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IBM/Lotus Domino

Michelle Savage, of Systems Management, has written about Sharepoint as the "
New Lotus Notes?" Well, I think there is a point to be made that Sharepoint has more in common with the old Notes , than the current version.
In addition, CMS Watch said that large enterprises face various challenges with SharePoint, as the controls that enterprises would want to see simply don't exist natively within the platform. "Whether it's the lack of a workflow-based provisioning process, or enterprise-level administration, or the ability to effectively categorize large numbers of documents or PowerPoint slides, SharePoint remains ill-suited to enterprise-wide collaboration and knowledge management," said CMS Watch analyst Alan Pelz-Sharpe.
She does go on to criticize Lotus Notes, as well, and ties up with the promise of Google Docs. But, I do think that the allure of Sharepoint is reminiscent of the early generations of Lotus Notes. I also think that IBM has moved on, embraced open standards, and Notes today is a much more capable and cost effective solution than a Sharepoint platform.
My first Notes installation was 3.x on a Novell Netware 3.12 server. It was LAN mail with some neat-o, but simple, applications. And, it was life in a bubble, where we all talked to ourselves. Doing something complex usually required expensive consultants.
Now, I'm using Notes on Linux, Windows, AIX. I'm running Lotus Sametime IM (Network World rated #1) and it's capable of supporting our Notes clients, connecting to public IM networks (for free), and our subsidiaries that rely on Outlook.
When I weigh out Sharepoint against Lotus Notes, I'm really comparing platform stacks, just like I would with JBoss and BEA. I just don't find the Sharepoint platform stack providing the same flexibility, security, stability or scalability that I find in Notes.
I'm interested to see what Savage will think of Notes 8.5.
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IBM/Lotus Domino