Ed Brill

Last week, IBM held a "Lotus Day" in Japan, with several key executives on-hand to launch Notes/Domino 7 in the Japanese market.  There's been a ton of press coverage, lots of it favorable.  I don't plan to blog in Japanese, but this particular article has a quote which was translated for me:

「成熟した製品としてはかつてない伸びを示しており、その伸びはさらに加速している」（ローディン氏）

　もちろん、ライバルであるMicrosoftへの牽制も彼は忘れなかった。

　「Microsoft発の噂は真実ではない。騙されないでほしい」とローディン氏。基調講演後に行われたNotes/Domino 7の記者発表会でも、「この4年、Microsoftは何回バージョンアップしたのか？（Exchange Server 2003だけだ）」と皮肉った。

　「Notesをリプレースしようとすれば、さまざまなMicrosoft製品を買わねばならず、非常に高くつく」（ローディン氏）。逆にIBMは今年上半期、500社のExchangeユーザーをNotes/Dominoに移行させたという。

Translation:

Rhodin did not miss the opportunity to take aim at rival software developer Microsoft, either.

“Don’t fall for rumors started by Microsoft,” he says, “they’re untrue.”  At the press conference for Notes/Domino 7 that followed Rhodin’s keynote address, he went on, in an ironic tone, to add: “How many upgrades has Microsoft released in the past four years?” (Answer: only one, Exchange Server 2003)

“Clients who attempt to replace Notes have to buy a lot of different Microsoft products, which becomes very expensive,” he adds, pointing out that, conversely, 500 companies migrated from Exchange to Notes/Domino in the first half of 2005.

This "how many upgrades" thought is an interesting one, which I haven't contemplated before.  In the last four years, IBM has shipped two significant server upgrades and three client upgrades for the core Notes/Domino platform, versus one incremental server upgrade and two client upgrades for Outlook/Exchange.  By end of 2006, the numbers are expected to be 3/4 vs. 2/3, IBM still ahead.  Interesting.

I'm not going to link to all the Lotus Day Japan coverage, but based on the translations, everything was great about the event.  If you are interested in links to other coverage, send me mail @edbrill.com.

Link: ITMedia Japan： IBM Showcases Steady Evolution of Notes/Domino; Not Worried about Microsoft Exchange >