Lotus Notes/Domino and MS Sharepoint - who hits the mark for application development?
Frequently Notes/Domino and Outlook/Exchange are compared. With the introduction of more collaboration tools the future of any email system is questionable.
However the prevelence of end user applications on these technologies means any decisions to migrate have the potential to be expensive.
So are there key application development capabilities in these technologies that would show clear benefit of changing platform?
Answers (6)
Hi Bill,
I have used Lotus Notes from versions 3 up to 6.5. I have less experience with the competing Microsoft technologies.
Email, of course is here to stay for the foreseeable future. However, if a particular solution only provides email, then I agree, it's future is questionable. IBM/Lotus and Microsoft both know that, but, as I see it, each has taken a different approach to solve the problem.
Microsoft seems to release separate functionality in separate products. Outlook/Exchange is a good email/PIM solution. And that's all. If you want a collaboration solution, you need a SharePoint server (MOSS), which will likely need separate hardware.
On the other hand, if you start with Notes/Domino for email/PIM, when you want to add collaboration, it's already there. I find that one gets a lot out of the box with Notes and Domino: email, calendar, contacts, group collaboration, etc.
As you noted, migrations are expensive. This is true regardless of the start and end platforms. If you already have an investment in a certain vendor's products, you may choose to stay with it to avoid the migration headache and cost. However, if the investment is light (only email, for example,) the migration cost might be justified if future savings in maintaining the platform are demonstrated.
Work from the business needs back. Determine what functionality the business will need down the road and calculate the cost of that functionality, like for like, in both platforms.
I hope this helps.
Regards,
Grant Lindsay
I see more migrations from Lotus Domino to Microsoft Exchange. Generally, these initiatives are based on user experience and common framework / integration.
User Experience. MS Office is everywhere. Users are comfortable with the GUI and for the most part, all of the MS products have a common look, feel and menu system. The Lotus Notes client is extremely flexible and powerful and in some cases this is overwhelming to the users. Since release 6, this can be minimized with server based Policies which can roll out Notes client configurations and preferences based on their organization's environment.
Common Framework / Integration. For basic integration and with minimal effort, Outlook/Exchange integrate with other Microsoft products. A repeated example of this is the integration of MS Project server and Outlook. Advanced integration with MS Outlook and other MS products can be achieved with .NET resources, another powerful extension/tool. If you're attempting to integrate MS products with the Lotus Notes client you need to invest in either Notes development efforts/resources or 3rd party products.
Determing the right path for your environment, whether it's infrastructure or development, can be an immense undertaking. There are numerous drivers that can make/break a directive. The number of corporate mergers, acquisitions and increased global footprints it's a very active market.
So are there key application development capabilities in these technologies that would show clear benefit of changing platform? This is a loaded question.
Scalability - Lotus Domino, extensible to the IBM Websphere, Tivoli, etc enterprise / high availability platforms.
User Experience - If you're a MS shop – typically Exchange
Global Footprint - Lotus Domino, MS CANNOT compete with Lotus replication
Security - the IBM portfolio, particularly the Notes client is often used in government and military install bases.
Out of the box integration - Exchange
Administration – MS Exchange / Active Directory.
Rapid Application Development - Depends on your internal resource skills and external network of resouce availability/skills.
Many companies that migrate from Lotus Domino to Exchange continue to support, license and maintain their Domino application environment. This often requires efforts in co-existence of the messaging platform for bi-directional application-based messaging.
An external assessment is typically sought to assist companies baseline their messaging and application requirements and forecast their needs in order to identify a long term strategy. Subsequent financial impacts of licensing, migrations, development, training, etc are then taken into consideration before a final solution is identified.
I believe the previous two answers do a great job of highlighting the comparative issues between Notes/Domino and MS technologies for application development. "Hitting the mark" is sort of a broad brush phrase that allows for alot of answers. I choose a quantitative answer. I have worked in a number of Notes/Domino shops. Most also use MS technologies. Since I am a Notes geek, I can authoritative say that these shops have employed literally hundreds of Notes applications/databases. I cannot offer a number for the other side of this equation. However, I would be hard-pressed to believe an equivalent number of applications exist written in MS. I could be wrong, but I don't think so. It simply takes too much effort, in my opinion, to put together a cohesive MS application that involves a backend database, email integration, web interface, web services, etc., while all these capabilities already exist in the Notes client/Domino server combination. I fully expect a good MS.Net developer to call me on the carpet for that (BTW...I have an MCSD.NET certification...I know what it takes). What do you think?
Should you change platform? I see most platform changes occur as a result of political pressure emanating from someone who has been sold a bill of goods about how much "better" one is over the other. Whatever you are using presently represents a huge investment in time and money. It seldom is truly cost effective to bail on it and start over with the other. If you can't show real numbers and demonstrate a true ROI that is better than what you have, don't do it! However, it happens everyday.
Rakesh V.
Director, Prosares Solutions (http://www.prosares.com) - Sharepoint | Mobility | ASP.Net
Best Answers in: Web Development (7), Organizational Development (5), Personnel Policies (3), Enterprise Software (3), Computers and Software (3), Offshoring and Outsourcing (2), Change Management (2), Career Management (2), Information Storage (2), Government Policy (1), Government Services (1), Intellectual Property (1), Business Development (1), Business Analytics (1), Planning (1), Equity Markets (1), Project Management (1), Quality Management and Standards (1), Market Research and Definition (1), Business Plans (1), Small Business (1), Computer Networking (1), Software Development (1)
Bill,
Lotus Notes/Domino WAS a great product, it lost its lead along the way and is now struggling hard to catch up with MS Outlook/Exchange/Sharepoint.
With introduction of WSS 3.0 (Windows Sharepoint Services), MS has further increased the gap. Given the prevalance of MS Office and Windows operating system in most organization, MS has succeeded in positioning Outlook/Exchange/Sharepoint as a logical fit within the much larger jig-saw of technologies required by organization. (e.g. consider the synergistic benefits of Active Directory (ADFS), Windows Workflow Foundation (WWF), MS Office - all integrating seemlessly with Sharepoint based intranet and Outlook/Exchange based mailing environment).
I still believe MS has a lot to do in respect of Infopath which is being positioned as a tool for creating easy-to-design forms / templates. However, with the help of smart parts and custom developed forms, the workflow applications created within Sharepoint environment are far too impressive and feature rich vis-a-vis the Domino based workflow applications.
Cheers
Keith B.
Director of Services at SAS Group
Best Answers in: Job Search (1), Sales Techniques (1), Distribution (1), Computers and Software (1)
Bill,
As a messgaing consultant the answer of course is not in email as you asked it is about integration and collaboration.
As far as developement and integration, hard to argue against a system which runs on 6 Operating Systems(Lotus) vs. 1(Microsoft).
With a fully open source integration in the R8 version which runs on the Eclipse platform, J2ee, java and Open standards embedded, it is also hard to imagine how one could choose a system which is non-standard and closed to some options. (C# is not java).
But if you are a Windows organization then you fill the tank and go forward which makes the most sense. But if you are not homogenous then investigate further.
Scott gave a very good overview, although I take issue with 2 pieces, 1 is out of the box integration and the other is Administration.
Out of the box Lotus allows for native MAC, Linux and windows clients in addition to pop/imap, etc. Microsoft does not go beyond Windows of course.
Integration at its simplest is SMTP for both, but gets very difficult under Exchange for various connections and requires more servers, pieces and parts, while for the most part everything you need to connect is built into the Domino server or is part of the installation if you need it.
Administration is a vague term and yes if you are an AD shop then it makes life easieer, although why you need 2-4 "extra" admin pieces or processes to get AD to work with Exchange is interesting.
Again Domino has an Admin client which can manage everything from users to directories to security and archiving and for pieces not under that there are web interfaced administration clients.
Links:
Steve K.
Applications Developer/Designer
Best Answers in: Mentoring (1), Career Management (1), Computer Networking (1), Software Development (1), Using LinkedIn (1)
Seven years ago, as a Lotus Notes contract programmer, I was the sole developer on a major collaborative application for a Fortune 500 firm. I delivered a workable product in 4-5 months. With the tools available in newer releases of Notes, I could have done it even faster.
I've now become a dot.Net developer. I recently ran into someone from that former client, and found out Microsoft had convinced them to convert the application to their platofrm. There have been four developers working on it for 6 months now, and they probably have another 6 to go.
