Ed Brill

Post a Comment

1. 1  SouthPaw  | 3/10/2009 9:57:03 PM

   Ed I am an Independent Notes Developer How do I but a Single 8.5 Legal full version license that includes Messaging and Collaboration with the Notes Desktop, Development, and Admin Clients.

1. 2  Mike  | 3/10/2009 10:25:56 PM

   It's laughable and ridiculous to do searching in google than having it in IBM website. BTW, IBM website is user-unfriendly.

1. 3  Gregg Eldred http://www.ns-tech.com/blog/geldred.nsf | 3/10/2009 10:42:40 PM

   @2 - I respectfully disagree about Googling the answer. Especially in light of your second sentence. I recognize that I don't represent a "normal" user, but if Google can help me navigate the IBM website by providing me with the specific page I need, why should I slog through ibm.com? And with the sheer number of SKUs that IBM has, even in a specific software group like Lotus, wasn't this easier than attempting to search through IBM's catalog?

1. 4  Andrew  | 3/11/2009 12:46:20 AM

   @1 kinda hit it on the head. This CAN be easy, but you hit some snags awfully quickly. Lots of questions without immediately obvious answers.

   Note that I am a pretty big fan of edbrill.com, Lotus software in general, and Lotus Domino in particular, and I'm not personally new to anything listed here, just trying to put things in perspective for how my clients (companies with less than 25 "knowledge workers") might see things when looking at whether this is a good solution for them. I doubt very many of them make it through the initial process without help, which is actually quite sad.

   - What about Notes Traveler? Mentioned in the shopping process, but no pricing. Tracked down iNotes, but with SIX different licenses, and with "limited use license" not defined in the link describing all the license options, it's not fun. And is it iNotes? Traveler? DWA? Ultralite? Ultra-lite? Not really EASY.

   - 8.5 was mentioned in the original article. Why on earth isn't it available for purchase? If I buy 8.0 do I get the right to use 8.5? Not really EASY.

   - I did find the designer for sale. Domino designer, not Notes designer. It would be EASIER if a link to the designer page appeared at the bottom of any of the other pages.

   - It isn't really obvious (not EASY) to figure out at what point individual licenses don't make sense. If you buy one license at $x, then spending $10x for 10 licenses is far more than the cost of the comparable bundles. The information is there if you know to look for it, but it isn't really something that is really staring you in the face.

   I'm sure there are other things that fall into a similar trap. It is EASY when you know what all the products are and how they fit together. Certainly if you spend the time the information for everything is there somewhere, but finding it isn't quite so easy. It should be a lot easier still. It is such a great suite of products technically, purchasing it should be just as rewarding an experience.

1. 5  Bastian Wieczorek http://www.lntoolbox.com | 3/11/2009 2:59:44 AM

   @Ed

   I know 3 developers who have the same problem like SouthPaw ...

   They need a Notes Client license for development and a testserver for development. The same for admins... they need a testserver and a notes client license.

   In the past they had a idea: Every advanced certified developer or administrator can get a "limited" notes client license (and maybe a Domino server license for one user) for education and testing [limited license = no productive use]?

   Example... if you are a

   IBM Certified Advanced System Administrator 8

   You could get ONE Client license (and maybe a Domino Server license) for the 8.0.x code stream.

   You could use this license to learn how the product works, can get deeper knowledge and use it for development and testing.

   Personally I think that's a nice idea for persons which spend time to get a certificate. At the moment a certificate is only a paper for them. They do good work and there is no need to spend money and time for the certs. But if they could get a license...

1. 6  Mike Conley  | 3/11/2009 3:15:25 AM

   I agree with Bastian's point. IBM benefits directly by having qualified, certified Lotus Notes and Domino developers readily available to its customers. Making limited licenses available to those of us who have invested the time and sweat equity in learning to develop and support applications makes perfect sense.

   Through no fault of my own (the recession swallowed my employer), I recently became unemployed. Now I am faced with the prospect of upgrading my Lotus Notes/Domino skills at considerable personal cost or broaden my skill set by investing considerably less to learn Infopath, Sharepoint, etc.

   It is in IBM's own financial interest to make learning its product line affordable and it is not making it easy on those of us with limited financial resources.

1. 7  Alan Bell http://www.dominux.co.uk | 3/11/2009 3:41:19 AM

   The part descriptions just make it look like your e-commerce site was built on Twitter. As suggested 5 years ago why not include in the descriptions a link to the release notes.

1. 8  Sean Cull http://www.focul.net | 3/11/2009 3:58:33 AM

   I tried it for the UK and it works too, Sean

1. 9  Kerr  | 3/11/2009 5:21:09 AM

   @5, there used to be a developerWorks bundle that you could buy, similar to Microsoft's MSDN subscriptions. Access to pretty much ever piece of IBM software for development / testing purposes. But for some reason they killed it. A real shame as it was a great little offering for developers.

1. 10  Henning Heinz  | 3/11/2009 5:34:13 AM

   I am an Express customer and hardly ever complained about buying from Shop IBM (hear, hear). Recent changes make me wonder if it will stay the same. For example my Notes Express license and Doc license is not automatically renewed this year forcing me to fax an order confirmation for less than 100$. And for the 100$. If you buy at Shop IBM your products have different maintenance renewal dates. As a result if you bought Sametime, QuickR, Notes, Designer, Utility Express, Doc and you did this at different times you will get 6 renewal reminders, invoices aso. While this is not so much of a problem for me (at least if they automatically renew) I am not sure if this is the best way to handle it. To make it clear. This is not a complaint. And by the way I see a lot of noise in the German IT channel about Foundations (not customer advertising but acquiring and informing Partners / Dealers aso). Good stuff.

1. 11  Nathan T. Freeman http://nathan.lotus911.com | 3/11/2009 5:45:35 AM

   See this page? { Link }

   Where's the link on that page to "View US prices and buy?"

   Strangely, it *is* on this one: { Link }

   Apparently, if I go to the Lotus page, and select Products, and then navigator to a particular product, there's a link to buy it. But if I go to Lotus and see a big banner that says "learn more about Notes and Domino 8.5" and click *that*... then I can't buy it. (Though I can download the free trial version.)

   If I know what I'm looking for -- "View US prices and buy" -- then I'm in good shape. But I think every other ecommerce site on the internet has some type of graphic that says "BUY NOW!" that leaps off the page at you. In other words, where IBM does have a link, you guys are being rather subtle about it. At least compared to the rest of the world.

   Do we even need to discuss whether a typical buyer might understand what "IBM Lotus Notes with Collaboration Authorized User License + SW Subscription & Support 12 Months (D5CS2LL)" even means?

   In a world where you're compared to the Amazon or even the Apple Store, this isn't really adequate.

   By the way, if I tell it I want 20,000 Collaboration licenses, it happily makes me a shopping cart totaling 3.1 million dollars. And I can even try to check out. But I'm ultimately presented with this:

   Shopping cart

   Error

   Following error occurred while processing your request.

   Error:414

   Error determining available payment options for this order. Please return to shopping cart and try again.

1. 12  David Hewett  | 3/11/2009 5:58:34 AM

   Like many of the other posts, I want a single license of Notes/Domino/Designer for development and personal purposes. Trying to determine which licenses are required is almost impossible. I used the "Email IBM" link about a week ago and haven't heard anything since.

   This process is far from easy.

1. 13  Henning Heinz  | 3/11/2009 6:18:26 AM

   Afaik, there is no single license for development and personal purposes. You would probably need 1 Collaboration Express and 1 Domino Designer license. That would allow you to collaborate and develop including your own server. If you want to run a public website (even Anonymous access) you either have the choice to choose a hosting partner like Prominic / DDN or buy an additional Utility Express server. As the complete package with around 3000$ list price is quite a lot you could think about becoming an IBM Business Partner and buy the Value Package for Software. The development package is not cheap for the first years but the renewal fees in the following years are acceptable.

   I would love IBM to have an All-In-One package for, let's say 599$, and renewals for 99$ a year. I like the idea that certified people get discounts.

1. 14  Volker Weber http://vowe.net | 3/11/2009 6:21:20 AM

   Asking Google used to be the best way to get the Java runtime from Sun. Until they fixed their site.

   Two more links to try. Watch out for sponsored links as well.

   { Link }

   { Link }

1. 15  Ben Poole http://benpoole.com | 3/11/2009 6:27:27 AM

   For dev purposes I just buy the Business Partner value package that Henning mentions. $800 per annum is quite a lot, but it only takes approx. 32 clicks and various profile updates to buy, so WIN! ;o)

1. 16  Bill http://www.billbuchan.com | 3/11/2009 6:37:21 AM

   Oddly enough, for a long time, I've also been a RIM/BlackBerry partner, a Microsoft partner, and an Adobe Partner.

   This 'how easy is it to buy' has been a long standing issue.

   In terms of Adobe, MS, RIM, I can purchase stuff online. The right stuff.

   And as a BP for these companies, I can log in, and within 10 clicks or less, be downloading the right package. Usually within 120 seconds.

   Both the retain and the BP experience really drive home the message that IBM's Lotus Brand - which aims to cater for a large number of smaller customers - just cant deal with selling, maintaining or supporting a consumer brand. IBM doesnt understand consumer, and IBN doesnt understand SMB.

   I for one wish it was very different.

   ---* Bill

1. 17  Gerry S  | 3/11/2009 6:56:32 AM

   Seems to be a difference between your reality and what you perceive. It seems it has gotten better, but there is still a way to go in a lot of people's eyes in terms of making it easy. K.I.S.S. is always the better way.

1. 18  Keith Brooks http://www.vanessabrooks.com | 3/11/2009 8:28:36 AM

   @16 Bill, at least for US partnerworld it's about 8 clicks, used to be 5 until they redid the website again in january.

   :-)

   Of course i fyou have it dogeared or bookmarked it's 2 screens.

1. 19  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 3/11/2009 8:30:13 AM

   Some good comments, here, thanks. I am working on what the right thing to do for the solo developer is...this has been on my list for a few months and is bubbling up.

   The PartnerWorld value package was mentioned -- there is that as well as the software access option. Both are mentioned at

   { Link } However it appears the next click through for the software access option is a broken link (!). I will look into this. [UPDATE: The website was down at the time, now is functioning]

   One of the challenges here is that we sell a version-agnostic license. You don't buy "Lotus Notes 8", you buy "the right to use any current version of Lotus Notes". I think that's better for the customer, but it makes it less clear what to buy. How could we convey that differently?

1. 20  Bill http://www.billbuchan.com | 3/11/2009 8:33:30 AM

   @19 Seriously ?

   Have a lotus.com website thats consumer and SMB orientated. Lose all of the IBM.com baggage.

   Just my 2c.

   ---* Bill

1. 21  tom  | 3/11/2009 11:05:06 AM

   @13 If there was an easy/cheap way we could host domino (web) applications... Lotus Notes developers would rule the world!

1. 22  Timothy Briley  | 3/11/2009 11:54:19 AM

   Ed, you just did a website usability study with yourself as the user. I feel quite sure that when you did it, Chris Blatnick felt an inexplicable urge to run around screaming "NOOOOOOOOOOOO". ;)

1. 23  Giuseppe Grasso http://www.dominopoint.it | 3/11/2009 12:57:51 PM

   I second Bill @19, do it seo friendly:

   buy.lotus.com/notes

   buy.lotus.com/domino

   buy.lotus.com/sametime

   buy.lotus.com/foundations

   buy.lotus.com/connections

1. 24  Matt Buchanan  | 3/11/2009 1:26:50 PM

   I know it's not the same thing, but I'm surprised no-one's brought up the Lotus Symphony website { Link } . Friendly URL, simple interface with a small amount of relevant information, IBM branding kept to a minimum, big shiny 'Download' button, and a support community right there.

   I'm not great at Photoshop, but I'd be more than happy to spend a bit of time changing the 'Download' button to a Try/Buy button :)

1. 25  richard  | 3/11/2009 3:48:54 PM

   Ok, some constructive criticism. I have worked on notes development for a while but never had to buy licences. That buy online page just plain scares me. I believe you have lost many potential customers because of this page.

   Why not explain in simple terms what each product does. Use customer profiling. For example, John is a website developer. John purchased option 1. This is the perfect option for setting up your e-commerce website. Option 1 includes designer software for developing your site, domino server for hosting the site. etc.

   "IBM Lotus domino Utility express processor value unit" means precisely nothing to neither man nor beast...or to any potential customer for that matter.

   Just noticed on the lotus home page there is no "BUY" link anywhere. That is a terrible mistake and completely unforgivable.

1. 26  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 3/11/2009 4:14:40 PM

   You can't "buy" Lotus. Lotus is a brand. We make products. Every product has a "how to buy" page and many of them have a "buy" link.

   I like the profiling idea and some of the others that have come through this thread...just finished up my first meeting to discuss how to execute one of those ideas. Probably a stretch but we'll try it.

1. 27  richard  | 3/11/2009 4:38:50 PM

   ok fair point, at the end of the day we all want notes to succeed.

1. 28  Brett H   | 3/11/2009 5:46:41 PM

   Ok, instead of "Buy" (which seems to work for everyone else but meh) how about "Shop" or "Buy now" or perhaps the occasional "Save 50% Limited Time Offer". I mean seriously, does IBM even look at what the rest of the world is doing?

   Ed, c'mon, that was weak, do you "really" think people are going to go "ooh now I can buy the whole Lotus company?" if you put a "Buy" button on the home page?

   To make Notes succeed NEW customers need be able to get to the products they want easily. Otherwise, they are just going to move on...

   A little market research goes a long way to reveal how others are doing it. IBM/Lotus is not getting that whole process right.

   Like it or not Notes R8.x is a consumer friendly version, please treat it as such, and let the consumers buy it in a way they are used to...

1. 29  Jim Casale http://www.jimcasale.net | 3/11/2009 7:02:18 PM

   I had bought a personal copy of Tivoli Continuous Data Protection for Files from DigitalRiver a few years ago. It seemed to be a lot easier to do at the time than to try and navigate through IBM's site. Maybe you can look into partnering with DigitalRiver to sell Lotus products. It may not be as simple as one copy of CDP but it might be worth a look...

1. 30  Ben Poole http://benpoole.com | 3/11/2009 7:24:57 PM

   "Probably a stretch"? This sort of thing is a no-brainer. I can't believe we even have to discuss how to make Notes (et al) "easy to buy" on a website.

   Goodness me.

1. 31  Peter B  | 3/11/2009 8:00:29 PM

   There's too much information on the page that appears after you click "Software Online Catalog" and not enough of it is about buying.

   If people clicking the "buy" button, they don't need any more promotional information.

   I'd expect prices and "buy" button to be right in the middle of the page with not too much else to distract me.

   Trying to be constructive, not negative...

1. 32  Ben Langhinrichs http://www.GeniiSoft.com/showcase.nsf/GeniiBlog | 3/11/2009 8:17:45 PM

   Well, I went ahead and tried to navigate without your directions (but still as a fairly well educated IBM partner and Notes user for over a decade): { Link } I also tried the same for Outlook 2007: { Link }

   The first and foremost suggestion I have is to tell the lawyers to keep their hands off. You say: <<You don't buy "Lotus Notes 8", you buy "the right to use any current version of Lotus Notes">>, but that is a technicality for the new person coming in. Sell them 8.5, and let them know that they can use the license for an older version if they wish. I would never fork over money for a license that didn't make it clear whether I could use it for the latest version. Similarly, get over the semantic quibbling about buying "Lotus". Keep the nitpicking to a legalese page that nobody will read anyway. Make sure every search term likely to be used ends up on a single page such as suggested in @23. Make sure that search works in Google or on the home page.

1. 33  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 3/11/2009 8:41:36 PM

   @30 Ben, please -- the idea that I took from here today was something in my own direct sphere of control, and actually had nothing to do with the website. I did also have some interesting interaction about the downloads bit today. Can't quite do everything at once, much as I try.

   @32 it would be a huge culture change at IBM to put a specific version number on a purchase entitlement. Not saying it can't happen, but it's not the current way that anything is packaged.

1. 34  Tripp Black http://www.mindwatering.com | 3/11/2009 10:43:28 PM

   Sorry Ed.

   I never send anyone to the web site. It's too intimidating and is a good way to lose a new client.

   This is why I buy through another IBM business partner, Rocking Chair Software. I get the PDF to renew from IBM each year. I forward it to them with any changes. I get an e-mail from IBM saying thanks for the renewal. We pay the invoice to RCS, our partner.

   If we have a client that needs a license, I send the contact information, what they want, and our partner sends my client a quote. If the client accepts, it follows the same way.

   Now that's EASY!

   _____________________

   As for my 2 cents.

   Yes, put a "Buy Lotus" on the page. Yes, it's a brand and You are selling the brand in commercials not individual products - your sell should mimmick your marketing.

   I still remember the empowered user, you are your own god, the end was the superhuman tour. Our Notes/Domino shop clients are buying a brand, whether just Notes, just SameTime or Quickr, or a buffet of Lotus. The Buy Now button should give a buyer the top 5-10 Lotus products with common options Qty 1 Lotus Notes Messaging, Qty 1 Lotus Notes Collaboraton, Qty 10 bundle, etc.

   There needs to be help pop-up links that say what the difference between collaboration and messaging and what's the express offering. You need to plug that chat is included, native connectors to backend databases, etc.

   Our last marketing "beef" is that even very small companies need Directory Assistance so they hook up a second directory of clients and e-mail them (For licensing, just have them say no to the trust option.)

   On the other hand, just have the Buy Now over to us at Mindwatering and we'll help them by through RCS. :-)

   Thanks,

   Tripp

1. 35  Ben Poole http://benpoole.com | 3/12/2009 1:38:50 AM

   @33 Ed, please don't take this stuff personally. I appreciate what you're doing here. I am tilting at the message, not the messenger: my point is that it is CRAZY we find ourselves discussing how a company like IBM does downloads from its own website. This is not a slight against you in any way, more that something as big and ugly as IBM should have had this licked 6, 8 years ago.

1. 36  Julian Woodward http://blog.woowar.com | 3/12/2009 7:13:41 AM

   While we're at it, here's something I found earlier which is amusing/depressing/shameful/embarrassing/predictable depending on one's viewpoint.

   From the main IBM site drop-down menu go to Products -> Software -> Lotus.

   Then take the "Applications - Desktop and Enterprise" option, which is where I naively expected Lotus Notes to be (it is a desktop application, after all, at least by one definition, if not by IBM's):

   "Lotus 1-2-3

   Provides an award-winning spreadsheet application, part of Lotus SmartSuite.

   Lotus Organizer

   Provides a personal information manager application, part of Lotus SmartSuite.

   Lotus SmartSuite

   Features 1-2-3, WordPro, Organizer, Freelance Graphics, Approach in office suite application."

   Bad enough that Lotus Notes isn't in that list, but that the list under the FIRST category of software under the Lotus brand consists ENTIRELY of defunct software, and doesn't even include the new Lotus Symphony ... well, words fail me.

   (If you click on 'Products by Category' from the Lotus Software page, you're presented with a similar - but not identical - list of categories, each of which contains similar - but not identical - lists of software. Going this route, the "Applications - Desktop and Enterprise" category DOES include the new Symphony, but also still includes 1-2-3, Organizer and SmartSuite and excludes Notes. So much for this all being database-driven.)

1. 37  Stuart McIntyre http://blog.collaborationmatters.com | 3/12/2009 7:41:41 AM

   Ed, we all appreciate that you can't do everything, and you only have a certain 'sphere of influence', but I thought IBM (at the highest level) got this social network/blogging thing...

   You know, that feedback on blogs from customer and partners) was worth recognising as being important and thus being used as the start of an action list to attack. Are you suggesting that no one at the SWG level of IBM reads this blog - or that there is no way of getting this back to the folks that run Partnerworld/PassportAdvantage/ibm.com?

   If IBM seriously cannot fix the online purchase aspect of the website - outsource it. Give it to a partner that does understand the process and what consumers/SMB understand. Just *do something*!

1. 38  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 3/12/2009 7:52:45 AM

   @37 Stuart, it is one source of actions for the action list. But until social networking/blogging represents the entire sphere of customers, partners, and prospects, it can't be the only one.

   This blog has no participation and little readership from China or Japan. Would they raise the same priorities in those markets? I'm sure we all think gee, on the face of it, of course they would. But perhaps not. Japanese IT culture tends more towards "if something is working, invest elsewhere.

   It's like the Redbooks thing, not to completely throw the discussion here into chaos. There were a few vocal bloggers, yourself included, who strongly advocated for the return of physical redbooks. It didn't happen, but the replacement solution seems to be getting its legs and will continue to mature. We had a successful 2008 for Notes/Domino despite not publishing a single physical redbook. Should a few hundred voices (accounting for all who signed the petition) have been sufficient to reverse course and have resources allocated to something when they were ultimately better-used elsewhere? I realize no one on the outside has enough insight to really answer that question, but my assertion is a strong no.

   Be happy to discuss further offline.

1. 39  Volker Weber http://vowe.net/about | 3/12/2009 9:45:19 AM

   Well, if the Japanase think it is working well, there is really no need to fix anything. You had a pretty successful 2008 after all.

1. 40  Ben Langhinrichs http://www.GeniiSoft.com/showcase.nsf/GeniiBlog | 3/12/2009 9:57:02 AM

   @33 - Perhaps a huge culture change is due. In any case, how about making sure that when somebody goes to the IBM home page who is NOT part of the IBM culture 9.g., a potential customer), and types in a search phrase such as "Buy Notes 8.5", they don't go to a link such as { Link } because they might take it personally?

1. 41  Eric L http://www.nfprotein.com/eric | 3/12/2009 10:09:53 AM

   I am SOOOO glad you made this post - because being a small company I can sympathize with some of the complainers.

   First some history. The first time I bought a Lotus product it was cc:Mail and it was a shrink-wrapped box. Easy. Nothing to it. I bought it at a store.

   I agree with you, Ed, that it really isn't hard to buy something from IBM if you know what it is you are looking for. But - let's face it - it is easier to buy Microsoft's products. Gazillions of vendors, shrink-wrapped offerings, hundreds of online stores. Isn't this what we are comparing Lotus to?

   If I were a marketing consultant, I wouldn't recommend that IBM do what MS does; their business model is starting to fail them. { Link } But IBM has to get up to date with on-line purchasing. The illustration of Symphony is a good one.

   The biggest joke is Lotus Sametime Unyte. I used "GoToMeeting" for years for external presentations. I wanted to sign up for Unyte when it first became available, since I use Sametime internally. I couldn't buy a single license online; I was forced to talk to a sales person and give my IBM info, etc. All I wanted to do was sign up with a credit card and get going to try it. Citrix has this down to a science - 10 minutes max. (Hopefully Unyte has solved this by now).

1. 42  Bill http://www.billbuchan.com | 3/12/2009 12:01:22 PM

   Lets imagine a friend sets up a shop. A flower shop, for instance. Whatever.

   And that person, instead of having a shop window, has a boarded up front full of confusing flyers about old events - the circus or whatever, and a door you have to buzz to get through, wont get much passing trade. In fact, its not clear that it is a shop at all. But thats okay.

   And of course that person doesn't market that business - no -because everyone knows that the person has set up that shop. He's been there for a while, and in spite of the gross stupidity, he's actually pretty good at it. Okay, the displays are HUGE and cost a fortune, but they work.

   He doesn't take plastic - only cash. Because plastic costs money. Its inconvenient for him. Telephone orders ? Oh no. The Internet ? Definitely not. He doesn't sell over the internet. Never has. Never will. A while back, lots of other folks around town, smelling an opportunity, distributed his flowers for him, and put up with his cranky ways. But those folks - guys like Triangle - slowly stopped dealing with him, or just went bust.

   And he wonders why EVERY single friend and customer he has SCREAMS at him to fix these obvious failings in his business. He listens carefully (we suppose) to each and every one of these conversations, smiles to himself and just gets on with what he's always done. These punk kids, telling him what to do. And his so-called friends ? They don't know what they're doing!

   For years, this goes on and on. Slowly, the shop starts to lose business, market share - purely because its very very hard to business with this person. Other businesses are far easier to do business with. Hell, soon some of them actually start selling over this new fangled internet thing. He doesnt care. The other shops dont know just how well he can do his stuff. The other stuff has to be inferior.

   Other local businesses refuse to put work his way, because he keeps stealing the customers.

   So who's to blame? The customers ? The Business partners ? The opposition? The economy ? Little green men from mars?

   Oh. The name of that florist shop: IBM.

   ---* Bill "Obviously a PITA BP who moans all the time in a negative manner" Buchan

1. 43  Sam Gusterson http://yfrog.com/53martyrp | 3/12/2009 1:37:30 PM

   You're still here?

1. 44  Paul Robichaux http://www.robichaux.net/blog | 3/12/2009 1:37:44 PM

   @2, @3: Microsoft has exactly the same problem. It's always been easier to use Google to search for KB articles and the like than to use microsoft.com's integrated search engine.

   @41: this is partly a cultural change. As a company moves into the SaaS world, they have to get better at enabling all phases of the research-try-buy-use cycle. IBM and MS have both mastered the "research" phase, but the results diverge pretty widely after that. For example, it took me about 10 min to sign up for a trial Live Meeting subscription, but more than an hour to sign up for a subscription to Dynamics CRM Online. I long for the day when subscribing to any SaaS offering is as easy as buying content for my Xbox 360.

1. 45  Scott Skaife  | 3/12/2009 6:01:14 PM

   Ed, Don't put a version number on the software. Just have it say "(Any and all version supported by IBM)"

1. 46  David Hewett  | 3/13/2009 8:59:06 AM

   @42 - Bill, that's an awesome analogy.

   Ed, Probably my biggest problem is understanding exactly what I need to buy. If I want to learn Notes and Domino, maybe by running a blog, I need to buy some licenses. That's fair. Now what do I need... If I understand it correctly for the Domino Express license, I need a single Notes license ($141), a Designer license ($845), but since the blog is anonymous access, I also need the utility server license. Since the box it will run on is a quad core, that means I need to spend $5300 ($26.50 x 200PVUs). If this is an incorrect assumption on how its licensed, please find a way to make it more clear.

   Just to be clear, $6,286 for the software to run a blog is a bit of overkill. But I thought the Express software was for small businesses. With pricing like this, its out of reach for most really small businesses.

   Also, it would be helpful for someone to actually respond to inquiries sent via the "Email IBM" link.

   Notes/Domino is an awesome product, especially with 8.5. I want to be able to learn more and promote it. As a small business consultant, though, it is definitely painful trying to get the information needed to recommend it.

1. 47  Jose Zaldivar  | 3/13/2009 9:03:10 AM

   The shopping cart experience for buying products is a classic example of how IBM lacks on making things easier for clients to decide what to buy. I often hear from clients asking "I just want a Domino server, with 10 users". I think the shopping experience should be more like a question based system rather than a shopping cart. Providing visual clues, recommendations, suggested configurations, packages (buy 10 licenses, get one free!). People like nice user interfaces and should take minutes to decide what you need with confidence you got the right thing.

   As for the client asking for pricing, I simply take the order and contact my IBM sales rep to sort things out for me. It is not worth my time to learn all the intricated combinations and their cost.

   IBM should see how Lotus Foundations got that figured out! I have Foundations and never have to worry about licensing again!

1. 48  Eric L http://www.nfprotein.com/eric | 3/13/2009 9:23:22 AM

   @44 - I agree that MS has similar problems, as do a lot of big businesses. I have had similar experiences. The bright spot in all of this are the resellers. I failed to mention that the solution to my troubles has been, and probably will always be, working with a good Business Partner. The same is true for MS; we purchase a fair amount of MS stuff - all from resellers.

   Getting a large company to think like a nimble small company is akin to teaching an elephant to dance the Salsa. Relying on independent resellers is the best way to tap small businesses. The solution to David Hewett's example (@46) is to go to a reseller. I assure you, the cost of running the blog in his example using express licensing will be a LOT LESS since the resellers understand the Express licensing structure.

   On the pricing note for small enterprises (SME's), I had a telling experience yesterday. I wanted to purchase training for Notes 8.5 (see { Link } The only way I could see to purchase it was to contact the IBM person. To make a long story short, I was told the minimum number of users is 1,000 and the minimum price is $4,000. I have 100 users, so that works out to $40 per user. I compete with the "big boys" who are paying $4 per user. The IBM rep came back to me late yesterday with a price of $3,000 for my "unique situation". This is an example, in my opinion, how IBM does not understand the SME space.

   We will produce our own training.

1. 49  Kit Davis http://www.sbd.com | 3/13/2009 11:11:53 AM

   #44 / #48 - I think you have hit on the real problem - I don't personally think that buying notes on the IBM site is any harder than most software. The problem is just knowing what to buy. The fact that the suggestion needs to be made to utilize a business partner that is an “expert” in figuring out express licensing is indicative of the problem.

   If the software was functionally limited by license type it would be a bit easier. As it stands now, when a company buys notes for internal use there is nothing to prevent someone from downloading a blog template, creating a blog and opening it up to the world. Unless someone is an “expert” on licensing, no one would know that the company is now in violation of their license agreement and it is left to the business partner to explain that the company now needs to fork over additional funds for these capabilities. (which from the company’s point of view were there to begin with).

   If the user was halted with a message when they tried to implement the blog that additional software needed to be purchased before they could complete the activity, it would at least put the licensing issue at the front of the process.

   Personally, I think a blog or a company website ought to be part of the base express package – but that is an argument for another day.

1. 50  Henning Heinz  | 3/14/2009 11:22:37 AM

   To be fair IBM is a channel player. That means that much of its business should be driven by Business Partners. Get the information from IBM then buy from a Partner.

   So instead of just pointing at IBM you could also ask why only so little Business Partners seem to have filled the gap?

   At Eric(48) You got a 25% discount. While this would still not make it appropriate for SMB I find this remarkable for IBM. You are pretty good if you are able to produce in depth high quality training in several languages for 3.000$. It also is quite a new offering and I expect some fine-tuning to come later. Again not every Partner will like this offering from IBM. The idea that for SMB, Partners should fill the gap, is not bad at all. Microsoft has less problems as they often are quite rude to their Partners. I am not saying that IBM does everything right here but to me solving some of these issues are more complicated than it seems on the first view.

1. 51  Sean J  | 3/14/2009 3:13:10 PM

   @6 same position - do I invest in Lotus licenses so that I can train myself for Notes 8.5 (while hoping the jobs market resurrects) or do I pay the rent to keep the roof over my head?

   @19 would be great if you could provide something for the solo developer, especially given the current recession/depression

1. 52  Erik Brooks  | 3/15/2009 7:37:52 AM

   As an SMB, I learned my way around the IBM site, taught myself PVUs, etc. I've got a CS degree and a heavy engineering background, and this stuff was definitely built by an engineer.

   @Ed - Your last two screenshots are a perfect example of information overload. Does a "try and buy" user really need to see part numbers here? And "Authorized User License + SW Subscription & Support 12 Months"?

   It sounds like a product grid is needed here, similar to: { Link }

   You'd simply have two columns that say "12 months of free upgrades" and "12 months of free support", with checkmarks going all the way down since all of the products include those.

   And look at the line item in your last screenshot, the Utility Express PVU. It's got a checkmark, so it's implied that you can just buy it as-is. But one PVU @ $26.50 obviously doesn't work, you usually need quantities of 100 or 200 before you arrive at something you're actually allowed to use. Not to mention that it doesn't actually say "Server" anywhere there, which is confusing. And it's the only server option listed, so it really should be a separate category or in some way let the user know "hey, server version here."

   I'm sure you guys have web metrics that track traffic through the various screens. How many people come to the opening screen, then how many move to the next, how many click "try and buy", etc. I'd guess the percentage that actually make it all the way to a shopping cart is very low.

   As we all know, you've got the only end-user-touching software of IBM, and this entrypoint is simply not easy enough for the curious. I definitely see a case for a separate Lotus website, geared towards SMB.

1. 53  Dave Armstrong  | 3/17/2009 9:05:46 AM

   And just how many PVUs do I need to run the various Amazon cloud server instances with Domino, anyway? :)

   Sure, it is easy to find the shopping cart. Knowing what to buy, and what that really entitles you to are a different story.

1. 54  Peter B  | 3/22/2009 8:10:20 PM

   This is a bit of a peripheral issue, but related to licensing.

   Licensing for developers.

   Remember those college students who won Lotusphere Idol 2009?

   Everyone was maybe a little surprised (but happy) to see a couple of young guys involved in innovative Notes development.

   Why should it be surprising ? After all, college students and young developeers generally are a wellspring of innovation.

   Perhaps consideration should be given to allowing free licenses for Notes developers. If you want to encourage those for whom money is an issue. It is fairly common in other products.