Going back on offense

October 16 2006

Ben Langhinrichs left a great comment here last week...

I sometimes read your blog and wonder if others think IBM is struggling and trying to hide it, which I really doubt is what you mean to impart.  Just at a time when the Notes/Domino market seems to be doing well, and Hannover promises great things right around the corner, try not to sound like "Oh no, we can't afford to slip up at all!".  You sound a bit like the winning coach who can't realize that his team is doing well, but constantly frets about the other teams.  Relax, coach, the team is doing fine.
...and last night, I spent a few hours pouring over the Lotusphere 2007 content proposals.  I was able to group the sessions in the infrastructure track into a dozen different buckets, which is a great reminder of how much good stuff is really going on within Lotus right now.  The energy is back in so many ways, and there's so much new and positive to talk about, that Ben is right -- I need to let up on defense a bit and remember that things are going really well on almost every front at the moment.

That's why I'm spending so much time on the road in Q4, talking about the good news of what's happening for Lotus and for Notes/Domino.  I'm giving the Lotus salesforce a similar "good news" update tomorrow internally.

That's why I haven't written a single negative thing about MS or Exchange on the blog in the last four weeks.

And that's why for Lotusphere 2007, I am taking a pass on doing a "The Boss Loves Microsoft: Where does that leave Lotus?" session, or having anything like it on the conference agenda.  Even with an expanded number of conference sessions, why allocate one to talking about the competition?  We have other ways to do that, both at Lotusphere and elsewhere.  For me personally, I've done this session (or one like it) at Lotusphere for six years now.  It's time to go out on top (just from Lotusphere -- I'm not going anywhere!).  I'll be doing other sessions -- Julian Robichaux and I are going to do a session on "How to 'sell' Notes/Domino inside your organization", and I'll be hosting a panel discussion -- but there's no need to go further.  Not now.  (oh and btw -- Unlike last year, I'm not reconsidering this decision.)

Speaking of Lotusphere 2007, if you have ideas for how to have an interesting panel discussion on blogging, head over to Rocky's site and let us know!

Ed Brill | Highland Park, IL USA Category:  Lotusphere2007  Add/View Comments [16]

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  1. 1  Nathan T. Freeman http://www.openntf.org/nathan/escape.nsf | 10/16/2006 2:39:03 PM

    Ed, just so you know, I've always found you to be offensive. :-)

  1. 2  Gavin Bollard http://dominogavin.blogspot.com/ | 10/16/2006 4:19:48 PM

    Hi Ed - It would be great to see IBM 'move-on' from MS for a while.

    "The Boss Loves MS...", should be replaced by "What is Web 2.0 - Why do you need it and how would you use it in your business?"

    This morning I looked up Web 2.0 because I wanted a better definition than the ones in my head. The term is relatively new and unknown by most non-it managers.

    I think Ben already raised Web 2.0 with Rocky, so I'm not posting there.

  1. 3  Bob Balaban http://www.lotus.com/notesforsap | 10/16/2006 4:54:35 PM

    @2) Come to Lotusphere, you will not be disappointed!

  1. 4  Adeleida http://www.autumnleaf.it | 10/16/2006 5:17:34 PM

    Ah, no, I guess that's tickets for the Exchange-trashing abstract we submitted then ;)

  1. 5  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 10/16/2006 5:25:32 PM

    @4 well, yeah. Just looked at your submission. "Hands-on" Exchange migration doesn't really make a lot of sense at Lotusphere...the vast majority of attendees wouldn't really be the target audience. Though it could be fun in other venues.

  1. 6  Chris Reckling http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/page/InsideLotus | 10/16/2006 5:47:34 PM

    @5 - Maybe you can get a booth at MS Tech Ed. :)

    Chris

  1. 7  Adeleida http://www.autumnleaf.it | 10/16/2006 5:55:39 PM

    @6: Just to clarify: the abstract was on migrating to Notes mail - the post @5 could be taken the opposite way, perhaps. Whatever... :)

  1. 8  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 10/16/2006 6:01:05 PM

    Right, but there aren't many people coming to Lotusphere looking to migrate from Exchange, either. They're kinda already there :-)

  1. 9  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 10/16/2006 8:23:20 PM

    Glad to see that Phillip Storry has this figured out....

    So for a while, I was quite uncertain about this move. Don't get me wrong - I understand what Ed's saying about the need to stop mentioning competitors and to blow our own trumpet without constantly comparing. I see that fully. It's not going to stop me from calling competitors out when I want to here on this blog - but then I don't work for IBM in Ed's position.

    ...

    But then, on the train home, I got it.

    I'm as happy as a pig in muck now. I can really see why this is being done. And why I couldn't see why it was being done at first...

    Because it means that outside the echo chamber, the sounds have changed. It's no longer "You're dead, so why should we look at you?" - it's "So why are you so self-satisfied?".

    More at { Link }

  1. 10  Keith Brooks http://www.kbmsg.blogspot.com/ | 10/17/2006 8:38:47 AM

    That's cool we are a happy group now that almost 18 years later the world awakes to find that we built web 2.0 way back when. I guess it's true, good things come to those who wait.

  1. 11  Jess Stratton http://www.mattandjess.net | 10/17/2006 10:23:51 AM

    @8 - Ed, don't forget though, there are a lot of companies on Domino that buy other companies that are on Exchange and need to "merge" them to the existing Lotus Notes platform.

  1. 12  Brett Hershberger  | 10/17/2006 10:46:14 AM

    @11 I for one am currently in that exact situation Jess. Large company on Domino buys small company on Exchange. Small company needed Notes/domino admin. I'm fighting a daily battle of users and current IT staff that essentially "hate" Notes, and having it forced on them by the larger org certainly does not help. My beloved Notes faces daily abuse and plenty of "well exchange did it better" or "why can't Notes do this" and such forth. I have to don my flak jacket every morning before coming in. I'd have to say though that it is primarily an education issue. They just don't know, and they don't know that they don't know. But to be honest I'm really enjoying coming up with the witty one liners in response to the haters.

  1. 13  Keith Brooks http://www.kbmsg.blogspot.com/ | 10/17/2006 10:48:05 AM

    He's not forgetting, just doesn't want to end up in a "it doesn't do this or it killed my calendar" discussion afterwards.

    Migration and coexistence are painful processes in most cases. I think Lotusphere prefers to remain proactive/positive in other areas to keep everyone in good moods.

  1. 14  Charles Robinson http://cubert-codepoet.blogspot.com | 10/17/2006 11:03:32 AM

    @8 - That wasn't my experience at Lotusphere 2006. The phenomenal growth of Lotus collaboration over the last couple of years necessarily means more customers actively engaged in, planning, or considering migrations. I ran into a lot of those types at Lotusphere.

  1. 15  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 10/17/2006 11:47:20 PM

    OK, so there's a good point in here about people at LS who might be interested in Exchange migration info. Typically the last two years, we've included that in the session on DAMO (Domino Access for MS-Outlook). I'll give another look to ensure it is there -- or somewhere -- for LS07.

  1. 16  Mike Lazar  | 10/18/2006 12:55:51 PM

    Ed -- They can get most everything they need from the vendor showcase. There are usually at least 4 or 5 migration tools/consulting companies there with good experience, my company included in that mix.