Network World: Lotus lays out its future at Lotusphere kick-off

January 24 2006

Coverage from the first day of Lotusphere.

"For the record, there is no architectural shift involved [for Notes/Domino], it is pure growth with no regression," said [Lotus General Manager Mike] Rhodin. "There will be continued support for all Notes applications."

Rhodin and IBM/Lotus executives also took a more aggressive stand in an on-going competition with Microsoft, often calling out the vendor during the general session keynote for its perceived shortcomings in product and delivery schedules.

"We have been the leader for 15 years, and I have no intention of backing down," Rhodin said later at a press conference.

Analysts say Lotus's spunk is born from heat applied by Microsoft, which is aggressively building out it collaboration platform on the back of Office and real-time collaboration tools.

"I was struck that Lotus feels very threatened by Microsoft," said David Ferris, president of Ferris Research. Ferris said that Lotus, however, is infusing Notes/Domino with enough new and upgraded features that users who defect to Microsoft should feel like they are missing out.
Not sure if David is going to make my session in the morning, but for the record, I'm not feeling threatened.  The gloves are off.  I do like the thought that anyone who moves away from Lotus is missing out, though...

Link: Network World: Lotus lays out its future at Lotusphere kick-off >

Ed Brill Lotusphere 2006 Category:  Lotusphere ’06  Add/View Comments [8]

Post a Comment

  1. 1  -  | 1/24/2006 9:55:32 PM

    Comment deleted -- no anonymous comments allowed

  1. 2  Jerry Glover http://www.jerryglover.com | 1/24/2006 10:14:59 PM

    Unfortunately Ed, it looks like its one of those damned if you do, damned if you don't media spin situations. If you're not out there fighting in the streets or with a big media campaign, the product is "losing ground," or "being phased out" or whatever. If you take the gloves off then you're "feeling threatened."

    On the whole, it's probably better to fight back and loudly.

  1. 3  Ben Rose http://www.jaffacake.net | 1/25/2006 1:57:48 AM

    @1 - They've been the leader in the number of idiot uninformed people there are in the world who think it's rubbish just because they have about enough computer knowledge to be able to program a VCR :-D

    Lotus Notes - If you can't program a VCR...stick to Outlook.

  1. 4  Thilo Hamberger  | 1/25/2006 3:15:17 AM

    @3 - Ben, Lotus Notes should be for everybody in the company - even Managers and I bet some of them cannot program a VCR.

    What about "Notes' what you make it - can't escape it." :)

  1. 5  Ben Rose http://www.jaffacake.net | 1/25/2006 4:55:07 AM

    @4 - Agreed, that's what training is for.

    My point was that the product isn't rubbish it's just unfamiliar territory and not that easy to pick up on the first day.

    There isn't one VCR in the world that's actually difficult to program, most technical people don't even need the user guide but for Joe user it may take a little bit of training and RTFM.

    If managers prefer a video with no clock/timer that's fine but they're going to miss all their TV shows when they're out.

    Notes has it's quirks, but they're all because of added functionality.

    PPL say "wtf is a view?" - not because views are bad but because they're only used to the concept of folders. Those that are used to views can't do without them. It's all just a bit of training and exposure...like programming a VCR.

  1. 6  Bill Wood http://www.gsk.com | 1/25/2006 10:40:02 PM

    Ed, something is concerning me about the announcements so far. Notes Hannover is touted as fostering "Activity Centric Computing" and certainly after seeing the early versions of Activity Explorer V3 (Hannover version) in the developer labs today I am excited about the capabilities and the architecture (which is completely open and based on REST). I believe that Activities can replace many email interactions and much of the use of collaborative spaces such as Team Rooms, streamlining user interactions dramatically.

    However, no-one at IBM is sure whether Activities will be available to Domino-only shops (eg shops that don't plan to install the Workplace backend), and indeed, one IBMer told me that it was a packaging issue - whether IBM should ask Domino shops to pay extra for Activities or not. From a technical perspective, I am assured by the Activities developers that there is no dependence on the Workplace backend and no technical reason that Activities could not be deployed with Hannover in the Workplace Managed Client and a Domino-only backend.

    If its true that IBM wants Domino users to pay extra for Activities, that's pretty upsetting. Activities are the first truly new collaborative capability that IBM has offered in the Domino space in many years. Is IBM also planning to charge extra for the new capabilities in Sametime 7.5? If not, how are Activities different to the new features such as Freejam in ST 7.5?

    Ed, can you shed any light on this issue? Thanks,

    - Bill

  1. 7  Ed Brill www.edbrill.com | 1/26/2006 6:54:51 AM

    @6 Bill, unfortunately, I can't. "Hannover" pricing and packaging won't be finalized until much closer to shipping.

  1. 8  Bill Wood http://www.gsk.com | 1/26/2006 9:31:48 AM

    The expectation being set at Lotusphere is that in Hannover, Lotus Notes will have Activities. I'm watching a demo of Hannover right now that shows Activities running in Lotus Notes (ID207). I hope this reflects the true situation!