Gregg Eldred

Peter writes:

For some time, we are evaluating switching to Lotus Notes from a mail and collaboration system we put together on our own. Reading blogs like this, Ed Brill's and some other forums discussing Notes and Domino, I see bashing Notes and IBM all the time. Client bloated and slow, IBM unresponsive and ignoring community requests, platform independence just an empty promise, license model intransparent, too expensive, Notes as trojan horse for WebSphere, slow release cycles, etc.

No matter how impressive the feature set and concept of Notes are, I'm just wondering if we should just stop thinking about investing in Notes if this software and its company causes so much frustration within its own community.

I like the healthy discussions we have concerning Lotus Notes and Domino, but I can see where some could view this as a bad thing. Especially if Peter's views are formed by snippets of information from here and there. I hope that he realizes that a lot of this "complaining" has resulted in IBM being, in my mind, more responsive to its customers. Sure, they aren't pleasing all of us all of the time, but it has come a long way from "the old days." Having someone like Ed Brill in the conversations makes me feel as though all of IBM is listening. That is probably not fair to Ed, but at least I know that he is out there, listening and contributing.

Which then begs the question: How would you answer Peter?

Link: vowe.net: When will Notes 9 ship?

Technorati tag: Lotus Notes

Comment posted by Volker Weber09/08/2008 04:23:36 PM
Homepage: http://vowe.net

I don't think this is the comment of the day. That would be the next one after that from Colin Williams:

"@Peter Daum - we only bitch and moan because we care for it so much."

One sentence and he makes his point.

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Comment posted by Rory Wohl09/08/2008 04:34:16 PM
Homepage: http://www.rorywohl.us

There's an old saying in customer service that an unhappy customer tells ten people while a happy customer tells no one. As in many things, there is a silent majority of Notes/Domino users who are very happy. It's always hard to mobilize that silent majority.

Here's the deal, Peter, opinions are like noses, everybody has one. Only you (and the folks in your company/on your team) can decide what works for you. There's no substitute for doing the legwork yourself and forming your own opinion.

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Comment posted by Gregg Eldred09/08/2008 04:58:02 PM
Homepage: http://www.ns-tech.com/blog/geldred.nsf

@vowe: When I started the post, his was the last comment. Posted this, then revisited your site. Whoa! A few more comments, and some good ones. I agree, Colin has a good comment. But it wasn't there when I was formulating this. *sigh*

@Rory: I think, as I re-read Peter's comment as well as others (here and at vowe's site), while everyone has an opinion, I think that my point was that all of this bitching and moaning could make one think that there is a "problem" with Notes. Especially if you don't know anything about the people making the comments (taking them at face value). Peter's comment has made me think more about what you see in the Lotus Community than Colin's comment.

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Comment posted by Jess Stratton09/08/2008 05:53:54 PM
Homepage: http://www.lotususergroup.org/blogsphe.nsf

With the exception of Volker, all the other blogs and sites he mentioned are all 100% full time Lotus-related. Nothing says dysfunction like a family that never has issues. Now if there was constant complaining that was coming from random sites that had nothing to do with Lotus, and everyone kept bringing up issues, THAT would make me worry.

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Comment posted by Roberto Boccadoro09/09/2008 12:40:48 PM

Gregg

believe me, there is not just Ed listening or participating in these conversations. Maybe not all IBM is listening but definitely not only one of us.
You are right in the sense that Ed is definitely one of the most important and influential people of IBM that has a public fame so when you hear him, in a certain sense you hear IBM; be sure that through him, and others, what goes around the blogosphere is pretty well heard inside IBM. We may not always answer, and you can easily imagine why, but we do listen for sure

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