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Can IBM Take On Google, Microsoft With iNotes?

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the better-late-than-never-i-guess dept.

CWmike writes to mention that IBM has launched LotusLive iNotes, a system designed to compete with GMail and Exchange that offers email, calendaring, and contact management. "Pricing starts at $3 per user per month, undercutting Google Apps Premier Edition, which costs $50 per user per year. IBM is aiming the software at large enterprises that want to migrate an on-premise e-mail system to SaaS (software as a service), particularly for users who aren't tied to a desk, such as retail workers. It is also hoping to win business from smaller companies interested in on-demand software but with concerns about security and service outages, such as those suffered by Gmail in recent months. LotusLive iNotes is based on technology IBM purchased from the Hong Kong company Outblaze."

12 of 171 comments (clear)

  1. If LotusLive iNotes is in any way based on by 3waygeek · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Lotus Notes, no way in hell will it succeed. Lotus Notes was pure crap, and I say that as an ex-Lotus employee.

    1. Re:If LotusLive iNotes is in any way based on by digitalunity · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Lotus Notes takes a very interesting approach to generic databases. I laud Lotus for their design philosophy and I know IBM has put a lot of work into it, but the implementation of Lotus Notes leaves a lot to be desired. Making all documents generic databases wasn't a bad idea.

      This iNotes seems to be a subset of Lotus Notes functionality based on an all-new codebase. Probably a good thing.

      --
      You can't legislate goodness. Let each to his own destiny, by will of his freely made choices.
    2. Re:If LotusLive iNotes is in any way based on by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

      Lotus Notes, no way in hell will it succeed. Lotus Notes was pure crap, and I say that as an ex-Lotus employee.

      I second that, as a current IBM contractor (hence my anonymous cowardness) that's been inflicted with this sorry excuse of a mail system. How is it that IBM has the ONLY big name e-mail system that can't reliably deliver e-mail? Frankly, all their software is crap because IBM is all about getting it out in time for the quarterlies, regardless of quality. I'm really getting tired of shipping off untested software to customers.

    3. Re:If LotusLive iNotes is in any way based on by MadCow42 · · Score: 5, Informative

      >> Lotus Notes was pure crap, and I say that as an ex-Lotus employee.

      Actually, Lotus Notes is pure crap. I say that as a current Lotus Notes user. It's a reason unto itself to find a new employer.

      Two simple examples:
        - we just "upgraded" to v8.5. It takes 127 seconds to start up. It takes 38 seconds more to show me my inbox. It takes 47 seconds to bring up the editor to reply to the first mail of the day. This is all on a fairly new Dell D630 laptop.

        - Sort by subject: "Hello world" does not get sorted with "Re: Hello World", nor with "Fw: Hello World". All your "Re:"s and "Fw:"s get sorted together.

      There are many more.

      MadCow.

      --
      I used to have a sig, but I set it free and it never came back.
    4. Re:If LotusLive iNotes is in any way based on by PotatoFarmer · · Score: 5, Funny

      At least it has rock-solid stability and a highly intuitive user interface going for it. For example, if I just tab over to Notes and hit Shift-CTRL-F9, it will automati

    5. Re:If LotusLive iNotes is in any way based on by tjwhaynes · · Score: 4, Informative

      Two simple examples: - we just "upgraded" to v8.5. It takes 127 seconds to start up. It takes 38 seconds more to show me my inbox. It takes 47 seconds to bring up the editor to reply to the first mail of the day. This is all on a fairly new Dell D630 laptop.

      You're kidding me, right? Or you're making up numbers. Or you are running the Windows version amid the antivirus scans...

      Linux box, Fedora 11, T60p, 5400rpm drive - hardly a world beater laptop these days. Times are all intervals.

      • Time to password screen - 3 seconds
      • Time to interactivity with the welcome screen (the one that displays all the mail, calendar and to-dos) - 10 seconds
      • Time to display Mail window after clicking mail tab - 2 seconds
      • Time to show contents of the top mail message - 1 second.

      Release 8.5 Revision 20081211.1925 (Release 8.5) Standard Configuration

      So either you've got the CPU clocked down or something is eating your cycles. I hardly hold Lotus Notes in high regard but its improved performance significantly in recent releases.

      Cheers,
      Toby Haynes

      --
      Anything I post is strictly my own thoughts and doesn't necessarily have anything to do with the opinions of IBM.
    6. Re:If LotusLive iNotes is in any way based on by jimpop · · Score: 4, Informative

      Lotus Notes and Lotus iNotes are 2 different client products that both use the same backend Domino services. LotusLive iNotes is neither Lotus Notes nor Lotus iNotes. LotusLive iNotes is based on the OutBlaze product built on top of MySQL and Linux and does not use the Domino backend.

      LotusLive iNotes screenshot: https://www.lotuslive.com/en/services/inotes
      Lotus iNotes screenshot: http://www.ibm.com/software/lotus/products/inotes

  2. SaaS? Try SoaS! by RingDev · · Score: 4, Funny

    Lotus Notes is closer to Shit on a Shingle than it is a service.

    -Rick

    --
    "Most people in the U.S. wouldn't know they live in a tyrannical state if it walked up and grabbed their junk." - MyFirs
  3. Reminds me of a certain Redmond Company... by jkyrlach · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Lotus Notes makes it clear where MS got their evil genes from. Because Lotus notes was released as both email client and MS Access equivalent, companies that adopteded it have found themselves hopelessly locked in. In the spirit of "getting things done" my company has allowed its users to create thousands of apps in our Notes system, making it impossible to ever switch to anything else. IBM has nice reliable income, and employees everywhere suffer.

  4. Re:It's about Local Control by geekoid · · Score: 4, Informative

    Since you can get Google on premise now, as well as this I would say your argument is worthless

    --
    The Kruger Dunning explains most post on /. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect
  5. Bwahahhahahahahah by MBGMorden · · Score: 4, Insightful

    . . .hah haha hah hah.

    Oh that was good.

    Lotus Notes, iNotes, and all over it's incarnations is the most convoluted and insane system I've ever used (and this is after 4 years of admining a 400+ user Lotus Domino server). I've often heard the joke that Emacs would be a great OS if only it included a decent text editor. I've never felt it applied since I actually like emacs for text editing, but boy does the same type of line apply to Notes: it'd be a great OS if only it included a decent email client.

    --
    "People who think they know everything are very annoying to those of us who do."-Mark Twain
  6. It's also racist by Beek+Dog · · Score: 4, Informative

    When I type webapp, Lotus Notes spell check suggests I change it to wetback. Ver 6.5. I wish I was joking. On further investigation, the 'big one' isn't in the dictionary, but gook is. Wow. Just wow.

    How about when you have a message selected (but not opened) and try to export it? Starts exporting the entire mailbox with no cancel.

    I offer this poll, Why does Notes suck so much?
    *Search don't search
    *Sort don't sort
    *Cut and Paste from a webpage means grab some coffee
    *UI stands for User Interference
    *Blazing Speed
    *Hit Yes to send with comments, No to send without comments, and cancel to bring you back to this same dialog
    *Contextual nonsense
    *Reply All to "undisclosed recipients" discloses the undisclosed recipients

    I could go on for days, but I just copied this text into Notes to try to spell check it. Time for coffee.