I'm trying to figure out...
Category IBM/Lotus
... the hesitancy to accept Websphere (specifically, Websphere Portal) by many IBM/Lotus professionals...
In a forum I'm part of, there's been a thread lately about the value of WP in the business partner community. While there are a number of individuals who are diving into the new technology, there are also a surprising number of people who are pretty "anti-Portal" when it comes right down to it. The arguments tend to revolve around the statements of "I can do that in Domino" or "It's too complex and expensive for the small business market" or "There's no opportunity for development services". I pretty much don't buy any of those arguments...
There is ongoing fear that Domino is going away, regardless of how much IBM asserts to the contrary. I don't know how much more IBM can do to convince people that it is not the case. People who want to believe that are going to do so regardless of what is said. There is a greater emphasis on Portal right now, as Domino is a mature technology. But "mature" does not mean "stagnant". ND6 is a great product, and there are cool things coming up in 6.5 and 7.0.
It is true that you can do a lot of things in Domino that can also be done in WP. And right now, it's true that it's probably cheaper and faster to do so in Domino in many cases. But it doesn't mean that you SHOULD do something in Domino just because you can. I see them being a great complement to each other. You can front-end the system in WP and use the Domino backend for workflow, collaboration, and notification.
While there are an increasing number of "out of the box" portlets available for download, there is also a rich API for development. To me, that development is not any different than other types of development. Granted, it's more difficult to learn than Domino, but I don't recall Domino being so easy first time out either. Once the experience is gained, things start to flow much faster. If you sell WP to a customer, they are going to want custom applications just like they do when you sell them Domino.
Cost? I don't know... I'm a developer who tries to stay out of those arguments...
I don't see that WP is the type of product you'd sell to a five person
company (though you could). You could probably sell Domino to that
company as an email system with some collaboration built in and be successful.
In that case, Domino is a good fit.
I think people are fearing that WP is being touted as a replacement for Domino. There is overlap there, and it's up to us as IT professionals to examine the products, analyze the needs, and determine/recommend the best fit. Some situations will call for Domino only, some for WP only, and some will work best with a mixture of both.
I don't see this as a "win-lose" decision. I see it as a "win-win" for IBM/Lotus professionals. For whatever reason, Domino is often a hard sell in corporations for enterprise-wide applications. I think we can thank Microsoft for that. Now we have different options to offer. Domino is stronger than ever as a RAD and collaboration tool. WP gives you the ability to have a framework for portal development and presentation that is built specifically for that task. And the two can co-exist!
All this rambling to say... There is room for both products, and WP and Domino give the IBM/Lotus professional some powerful options to solve business problems in today's marketplace...
... the hesitancy to accept Websphere (specifically, Websphere Portal) by many IBM/Lotus professionals...
In a forum I'm part of, there's been a thread lately about the value of WP in the business partner community. While there are a number of individuals who are diving into the new technology, there are also a surprising number of people who are pretty "anti-Portal" when it comes right down to it. The arguments tend to revolve around the statements of "I can do that in Domino" or "It's too complex and expensive for the small business market" or "There's no opportunity for development services". I pretty much don't buy any of those arguments...
There is ongoing fear that Domino is going away, regardless of how much IBM asserts to the contrary. I don't know how much more IBM can do to convince people that it is not the case. People who want to believe that are going to do so regardless of what is said. There is a greater emphasis on Portal right now, as Domino is a mature technology. But "mature" does not mean "stagnant". ND6 is a great product, and there are cool things coming up in 6.5 and 7.0.
It is true that you can do a lot of things in Domino that can also be done in WP. And right now, it's true that it's probably cheaper and faster to do so in Domino in many cases. But it doesn't mean that you SHOULD do something in Domino just because you can. I see them being a great complement to each other. You can front-end the system in WP and use the Domino backend for workflow, collaboration, and notification.
While there are an increasing number of "out of the box" portlets available for download, there is also a rich API for development. To me, that development is not any different than other types of development. Granted, it's more difficult to learn than Domino, but I don't recall Domino being so easy first time out either. Once the experience is gained, things start to flow much faster. If you sell WP to a customer, they are going to want custom applications just like they do when you sell them Domino.
Cost? I don't know... I'm a developer who tries to stay out of those arguments...
I think people are fearing that WP is being touted as a replacement for Domino. There is overlap there, and it's up to us as IT professionals to examine the products, analyze the needs, and determine/recommend the best fit. Some situations will call for Domino only, some for WP only, and some will work best with a mixture of both.
I don't see this as a "win-lose" decision. I see it as a "win-win" for IBM/Lotus professionals. For whatever reason, Domino is often a hard sell in corporations for enterprise-wide applications. I think we can thank Microsoft for that. Now we have different options to offer. Domino is stronger than ever as a RAD and collaboration tool. WP gives you the ability to have a framework for portal development and presentation that is built specifically for that task. And the two can co-exist!
All this rambling to say... There is room for both products, and WP and Domino give the IBM/Lotus professional some powerful options to solve business problems in today's marketplace...
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Comments
Posted by Michael At 11:17:52 On 15/04/2003 | - Website - |
Posted by Stephen Mitchell At 06:42:21 On 14/04/2003 | - Website - |