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IBM to Adopt ODF for Lotus Notes
Mike Barton writes to tell us InfoWorld is reporting IBM has announced that the upcoming version of Lotus Notes, due out this fall, will feature an "ODF-compatible version of OpenOffice embedded in the Notes e-mail application." IBM hopes that this large scale distribution of the ODF standard will help bolster their foothold in the marketplace since "standards live or die on how many people use them"
Why was this moderated Interesting?
The Good Thing about Notes/Domino is that it allows anybody to develop applications. The Bad Thing about Notes/Domino is that it allows anybody to develop applications.
I've been a Notes/Domino Developer for 13 years now, and beleive me, I've seen some real dodgy applications. The 6.5 client is defintely the best, but even that sucks when you point it at poorly designed applications. You may as well say that Firefox is rubbish because you're looking at poorly designed websites all the time.
I think you're getting confused with what the client is capable of doing and what the application that you're using does.
Adding ODF just gives the client another tool to use. A very powerful tool.
"If If Microsoft ever switches to ODF compliance, you might be ahead of the game!" !?
Sorry, But I cannot see why Microsoft would switch to (or even willingly support) ODF.
Why? Because it is in Microsoft's interest to ensure that customers' data are kept in Microsoft-proprietary formats. This ensures that customers will continue to buy MS Office, and thus prevents the death of the cash cow. This is why Microsoft sees ODF as a threat: It allows customers (and their data) a "way out".
I expect Microsoft to continue
I know that I'm a cynic. Prove me wrong.
They rate it 8.7 out of 10 --- very high. Of course, they actually go to the trouble of comparing recent versions of the product with other things on the net, not just some badly done apps in an oversized I.T. department from a guy paid to deal with problems.
0 TCnotes_1.html
http://www.infoworld.com/article/06/05/11/78099_2
FSM save us from yet another rich client war.
You have 27,000 employees who live and breath Notes. Do you have any idea what it would take to put that many employees on Exchange, and if you did, what what happens when a single file became corrupted? What if you had to upgrade versions?
The biggest problem with Notes is that it's easy to design a bad app. Designer is so easy on the surface, that any moron can make something that looks like its a Notes app. Of course, it won't scale because they didn't know what they were doing when they wrote it. The UI will suck, again, because they didn't know what they were doing when they wrote it. Nonetheless, these quick temporary solutions quickly become permenant and critical, and then someone who knows something has to be paid a lot of money to do it right.
Notes will continue to "suck" for people like you for years, but then again, you don't have an alternative because there is nothing to migrate to. Other products do some of the things Notes does. Many do Mail and Calendaring -- some better, surely. None do the kinds of rapid, inexpensive, but secure and portable applications and integration.
The problem with quotes on the internet, is that nobody bothers to check their veracity. -- Abraham Lincoln
There is several myths and misunderstandings why Lotus Notes are hated or loved by IT and/or fellow users. First of all, let's claim what Lotus Notes is and what it's not.
First of all, LN is _platform_. Heavy, huge, interesting, effective (yes, it is that word) platform. What is NOT - it is NOT e-mail client. And there comes paradox - Usually, IT dept. will follow hype of CEOs and other managers and will buy IBM promises. However, when implemented, it's usually where it stucks. Why? Because there is NO ONE to port all old apps/functionality needed to abolish all old apps and go fully LN. Using LN alone is nonsense - email client is total nightmare and that poisons all efect of it's usage.
LN is powerful and quite capable of doing great things. Except that there is need for good admins and coders to get to those great things. Usually, it is stuck in the middle of nowhere.
user@ubuntubox:~$ stfu This server is going down for shutdown NOW!
I have said before and will say it again!
As email is the main application for the all singing all dancing groupware/database product, couldn't they make it a decent email application!
And it is bad! It got its own special section on the old "user interface hall of shame" website, there were about 20 pages detailing what was so awful about nearly every aspect of the interface! The standard line from all the Lotus freaks was then as now "..But its not an email .......".
Most people would assume that if the email is so bad every other crud^h^h^h^hgroupware application would be just as bad or worse, and, if my experience is anything to go by they would be right.
I have never understood the Lotus/IBM position on this, other divisions of IBM do feedback and respond (however slowly) to user input. Confronted with a near unamimous loathing of thier interface the Lotus developers respond " you just don't understand .....".
If that wasnt bad enough every site with Lotus installed seems to have a deluded Lotus evengelist who fights every attempt to dump it for something a normal person would enjoy using.
Old COBOL programmers never die. They just code in C.