Duffbert's Random Musings :: Strange articles coming out of SearchDomino...

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Category IBM/Lotus

It's been pointed out in various blog postings in the last few months that a primary sponsor of the SearchDomino newsletters and/or site are companies looking to migrate you *away* from Notes and Domino. I stopped my subscriptions to their emails at that time, so the only time I visit the site is if a Google News Alert pings on something of interest.

In the article Developers mixed on direction of IBM Lotus R&D, the writer starts off with this as the opening...

Just five minutes on Lotus Notes Domino 8.5?

That was the reaction of one developer who sat through the opening session at Lotusphere held here recently. Among disclosures of a new mashup tool, a development partnership with SAP and a new series of midmarket servers, John Londano of URS Corp. in Tampa, Fla., called the scant amount of attention paid to Lotus Notes/Domino 8.5 a blip on IBM's radar.

"A lot of companies come to Lotusphere because they want to hear about what IBM is doing with Notes and Domino, and we got very little on [8.5] and a lot on products I don't care about," Londano said. "And what I did hear about Domino Designer … I don't agree with the direction of going with [the Eclipse] client. The C client is an easier development environment."

Um... You're judging the entire flavor of Lotus R&D based on the opening session? Did you have a scheduled flight back home on Monday at 2 pm???

If you weren't hearing about core Notes/Domino technology at Lotusphere, you must have been trying real hard to avoid any and all sessions. The impression I got about both the Eclipse client and the entire Notes/Domino 8.5 direction was overwhelmingly positive, both from my own observations and others who have been doing this stuff even longer than I have.

Granted, my opinion of the conference and the writer's opinion are equally as valid in terms of subjectivity. But of all the negative leads you could possibly try, this one seems to be among the bigger stretches she could make...

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Comments

1 - This is the kicker...

"what I did hear about Domino Designer … I don't agree with the direction of going with [the Eclipse] client. The C client is an easier development environment."

yeah, 'cause a better editor for CSS, HTML, Lotuscript and Java -- nobody's after these things. They haven't been BEGGED for for nearly a decade.

Nope doing the same thing we always did was easier. Why not make it even easier by taking out that damn syntax checking when I save so I can include any crazy ol' code I want!

Posted by Nathan T. Freeman At 19:58:39 On 29/01/2008 | - Website - |

2 - I'd hate to see them fold up shop, since they still have a good tip archive. It's obvious that Microsoft and partners are paying the bills for the site lately and the content reflects this. Unfortunately they're doing more harm than good for the ND community these days. I think it's time to suggest a boycott.

Posted by Ed Maloney At 03:18:04 On 30/01/2008 | - Website - |

3 - All hail Notepad! Emoticon

Posted by Duffbert At 03:18:08 On 30/01/2008 | - Website - |

4 - @2... Start the petition... I'll be there!

Posted by Duffbert At 03:20:26 On 30/01/2008 | - Website - |

5 - The point about "Designer in Eclipse" is really just a way for us to add new functionality to the product on an open, standard platform. In the end, it's just Domino Designer with new features. Similar to Notes 8, it is almost irrelevant that Eclipse is underneath it, until you want to program it yourself.

(and that article was odd, but the headline got everyone to read it, I guess)

Chris

Posted by Chris Reckling At 03:27:50 On 30/01/2008 | - Website - |

6 - "Um... You're judging the entire flavor of Lotus R&D based on the opening session? Did you have a scheduled flight back home on Monday at 2 pm???"

I think that hits the nail precisely on the head. From what I understand, they had two people at Lotusphere; one was scheduled to leave on Monday and the other was scheduled to leave on Tuesday. Emoticon

Posted by John Jones At 04:58:54 On 30/01/2008 | - Website - |

7 - Yeah, I noticed that too. And then right before, they came with this interview, "Looking Forward, IBM Lotus Needs Back end Improvements".
{ Link }

WTF is up with that title? GREAT. Then I read the interview and was even more surprised by the loaded questions.

Posted by Jess Stratton At 05:11:31 On 30/01/2008 | - Website - |

8 - I am not a big proponent of boycotts. What has worked for me in the past, including blogging about stuff like this, was to open a conversation with the site owners. I would recommend, instead of a boycott, that we, individually, send a nicely worded and crafted e-mail to any (or all) of the following:

{ Link }

I am hoping that they will listen. Especially since the Lotus Web 2.0 Community gets their share of readers every day. And the sponsors of those newsletters probably don't want to alienate any potential customers, even if they are lobbying to get people off of Notes/Domino.

Posted by Gregg Eldred At 12:05:21 On 30/01/2008 | - Website - |

9 - @8 - I sent a nicely worded email several months ago. Obviously it didn't do any good. I looked for their booth at Lotusphere so I could pound them, but if they had a booth, I couldn't find it.

I've had the subscription to their newsletter for SEVEN YEARS and they didn't care. We have so many more sources for good info now that I don't have to put up with their crap any more.

So when I got back from Lotusphere I sent a nicely worded cancellation.

Posted by Timothy Briley At 20:58:13 On 30/01/2008 | - Website - |

10 - Clearly, there is no shaming them ... I've blogged twice about their use of their e-mail list for this stuff, and it happened again today.

I had hoped to discuss it with them during a press interview at Lotusphere... that they cancelled, an hour before it was scheduled.

Posted by Ed Brill At 17:36:38 On 31/01/2008 | - Website - |