Tie a yellow ribbon around the old db server...
If I may be allowed to mix metaphors for a moment, (and I most certainly can -- read the disclaimer) Ed Brill opened up a can of worms that lead to yet another vicious beatdown on a dead horse. I'm tired of hearing the "IBM's Notes marketing sucks" and "IBM's website sucks" routines. I've tried for years to make sure that my complaints to IBM include some suggestions for solutions, and it sure would be nice if the Domino-loyal put in the same effort. So here's a few, hopefully very clear suggestions to the IBM team on how they can help quash these rumors and shift the perception that they've cornered themselves into over the last 4 years.
First, recognize that in the dark years, the problem was that IBM was TALKING about basically retiring the Domino platform in favor of other technologies, while today, IBM is SHIPPING code that steers away from the Domino platform. Yes, there's still some great stuff going on in Notes/Domino land. I'm extremely aware of what's coming down the pipe there. But there's still this perception at the customer that the meaning of shipping product for Domino-shops that don't play well with Domino is a GREAT BIG HINT.
So here's a concrete suggestion: if it has a yellow label -- if it carries the Lotus branding -- then it should INSTANTLY integrate with Lotus' flagship product. And, because that product is the single most pervasive product that IBM has in the SMB market, it should be the benchmark for how to get other things up and running.
If you have a tool that you want to ship, and I can't simply pop a DVD into a server, run an install program, point that to my Domino server, and have it configure itself with at least the ease of a new Domino server, DON'T TIE A YELLOW RIBBON ON IT. Oh, ship it if you must, but don't call it a Lotus product if it doesn't work instantly with Lotus' flagship.
Take Alan's comment on that thread about eForms. "The Domino server simply needs to run a JSP that maps the data..." So if I get te eForms product, and I install it, does it say "do you have a Domino server, and if so, would you like me to automatically configure it to run the integrator software so that you can immediately use eForms within your Domino applications?" Does that also work inside the NOTES client? Or at least, with it with Notes 8? Where's my downloadable demo version for this? And if the answer to all my questions is YES, and RIGHT HERE, then amen brotha -- can you see that there's a perception problem in the fact that I had to ask?
I don't give a crap whether Lotus is about WAS & DB2 as much as NSF now. I don't think most of the market does either. I give a crap about the fact that even as an IT professional, I am still a user. And that means that usuability of your product is important to me. If I have to build entire server farms and hand-edit configuration files to get an IM proxy running, chances are I'm not going to invest that time. You want me to make a significant hardware and learning investment for the sake of working with something that I'm not sure yet if I need. That suggests to me that you don't care about me as a customer. And since I'm obviously a Domino customer, that suggests you don't care about other Domino customers.
That is how your rumors fly. That's why your statements are viewed with suspicion. I'm your customer now because you have a brilliant and simple-to-use product. You make new stuff that, while brilliant, is not simple-to-use. It ignores my priorities. And therefore, it suggests you ignore me.
I know you don't mean to. I know you value my business. But your own recently-departed GM said it: "Code talks." What you ship says a lot about your priorities. So, please, make sure it says what you mean.
Comments
It was a bad joke.
Posted by Richard Moy At 09:19:59 PM On 12/22/2006 |
Posted by Jimmy Bracco At 03:46:52 PM On 12/22/2006 |
I agree. Maybe IBM should open source Notes and Domino and let us developers maintain and improve it to the level it should be. Thing that will happen probably not.
Posted by Richard Moy At 02:32:35 PM On 12/22/2006 |
Perfectly fine equipment, but being used in the wrong context.
Posted by Ed Maloney At 06:39:25 AM On 01/02/2007 |
Posted by Gerry Shappell At 08:12:10 AM On 12/26/2006 |
Posted by Charles Robinson At 04:53:33 PM On 12/26/2006 |
hmm, but it doesn't matter what IBM thinks the Lotus brand is, the expectation out here is that when something is released under the Lotus brand that it will play nicely with Domino and not cost an absolute fortune to make it do so.
Integration is so important. IBM are a big middleware vendor. their own products should work together particularly if being marketed under the same brand.
Posted by Phil West At 07:39:07 AM On 01/03/2007 |
@Nathan -- I am not sure I agree on a fundamental level. Lotus is IBM's brand for end-user productivity. If we had done our branding right, some of the things that (past tense) were branded "Workplace" should have been (and are now becoming) "Lotus". That includes things that don't have to do with Domino, like Lotus Mobile Connect. There will be more.
Microsoft is successful at selling a lot of their end-user products because they focus on CAPABILITIES. IT departments then have to go make it work. Everyone holds MS marketing out as the gold standard, and they market CAPABILITIES. Wouldn't it be interesting if other IT vendors were similarly focused on users?
Posted by Ed Brill At 05:08:29 PM On 12/22/2006 |
The more I read between the lines, the more it seems that there is still internal politicking around WAS and the political willpower to drive and sustain the Lotus product range is just not as strong as it should be. That's what customers perceive and all the comments on Ed's post point to that.
Then just today, I was speaking to a former colleague who had recently done another stint at IBM, and he tells me a story of a DB2 sales person who clammed up when the client wanted to talk DB2 on Linux, all because he was only compensated for DB2 on Mainframe.
I fear that the enemy within is bureaucracy and it is affecting the entire organisation, not just the Lotus products.
They are definitely doing something about the lotus products at least. Lets just hope it's not window dressing, but rather the IBM behemoth moving slowly.
Posted by Colin Macdonald At 01:20:13 PM On 12/27/2006 |
@Ed - I don't know if you're catching what I'm saying here. I specifically steered clear of naming Microsoft, but since you did, can you imagine MS releasing a product that didn't work with Active Directory? It's their flagship resource. Maybe something they aquired, but not something that had come out of 3 years in their own laboratories.
I haven't installed the entirety of the MS server line, but I can't think of one I've worked with in the last 4 years that, when I installed it, didn't go "where's your PDC? Okay, I'm taking my config from that." Bingo -- done. Heck, *Domino's* integration with AD is better than some Lotus products' integration with Domino. I'll accept being proved wrong -- show me the software.
And understand what I'm saying here: you want to know why rumors about the end of Notes (or some subset thereof) gain traction. THAT is what I'm trying to answer. You guys wanna keep releasing products that have nothing to you with your flagship product that's got 100+ million users? That's your choice. But don't ask "why do people think we're abadoning our flagship?" You answered the question yourself -- because you're putting out products "that don't have to do with Domino." Domino is your 9 figure user base. Most people don't separate "Lotus" from "Domino" or "Notes" anymore -- just like it took forever for "Lotus" not to mean "1-2-3." If you release something that would be REALLY useful for Domino shops, but if you disregard the Domino audience when you deliver it, then they're going to feel like second class citizens.
If you go out on a date, and she flirts with another guy, but keeps telling you "no, you're the one," do you tend to be suspect anyway?
Posted by Nathan T. Freeman At 05:39:57 PM On 12/22/2006 |
I like the idea of Workplace Forms, but there is no way I am going to recommended it as a solution until it installs by simply asking whether you have a Domino Server and would you like to use it, and utilises the Domino infrastructure. WP Forms seems like a great product, but seems to be very tricky to integrate into Domino.
Also many companies don't want to have Websphere and DB2 in their infrastructure because they cannot or do not want to support it.
I have had a number of people as me if IBM is so committed to Notes why are all the new Lotus products not based on Domino technology, even Explorer does not seem to use the Domino server.
I think that all Lotus products should integrate into the flagship Lotus product, they should use the Domino infrastructure, or at least give you options to use some of it, and installation into a Domino environment should be very simple.
Posted by Neil Gower At 04:51:22 PM On 01/10/2007 |
Off the top of my head, I have a couple of examples to support this: IBM's "client strategy PDF" and the "IBM On Demand Business Solution Designer" certification. Think about the naming of those items and review the content - I'd be amazed if you looked at those and came away with anything but the feeling that N/D are niche players (at best) in the IBM strategy.
We've just got to come to terms with that.
The only bright light in this for IBM (and us) is that Microsoft's collaboration strategy is so wonky that it makes IBM's look good. I just attended the Windows Vista & Office 2007 launch event yesterday. Sharepoint 2007 looks like the first release that will really be able to challenge Notes in the SMB area.
IBM has seemingly come to realize that the Notes client is pretty useful and hard to duplicate with WAS/Portal - it only took about 4 years to figure that out. They haven't reached the same conclusion on Domino yet, but they will.
Microsoft has given IBM a 5+ year bye in the collaboration space. What'll be interesting to watch is which behemoth delivers first.
OTOH, my thoughts are all pre-Lotusphere 2007, the world may change over the next week. Here's hoping!
Posted by Craig Wiseman At 09:51:35 AM On 01/19/2007 |