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We had our User Group meeting yesterday here also (on Ed’s heels)


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In St Louis, we usually meet on the second Tuesday of the month, but due to someone booking the actual room we use, it was moved this one time to Wednesday.  The topic was on all the new features of Domino 7.  Interestingly enough the presenter (Kraig Vanderbeek fro IBM who does a few of them a year) cut out everything that related to Workplace and any other part of the portfolio.  Why is this important you ask?

Well Ed posted about his overview of the recent couple meetings he attended in Dallas and Houston, and some nice responses by Alan and Steve Castledine.  But here is what I think, and well if you don't like it comment away.  Ed talks about all the things they have done for Lotus the past few years.

There's also the level of investment IBM is making in integrating Notes into newer technologies (where newer is only a statement about age). Domino Application Portlet, common PIM portlet, Bowstreet tools for WebSphere Portal.  Notes client plug-in for the IBM Workplace client technology.  These are major efforts to protect existing skills and investment...and continue to provide a relevant platform for those Notes applications for a long time to come

Which I totally agree.  But what gets missed is that people are asking just for what is coming and changing in Domino in a lot of these shops.  I heard it yesterday at the User Group and it is why I like the approach Kraig took in presenting.  He basically said (as I paraphrase greatly)
You came to this to see what was new in Domino 7, not in what we are merging with Workplace and other Websphere things.  So I cut those out.

Bravo!  Ed points out all the integration changes and other things made, but people in a whole lot of shops are working with straight Domino technology and need to know what is enhanced there and only there.  Portlets are awesome if you are running an environment where you need portlets.  But how many times do we say, "I can do that in Notes" to someone in the organization?  We say it a lot.  Then the marketing comes in that Workplace, Websphere Portal and all these others are the way to plug-in.  So I went on and on enough in a long circle to say one thing.

I love all the integration into newer technologies.  I even promote and support some of them through installations and hosting.  But a lot of the companies come to us asking, "just tell me about Domino and nothing else.  Where is it going without one mention of Workplace or Websphere in your answer and how can we keep leveraging that power.  We don't want the other ones......yet."