Notes' Old Threat – Resourcing
I was reading Scott’s post here and its associated thread (Notes New Threat – Salesforce.com with Google), and it got me thinking. I agree with the general view from the thread that actually there is not much of a threat from Salesforce.com and Google, largely because the costs associated with moving to this (unproven) platform would be prohibitive.
However, that is not to say that there are no threats to Domino’s long term future, and it seems to me that the biggest one is resourcing. Here in the UK at least, it is getting harder and harder to find experienced administrators and developers for Domino. I suspect that this is mostly down to new blood coming into the software industry being far more interested with what is perceived to be the cutting edge (Java, .NET, Web 2.0, etc). I say ‘perceived’ because we all know that Domino can provide a robust platform on which to build this stuff, but I think the prospect of using formula language and LotusScript strikes a lot of potential Domino professionals as a step backwards on the career development scale.
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However, that is not to say that there are no threats to Domino’s long term future, and it seems to me that the biggest one is resourcing. Here in the UK at least, it is getting harder and harder to find experienced administrators and developers for Domino. I suspect that this is mostly down to new blood coming into the software industry being far more interested with what is perceived to be the cutting edge (Java, .NET, Web 2.0, etc). I say ‘perceived’ because we all know that Domino can provide a robust platform on which to build this stuff, but I think the prospect of using formula language and LotusScript strikes a lot of potential Domino professionals as a step backwards on the career development scale.
(read more)
This is why I think that the transition of the Notes client and associated technologies to an eclipse base is an extremely sound strategy. It may not be perfect – I suspect that it will be 8.6 or even 9.0 before Notes is fully comfortable in the environment – but it is definitely the way to go. It gives developers in particular the opportunity to do some fairly cutting edge stuff, using transferrable skills from within the Domino environment.
Lotus did this before. With the rise of the Internet in the late 1990’s, they saw the way the wind was blowing and embraced the technology within Notes, giving rise to Domino. This was before Microsoft got their act together in that space incidentally! That much extended Notes life then, and I think the eclipse strategy will do the same now.
Lotus did this before. With the rise of the Internet in the late 1990’s, they saw the way the wind was blowing and embraced the technology within Notes, giving rise to Domino. This was before Microsoft got their act together in that space incidentally! That much extended Notes life then, and I think the eclipse strategy will do the same now.
Category Notes Threats
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Comments
Posted by John J At 08:25:38 AM On 09/04/2008 | - Website - |
Posted by Scott Johnsen At 11:22:27 AM On 09/04/2008 | - Website - |
Posted by tom At 03:43:43 PM On 09/06/2008 | - Website - |
Posted by Scott Johnsen At 09:53:49 PM On 09/07/2008 | - Website - |
Posted by Matthew Fyleman At 05:29:28 AM On 09/10/2008 | - Website - |
Notes is what is... a RAD tool. We are who we are... RAD developers. Java (IMHO) does not fit RAD. LotusScript and Formula language do.
There are obvious exceptions. Encoding and XML are still best left for the Java environment in Notes. And there are some really great Notes developers who kick butt coding in Java (Julian robichaux comes to mind). But we (the Notes Developer collective) are the people who can truly give you a working prototype in a day. I thank the Lotus Notes environment and its simple tools for that.
@4 A lot of us corporate Notes developers sit across the aisle from the .NET team. Visual Studio is still a better IDE than Eclipse. That is one alternative.
Posted by tom At 11:11:14 PM On 09/10/2008 | - Website - |