Back in the days before cloud computing in 1995, one of the largest computer manufacturers on the planet – IBM – bought Lotus Notes.
At that time the program was considered the biggest thing since sliced bread, I should think. In fact, it must have been as there were some top companies including British and European ones using the software. These included Toyota, Standard Life Assurance, British Airways, Volkswagen, and most major newspaper groups such as the Guardian Media Group.
However, if you fast forward 17 years it seems that Lotus Notes is receiving some bad press.
The question is why?
It seems the major complaint about Lotus Notes is the interface and the email systems. The former is said to be lacklustre and unintuitive, while the latter is considered rather peculiar.
Not having used Lotus Notes personally I can’t really comment, but with the advantages of cloud available I am not at all surprised that people are switching away from what many regard as an archaic, outdated program.
Yet, somehow Lotus Notes is still hanging on, although what the situation is now six years on from an interview with the Guardian is hard to say. At that time, one fan of Lotus Notes, Ben Rose, founder and leader of the UK Notes User Group told the newspaper: “It’s regarded by many as an email program, but it’s actually groupware. It does do email, and calendaring, but can host discussion forums, and the collaboration can extend to long-distance reporting…It’s extremely powerful.”
However, it seems Google Apps are even more powerful.
Lotus Notes is really not bad at all, it seems that most people and companies have not idea what Lotus Notes is an continues to compare it to a email solutions.
Now Lotus Domino/Notes does email but it does so much more. I Just started working with Google Apps and I must say as far as mail is concern it rocks and I would recommend any of my small to midsize clients who only use Lotus Notes for mail to consider switching.
But honestly right now there is no easy replacement for what Lotus Notes can do if you are using the Database systems.
This is funny stuff. You cannot say “Not having used Lotus Notes personally…” in one sentence, and then later compare Notes to something else “it seems Google Apps are even more powerful”.
I’ve never used Sharepoint, but Jive is much better solution than Sharepoint.
Sounds silly, right?