustrated that the only way to really get a beginner-level course in Notes & Domino is to scour the net, buy books that are 5 years old or more, and piecemeal together hundreds of Redbooks, blog tutorials, and DeveloperWorks articles before you can reach "Intermediate" status. And only then do most of the fantastic Books like the Notes & Domino 6 Bible really become fully realizable to folks newer to the platform.

    While I own many of the books out there, most of them assume prior knowledge of LotusScript and @Formula, which require more books, and a lot of scattered reading and research.

    There should be a Head First: Lotus Notes Development or Administration book (or both!). Obviously, no one book will be able to cover the entirety of the platform, but if a potential developer can find streamlined learning tracks for Java, .NET, PHP & MySQL, etc., and not for the Notes/Domino platform, guess where they are going...?

    This is all to say that, I love this platform, and really revel in the attention it's getting. And I hope that you and yours at IBM will use the opportunity created by the fun and fervor of these new announcements to offer various educational resources that will make digestable all that is Notes / Domino to the newcomers like myself and others who are sure to follow.

    As it stands, to really get a beginning to end training in Notes Development and Administration one is required to pony up $800-$1200 or more for classes or courseware. And that's just to get to intermediate status.

    Continuing with such a strategy will inevitably (and has in IBM's world, traditionally) been the achilles heel for otherwise better platforms and products.

    My $.07

    p.s. I quake with anticipation for the opportunity to play with Hannover on Ubuntu. VMWare is nice, but now that I've seen those beautiful screenshots, my patience has evaporated. ;)

  1. 5  Adeleida http://www.adeleida.co.za | 1/24/2006 2:45:21 PM

    @4 heartwarming to see another Ubuntu fan :) One day, everyone will run on it...

    Thanks, Ed, for a solid answer to the ever hovering Lotus-future question of a few years now. This is the type of answer we can, at last, present at a client, WIN seats, and get those billable hours to create some supercool software, like in the nineties...

  1. 6  Steven Joseph  | 1/24/2006 3:10:27 PM

    The Japanese try not to say no and they may phrase a "no" response in a manner that may be considered to be indecisive or unassertive in the United States. This aspect of their culture helps to keep harmony within the society and should not be viewed as a weakness. It is appropriate to politely accept this kind of response as a "no".

  1. 7  Steven Joseph  | 1/24/2006 3:13:05 PM

    @2 From a Japanese Etiquette web page... The Japanese try not to say no and they may phrase a "no" response in a manner that may be considered to be indecisive or unassertive in the United States. This aspect of their culture helps to keep harmony within the society and should not be viewed as a weakness. It is appropriate to politely accept this kind of response as a "no".

    { Link }

  1. 8  Axel  | 1/24/2006 4:20:41 PM

    My worry is, that too much focus on Domino compability might slow the process of Workplace/Hannover becomming ready for production. A clean Domino 10 release which is only 80% downward compatible, thats what I would like.

    Lots of upgrading jobs :-)

    But the mayority might see that different.

    @Samuel: You know that becomming productive on of the Java platforms needs more than 1 Head First book. Much more. It needs more of a constant flow of books. Some people don't like that. I do.

    Notes community is smaller. There are some usefull books (like the one by Rocky Oliver). But also great forums, where you really get help. Blogs. Small sample apps on notes.net (sandbox) or serious OpenSource apps on openntf.org. Good articles on notes.net.

    I often shake my head over what I call cohesive "corral mentality" among notes developers. But this mentality is often good for noobs, because they get help in a friendly way. Like Javaranch in Java. But there are lots of other java forums, where you get killed, when you don't know exactly what you are talking about.

    This isn't bad as such, but surely not noob-friendly.

  1. 9  Samuel deHuszar Allen  | 1/24/2006 11:33:58 PM

    @8: Agreed, anything worth learning is going to be a long and sometimes frustrating process. BUT, of the books I've read, where there are basics, they are the same basics ripped straight from the Lotus Developer's Handbook, cover the super basics, and then a few chapters in, leap straight into complex LotusScript arrays, XML/XSLT conversion, etc.

    They have a Developer's track and Administrator's track for Certification. Why not have learning materials which parallel those tracks?

    The only "wrapped up in a bow" solutions for this are unaffordable by most unless the corporation is picking up the tab.

    All I'm saying is that the currently available (& in print) resources for those perusing the shelves of the local Barnes & Nobles will likely conclude that since there's only 2-3 books published since 2000, that Microsoft is right, the platform is dead, or take a chance and end up getting lost.

    Notes has a fantastic and friendly ecosystem, but you have to already be aware of the community to know what is there.

    If IBM wants to grow the platform, any and everything it can do to seduce warm blood will help. And there are a lot of hungry IBM Partner Companies that would happy to bid on targeted projects like that.

    @Ed: How hard would it be to keep a multi-volume series of books on retail shelves which would essentially teach (i.e. hold your hand through the trenches) enough Lotus Notes know-how to get certified on either the Devel or Admin tracks? And could it be sold for a low cost?

  1. 10  Nathan T. Freeman  | 1/25/2006 3:17:45 AM

    I wish IBM could convince O'Reilly to do a series of books on Notes. I've been wishing that (aloud) for an awful lot of years.

  1. 11  Duffbert http://www.twduff.com | 1/25/2006 4:56:41 AM

    @9 & @10..

    I can offer a bit of insight on this one, due to my book reviewing and such. IBM does have an outlet called IBM Press, distributed by Pearson. There are some very nice titles there, but you're right... Nothing that is really Notes-specific. If "IBM" were going to do something, that would be the path.

    As for O'Reilly, it's more likely that an author would need to pitch a idea for a book (or series) and go from there. They'd need to be convinced of the demand and potential market. I don't think having a company author/sponsor a series is O'Reilly's style.

    But here's something that is much more immediate that I've not yet blogged about, so I'll throw it out here. O'Reilly does a number of newsletters for their sites like OnJava. There's nothing to stop any of us from pitching ideas to them for a series of articles on Notes/Domino. That would get the platform on their radar screen, and allow them to start covering it with little financial investment and risk. If well done and popular, then they would be much more interested in entertaining potential book ideas...