Matthew White: Eating the opposition´s dogfood
November 16 2005
Matthew White has recently been using Outlook/Exchange and has some observations about what differs from Lotus Notes...
over the years I have been spouting the line that Notes was a great mail client without ever having actually used Outlook / Exchange (my employers have always been rather enlightened). The idea was that I would use Outlook and get to know the opposition. Now let me say from the outset I have tried, I really have, to be as objective as possible. Obviously things were going to be a bit painful at first because I know Notes so well and there are all sorts of habits which I would need to break. But after 3 months of trying I have finally given up, Outlook is just not for me and I am genuinely confused as to why anyone would actively choose to use it over the Notes client.Check out Matthew's detailed comments on specific feature areas.
Other than the infamous F5/F9 refresh key sequence (something which MS reversed in Outlook 2003 anyway), it's hard to find specifics for reasons users find Outlook so much better. Alan Lepofsky recently pointed me to this "Why will Lotus Notes not die?" rant, also doesn't have many specifics. UI has always been a beauty-in-the-eye-of-the-beholder, I can remember these kinds of discussions going back to Windows 3.1 cc:Mail clients. Some things just never seem to change.
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Sean Burgess http://www.phigsaidwhat.com | 11/16/2005 9:36:51 PM
I am in the same position as Matthew. My newest client uses both Notes mail and Outlook/Exchange. Doing some of the things I take for granted, like changing a password or searching for an email, either aren't easy to do or aren't possible. I am sure that I will find out some more wonderful things about Outlook in the coming months, but I am less than impressed so far. I hope, at least for my sake as a user, that things get better, but I am not holding my breath.
Sean---
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Pete McPhedran www.corefusion.com | 11/17/2005 8:04:49 AM
Man, this has to be the oldest "issue" in the world. I always compare it to the 'What did you like better, the Book or the Movie?' scenario. My experience shows that *most* people like the one they experienced first better.
*most* = more than 50% in my opinion.
i.e. If you used Outlook first, and you are opposed to change, then you will probably not like Notes if you suddenly start using it.
or:
If you used Notes first, and you are opposed to change, then you will probably not like Outlook if you suddenly start using it.
Personally, I use Lotus WordPro as my WP. It was the second WP I used after WordPerfect. When I switched jobs, I was in an environment that used WordPro, I have never had a job where Word was the standard. So I never used it. I have tried Word a few times when on machines that didn't have WordPro, I hated it and I am not (normally) opposed to change, I just didn't know where all the "features" were. I usually end up using WordPad in those situations as my needs were not that great.
I contiue to use WordPro because I have a ton of templates that I use to run my business whith and I only ever give out PDF copies anyway. Is Word superior to WordPro? Probably, damn near everyone that I know uses it, including IBM. Am I going to switch? Don't count on it.
What does this all mean? If you like Outlook, run a Domino server and use Outlook as the mail client. If you like Notes, run a Domino server and use Notes for the mail client. If you like a web interface, run a Domino server and use a web browser as your mail client.
-Pete
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Libby http://www.notesgirl.com | 11/17/2005 8:52:12 AM
When I first started at Group Computing/e-Pro (and at other companies I've worked for in my very... varied career - after all, I did teach Exchange and Outlook for years), I was using Outlook as my mail client day-in and day-out. I had to adjust my thinking and get used to it. Honestly? Once I stopped missing the things I just couldn't have --- applications, workspace... there were things that were very nice to have, UI-wise, that at the time, Notes and the mail template didn't offer; why else would the OpenNTF mail template have gotten so much use? BUT. That was then. Say around... late 2000. R5. This is now! ND7 (and 6 for that matter) made good on so many of those UI things that they used to have -- easy drag-and-drop to folders, anyone? Easy drag-and-drop to calendars?
The differences in the end-user UI was much greater in the R4/R5 timeframe, and I would have to say that there were definitely some things that Outlook *did* *then* have over Notes' mail template specifically. Does it still? No.
I used to actually have a list. Sometime while I was at eP, we actually migrated to Notes. And everyone in the company started calling me to complain/ask questions. Not that I was the IT department, but as the editor of the Notes-related magazine, well, the folks who worked on the Windows magazine especially figured that I was as good a person as any. I learned quite a bit from that. I should've posted it at the time (I did send it to Ed, of course) as a point-to-point comparison of people who had been using Outlook, were using Notes, and were having genuine problems. Some of those problems were just -- it doesn't work that way; it works this way problems, that is, training and retraining your brain; other problems actually existed then with the template they had to work with -- I was lucky that I was sneaky and got an upgrade very quickly! :-)
Anyway, that was babbly and ranty, but hopefully my point that some problems with the Notes UI are not just rants, but have mostly been fixed in 6, 6.5, and 7, was visible through the fog. :-)
Three months? Crikey... I lasted until lunch-time. By then the list of things I had to do but couldn't had racked up to the point where I had to use Notes.
I've said it before and I'll say it again - Outlook isn't easy to use if the capabilities you need to carry out your job just aren't there. That statement counts double if you need to work off-line or with restricted bandwidth.
I wonder how our "why will Notes not die?" friend would feel if his wish came true and then the next day he had to delegate a calendar invite, or create an e-mail that includes a table (no cheating, Microsoft Word not allowed). Or sit on a train and receive his e-mail via a GPRS card, managing the received data to the nearest kilobyte. Or perform a free-time search off-line. Etc, etc.