Leadership By Numbers :: Why Notes IMAP is Now a Problem

Category IBM/Lotus Linux Ubuntu
Have you been to wi-fi cafe, like Caribou or Starbucks ? They have become laptop showrooms, offering everything from the Dell Mini 9 to upscale Apple Macbook Pros. I'm tempted to park my cup of java (straight, no sugar) and run EtherApe to trace the connections, but it's obvious that most of what is happening in the cafes is what I see on the corporate desktop: e-mail.

On Windows systems, there is a lot of Outlook 2003/2007. On the Mac's it's Apple Mail, and on the Linux distros, it's Thunderbird and Evolution. Oh, and everyone is using web mail as well for GMail, and Yahoo). I'm not prying, but I do fall into a friendly chat session every now and then, and I've learned more about what is happening than I expected. Two things are obvious: everyone has multiple e-mail accounts, and they are using IMAP to connect them up into a single client. Which is why, I'm not seeing as many Notes clients as I would expect. Notes and IMAP just don't seem to mix well.

It's not a secret that Notes has been weak on IMAP. Ideajam.net has a topic to "remove IMAP support from the Notes client" that has garnered more votes in favor than opposed. Apparently, there is some frustration that the current IMAP capabilities are not workable, and it would be better off if Notes just dropped IMAP in general. I'm voting the topic down, though, as I think it would be a mistake. Lotus Notes needs a robust IMAP implementation with a consumer-friendly GUI. Especially now, with the launch of a Ubuntu client.

IBM is on the edge of pushing out the IBM Open Collaboration Client Solution for Ubuntu. They actually have an OCCS ISO for you to take it for a 90 day trial run, and they have a PPA repository. This is a terrific mail client on Ubuntu--but it doesn't do IMAP easily. So, now there is a problem for IBM/Lotus. We know that most people have multiple mail accounts, and they don't want to shift between them. And, we know that IMAP is the de-facto protocol for general mail usage.

To add a little spice into the mix, the latest Gnome 2.6 will now support Microsoft's MAPI. This means that I can take an Outlook 2003 or 2007 PST file from a Windows system, and run it on a Linux installation. I can use the Linux Evolution mail client with a very simple configuration to become an Exchange client.

If I were a Lotus Business Partner, looking to convert Exchange shops to Domino--I'd be looking at the Ubuntu OCCS. After all, it is a disruptive force on any pricing spreadsheet. But, now that MAPI is integrated into Linux, it makes it possible to preserve the back-end Exchange installation and simply switch out the client OS. No messy mail file conversions.

Putting a good IMAP interface into the Notes client would go a long way in ensuring an opportunity for OCCS. With solid IMAP, the Notes client could provide at least a rudimentary connection to an Exchange server, and other mail services, while also offering Domino (for those that have it).

Throw in a Starbucks card, and I think a crowd would grow.

Technorati Tags: OCCS, Ubuntu, Lotus Notes

Comments

7 - Sometimes people are layered like that. There's something totally different underneath than what's on the surface. But sometimes, there's a third, even deeper level, and that one is the same as the top surface one. Like with pie.

Posted by bbq ideas for a crowd At 09:13:20 PM On 10/07/2011 | - Website - |

6 - We are a company one of the most hottest IPO ready companies in the world right now. Made a decision to migrate from exchange to domino and been struggling (almost one year)with everything and now we are stuck with no IMAP support which is mandatory and this could resolve we let the hole project go to MS with all publicity included. Decision will be made by the end this month.

Posted by mytechalias At 05:45:41 AM On 03/24/2009 | - Website - |

5 - Would OCCS need Asterisk/Skype/IM etc ? Sure, I think there is a good business model for this sort of integration going forward. It's a great idea.

Reviewers need IMAP ? Well, I think that's an expert opinion. So, I can only accept the wisdom of that observation. I think the wall between personal and private is eroding, quickly, and the trend is for some sort of aggregation.

And, finally, it's just frustrating to have a half-way implementation. IMAP-IDLE would sure be nice on the server, and a good setup for the client would go a long way.

Posted by Jack Dausman At 06:43:11 AM On 03/23/2009 | - Website - |

4 - As someone who uses IMAP in a Notes client, for one account, I am a rarity.
It's not that it's bad or good, it's that IBM refuses to accept that there could be a market for a Notes client outside of Corporate life. They would rather focus on gaining a few 100,000 users instead of millions. Mostly because of recurring revenue.
Maybe there isn't one, but if people want to use what they have at home....

Posted by Keith Brooks At 09:46:46 PM On 03/22/2009 | - Website - |

3 - People who buy Notes licenses have no intent to give their users access to IMAP mail boxes. People who have access to IMAP mail boxes have no intent to buy Notes licenses.

Problem: people who test drive Notes will most likely use IMAP. Since IMAP is broken in Notes, Notes looks terrible.

Posted by Volker Weber At 06:50:10 PM On 03/22/2009 | - Website - |

2 - IMAP support in the Domino server stack has been an issue for years - my staff and I have the gray hairs and PMRs to prove it. There has been a perception on the part of some IBMers that IMAP is a dying protocol, and that is in fact not the case.

Posted by Marie Scott At 06:42:53 PM On 03/21/2009 | - Website - |

1 - So you think people would spend 100+ $ for OCCS if IBM implements a better IMAP experience? And what is going to happen with Sametime? Wouldn't the OCCS then also need Asterisk / Skype / IM Gateway support? I would love to see it but just not sure if this would change much in a Starbucks shop.

Posted by Henning Heinz At 04:49:52 PM On 03/21/2009 | - Website - |