Ed Brill

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1. 1  Sam Sawatzky  | 7/2/2011 5:19:04 AM

   Thanks for hearing and responding to the frustration (justified or not) in the community, Ed. It is truly appreciated.

   It is good to hear that Notes/Domino has the unwavering support of IBM.

1. 2  Serdar Basegmez http://lotusnotus.com/en | 7/2/2011 5:49:43 AM

   Thanks for the response Ed, It was really needed.

   Composed several posts about this issue but didn't release any one of them. Because I feel it's completely time-consuming, self-demotivating and useless topic.

   This is a transition phase and unexpected things happen in transition phases, which is a reality in IT business. You invest in a niche software and become "the" reseller in your market. One day a large vendor acquire the software and you become "a" reseller. This is business and even though we are connected, we are not a family and decisions are not made to make everyone happy.

   The only problem in this transition period was not the matter of being transparent or not. Firstly, it was long. The whole issue started in late 2010 and it will continue until 2012 I presume. And beyond this time it was working 'semi-transparent'. There are rumors everywhere in LUGs, IBM meetings, etc. Personally, I'm expecting more communication and I don't want it to be transparent.

1. 3  Dave Hay  | 7/2/2011 5:50:26 AM

1. 4  David Leedy http://xpages.tv | 7/2/2011 5:56:24 AM

   Great to hear this! I for one am looking forward to using Notes/Domino and XPages to provide business solutions for a long time to come.

1. 5  Stuart McIntyre http://blog.collaborationmatters.com | 7/2/2011 6:27:32 AM

   Put simply, Thank You, Ed.

   Lots to digest in this post, I'm going to read and reflect before responding. But heartfelt thanks for posting this.

1. 6  Gabriella Davis http://blog.turtleweb.com | 7/2/2011 7:39:34 AM

   Thanks for sharing Ed.

   I believe we are currently in the "snickers zone". When I was growing up Mars had a delicious chocolate bar that was similar to the Mars bar but had nuts in it. It was called Marathon and was my favorite (especially frozen and cut into little pieces, try it). Then in 1990 in what appeared to be an insane move Mars renamed Marathon to Snickers in the UK. You see they had this huge brand name " Snickers" that they wanted to leverage and consolidate on. Everyone hated the renaming. We were their consumers and yet they did it anyway. Stand up comedians mocked it. Many took it as an attack against our national identity. But here's the thing. The chocolate bar didn't change. This wasn't "new coke" it was just a rebranding. I still buy snickers. In my head I still think of it as "marathon". I'm sure Mars don't care as long as I still like and buy their product.

   I know many old schoolers who still refer to the Notes server instead of the Domino server. I don't have any customers panicking about whether the Lotus name stays or goes. It's commitment to the products we want, whatever it's called.

   I'm going to stand back and let the giant, global, multiple billion dollar corporation do its slow, methodical rebranding. Meanwhile I have IBM Sametime (or as we call it, "Sametime") servers to install that will run on IBM Websphere Application Server (or as we call it, "WAS") and IBM Lotus Domino (or as we call it, "Domino").

   Let me know when you're done.

   Gab

1. 7  Devin Olson http://www.devinolson.net | 7/2/2011 7:49:03 AM

   Thank you for posting this Ed.

   While I may not always agree with some of IBM's decisions, I really do appreciate the thoughtfulness, candor and honesty you have always brought to our community.

   Thanks again.

1. 8  Michael Kobrowski  | 7/2/2011 8:33:45 AM

   After reading the first couple of blog posts and a few comments I got a headache so stopped reading.

   Your post made a lot of sense and I do agree your travel probably did your perspective good.

   Onward! Upward! Been with Notes :) products since 1993, looking forward what the future brings. Maybe you can prod the decision makers to hurry a bit. If you don't have Lotus product brand anymore, there are a few things to be decided. Reveal them with press and new product DEMO of your new streaming, app yielding products

1. 9  David Barry http://www.bleedyellow.com/blogs/asktheclient/ | 7/2/2011 8:48:42 AM

   No Comment on Plans for LotusLive Branding. It already has all these growing pains. No ability to administer Traveler Security, Holidays Broken, LotusLive Account Admins can't login to Sametime or Connections. LotusLive Meeting App can't connect to IBM Staff LLMeetings. Don't Make it worse by Changing branding So Early or Ever.

1. 10  John de Giorgio http://Www.integra4notes.com | 7/2/2011 8:57:23 AM

   @Gab Davies above.

   Gab hits the nail on the head. Spot on assessment and as Ed says "who cares" and "stop talking about it, just do it and move on".

1. 11  Theo heselmans http://Blog.Xceed.be | 7/2/2011 9:07:44 AM

   @Gab @John Hear Hear!

1. 12  Andy Piper http://andypiper.co.uk | 7/2/2011 9:21:29 AM

   Hey Ed. I have nothing to say really either way on this whole discussion, but I do just want to thank you. This is a thoughtful, clear and in my opinion, just excellent post. I also want to thank you for your ongoing leadership in both blazing a trail and pushing our organisation along with regards to openness and transparency in all of the places where that is appropriate. It is a constant source of inspiration to me to see senior colleagues "walking the walk".

   Very clear discussion of the issues involved and I'm going to be pointing people over here over the coming weeks, I can tell.

1. 13  Roy Rumaner  | 7/2/2011 9:27:58 AM

   Thank you Ed. Once again you are the voice of calm and reason amid all the uproar and craziness. Looking forward to many more years of working with you and everyone else that is as crazy about Notes as I am.

1. 14  Henning Heinz  | 7/2/2011 10:02:54 AM

   Business as usual. It is just a brand change. While I do believe this is probably the best thing you can say it is not what I would have hoped to hear. Business as usual is not enough to keep this platform in a good shape. IBM wants to grow and so want your Partners and ISV's. I really appreciate the hard work you and your team do. I just would have hoped that IBM as a company would be more behind the product.

1. 15  Darren http://www.dadams.co.uk | 7/2/2011 10:17:44 AM

   Ed, I don't know anyone in your kind of role who has matched you for keeping their community updated and informed. I don't think you need to apologise to anyone.

   A bit of perspective... a few months ago I was at an event and demoed what was then IBM 'Lotus' Connections. A lady was loving the features but after 10 minutes she said "this is great, but we don't use Notes". I hadn't mentioned Notes or Lotus. I told her that although there was integration with Notes, Connections worked in the any environment. At that point delegates were being called back into sessions so that was the end of the conversation. That, for me, justified removing the Lotus branding. In too many people's brains Lotus = Notes, and therefore anything else branded Lotus relies on Notes.

   I don't know if re-branding will open any more doors for Connections and Sametime, but it might mean less doors being closed... and that can't be a bad thing.

1. 16  Nathan T. Freeman http://ntf.gbs.com | 7/2/2011 10:24:18 AM

   Darn your cool and measured response, Ed. Now all the haters are going to find some meaningful and important matter to gripe about, instead of being distracted by this completely trivial issue. And this means I might have to actually THINK about what the community is talking about, instead of just looking at blog titles and chuckling.

   Thanks for tanking my productivity next week. :-P

1. 17  Steve Mullen  | 7/2/2011 10:28:25 AM

   Thanks Ed for the excellent and thoughtful post.

1. 18  Kevin Mort  | 7/2/2011 11:19:16 AM

   As others have said, a very thought out response and welcome in this issue of discontent. :)

1. 19  Gaby Spaszewski  | 7/2/2011 11:50:33 AM

   Yesterday I posted on Stuart McIntyres blog my thoughts on this from a customer perspective. I closed my comments with the following statement:

   'So for the time being I patiently sit and wait for IBM to reveal their strategy on this (and trust that it is not a strategy to simply gain new customers but also one to keep existing customers happy). I'll keep my fingers crossed :-) '

   So my finger crossing seems to have helped - thanks for your statement here which answered a lot of my questions (not all of them but I am sure they will in time :-) ).

1. 20  Darren Duke http://blog.darrenduke.net | 7/2/2011 11:57:22 AM

   I guess Nathan's "haters" includes me. Still if that is what it take to get this resolved so be it. It must then by definition also include customers who have bravely asked (and rightly so) on recent calls and blogs what the hell IBM are doing. Usually the customer is considered to be always right and not usually a "hater", at least not in public. Anyway some points raised here.

   One. This is the first time anyone has officially said Lotus Knows is gone. We all knew it but at last IBM has confirmed it. Thank you.

   Two. There is no plan (as said on the call, although I thought I'd misheard when that came out). Not sure I like that but at least now we know. Thank you.

   Three. If IBM leave N/D as "Lotus" then that is not a good thing in my opinion. That sends all the wrong messages. This "realization" IBM had about Lotus and it's "challenging history" is true for all products within that brand not just the shiny new ones built on WAS. For my money I'd actually call IBM Lotus Notes 9, "IBM Notes Next" (under the proviso you want to keep the Notes name).

   Four. "Who cares?". Really? Your customers. Do the right thing for your customers.

   Five. Social does not mean transparent. Now, IBM does like to take a peak at my business plan every now and then, Not saying I want to see yours (as I don't). But I'd like to see some sort of plan. Not this defensive rear guard, cover your ass, phaff around, headless chicken approach as that does a great disservice to a company of IBM's stature.

   Six Thank you for the post. This goes quite some way to avoiding the same ending for N/D as happened with the botched Foundations debacle. Devin (@7) sums it up eloquently.

   Seven. I hope this "lack" of a plan is being accelerated into an actual "plan" soon/now/immediately. IBM have lost 6 months phaffing around this "message" and one would hope it be resolved before TBDsphere 2012.

1. 21  Tim Tripcony http://xmage.gbs.com | 7/2/2011 12:57:27 PM

   @Darren, really? Your customers care more about what the product might, in the future, be named than its functional capabilities, strategic roadmap, and role in facilitating their own success? Really?

   If this rose, by any other name, would not smell as sweet, perhaps their current implementation of it contains too many thorns and too few petals. Fortunately, as an IBM Business Partner, you're quite effectively equipped to help them do something about that.

1. 22  Nathan T. Freeman http://ntf.gbs.com | 7/2/2011 1:00:20 PM

   @20 I stand corrected. Apparently some are going to continue to dwell on this. Good to know I'll be able to ignore PlanetLotus over the holiday weekend, then.

1. 23  Stuart McIntyre http://blog.collaborationmatters.com | 7/2/2011 1:03:18 PM

   @21 Tim, you're brighter than that... It's not that the name might change, it's what the name change means in terms of priorities, marketing and everything else. Also what happens if the name does not change for certain products but does for the everything else.

   Ed seems to get these concerns now and says he is doing all he can to sort it. That's really great, but does not suddenly mean that our previous worries can immediately be disregarded. I'm going to give Ed et al time to get this resolved now, and would hope that others would lay off in terms of criticisms of the positions we have taken to get this far.

1. 24  Stuart McIntyre http://blog.collaborationmatters.com | 7/2/2011 1:04:11 PM

   I would have included @22 in that comment if I'd seen it before commenting.

1. 25  Nathan T. Freeman http://ntf.gbs.com | 7/2/2011 1:19:22 PM

   @23 - What are you talking about? Tim isn't very bright at all. He's actually quite dull.

   If you're going to try to insult him, you're going to have to put more effort into it than a backhanded compliment.

1. 26  Tim Tripcony http://xmage.gbs.com | 7/2/2011 1:30:28 PM

   @Stuart, thanks... I think. I'm glad you think I'm bright, but in this context that compliment implies I've just said something uncharacteristically stupid.

   Nobody I know of at GBS is losing any sleep over this issue. Perhaps we're negligent in not holding IBM's feet to the fire over this, but we're focused on helping them continue to improve the products, and on delivering our own solutions. I agree that marketing is important, but I couldn't care less what the product is called as long as it meets our customers' needs... it does, and will continue to. I'm just a codemonkey, but I'm close enough to the people and planning to harbor no fear, uncertainty, or doubt whatsoever on this point.

1. 27  David Schaffer http://davidschaffer.us | 7/2/2011 2:25:25 PM

   Ed:

   As a small business customer I found much of the furor following the call this week a bit over the top. But the question of how to explain the future of the Lotus products and why we should stick with them in the face of the perennial "Why don't we switch to Outlook?" from management is a very real one for me. The expectation was raised that there would be some specifics on the call, and that didn't happen. In fact, with some different lead in, I think Scott Neuman's message was all good news for customers.

   Thanks for trying to sort it out for us.

   David Schaffer

1. 28  Stuart McIntyre http://blog.collaborationmatters.com | 7/2/2011 2:25:30 PM

   @25,26 No insults intended, in fact quite the opposite. I value Tim's opinion. Please stop the point scoring... We all want the best for IBM and for the products, lets work together to make it so.

1. 29  Devin Olson http://www.devinolson.net | 7/2/2011 3:58:44 PM

   @26 - { Link }

   (sorry Ed, I couldn't help myself)

1. 30  Drew Slothower http://www.dsscorp.com | 7/2/2011 4:36:37 PM

   Thanks Ed - your response is appreciated!

1. 31  Chris Miller http://Http://www.idonotes.com | 7/2/2011 9:02:09 PM

   I think I said it in my posting, the name doesn't matter nor the chosen technology. { Link } How you choose to handle disseminating the movements of branding and naming will not be a downfall of the product at this point.

   There are other issues that affect that. We see plenty of brand changes (as Gab pointed out) that many can't come to grips with. It is the base technology changes that scare most. Or lack of knowledge on them.

   You did make a comment about even Google launching a product with no notice and limited beta. I will agree with limited notice (some new early). But limited beta testing is in every product. See the design partner program, they just use the general public which makes bigger waves. We do not have the average person in on Domino betas for any reason.

   The commitment to a major release of Notes and Domino has been well communicated. Bt w had a major release of Sametime and it was WAS. Domino based is now called classic. That scares people because the communication on that isn't clear. Just "major" doesn't qualify to some.

   I am glad you took the time to post anything. I already made my mind up earlier in the week it didn't matter what was said on the call. I took the underlying tone and said it makes perfect sense.

1. 32  Kathy Brown http://www.runningnotes.net | 7/2/2011 9:33:00 PM

   Two things. First, Hi. I am a customer. I don't care what the product is called, I just want it to work. Thanks.

   Second, @23 you are concerned that a name change somehow indicates negative impact on the way Notes is marketed, or rather that it must mean the priority for Notes is lower. Wouldn't rebranding mean the opposite? Rebranding is usually a marketing effort, one that indicates attention is being paid, not that a product is being shuffled aside. I don't know, nor do I pretend to know (nor really do I care) what IBM's marketing strategy is, but I'm certainly not going to declare the sky is falling just because they may want to change the name.

1. 33  Mike McGarel http://www.bleedyellow.com/blogs/McGarelGramming/ | 7/3/2011 12:27:59 AM

   Thank you, Ed, for this great response.

1. 34  Lee Salzman  | 7/3/2011 12:46:41 AM

   First the brand, then the cannibalization, then the deprecation. Before you know it, the last Notes/Domino kernel will be residing on some dusty blade server in Hackensack dripping with enough crapware that it will cost you $10,000 just to design a doughnut database for your local coffeehouse.

   This is far from a "controversy." This is far from a "crisis". It's the first shot and it's time to pick sides. Whig or Tory. Rebel or Yankee. Blue or Yellow.

1. 35  Fredrik Malmborg http://www.replikera.se | 7/3/2011 7:43:19 AM

   If you (Ed) changed position inside IBM from Notes/Domino product I would get worried.

   If you felt that your team was without future or exciting possibilities I think you would.

   Anyhow there is so much left to be done regarding great solutions based on Notes/Domino for bright customers.

   If you think IBM got problems, look at Microsoft, they could be left behind as an OS provider for the smart solution builders. Have you heard any you talent calling MS cool.

1. 36  cjywest  | 7/3/2011 1:19:09 PM

   Thanx Ed. Sorry for the broken french but "if you listen they will care".

1. 37  Jason  | 7/3/2011 1:55:02 PM

1. 38  Keith Brooks http://blog.vanessabrooks.com | 7/3/2011 10:06:09 PM

   Ed, Well said. Just Do It.

1. 39  Gavin Bollard http://dominogavin.blogspot.com | 7/4/2011 12:34:52 AM

   to paraphrase; "a Lotus by any other name would smell as sweet".

   Whatever you do, just get on with it. The worst thing for any product is uncertainty.

1. 40  Henning Schmidt http://www.schmhen.de | 7/4/2011 4:23:43 AM

   Hands up, who grew up with "Lotus" Notes? I did since I've been working for about 15 years as a Codemonkey (thank's Tim!) developing N/D apps. In that time Lotus Notes was something like my own baby, it grew up with me and is still with me. I find it hard to imagine that it might be called something like IBM Notes (espacially for that fact that it sounds awful). But that is about it. The change will be rather minor. I reckon the entire discussion contains a whole lot of emotion and should be brought back to a rational level.

   Notes/Domino will live happily ever after and I will still be a Codemonkey delivering software on Notes/Domino. And despite of what it will be named, people will keep calling it Lotus Notes for a couple of years to come anyway.

   Another question is: How long will the Notes Client still live with all those efforts IBM put in xpages? Domino might be the only survivor in the end and the client dies. So bye bye IBM Lotus TBD Notes!?

   Anyway, thanks Ed for your post. Some emotions have cooled down already.

1. 41  Sean J  | 7/4/2011 6:17:57 AM

   Missed the controversy but this perhaps explains in-part the mystery behind what the next version of Notes will be called.

   While a Notes developer since '96 I would have no issues with an IBM rebranding. Certainly mentioning "Lotus" to many people results in a "as in 1-2-3? are they still in business" response.

   It would look bad if Connections and Sametime were rebranded but Notes/Domino stayed under the Lotus brand. No doubt certain competitors would launch a whispering campaign that "Lotus" was IBM's 'legacy brand' for products without a future.

   So IBM Notes/Domino is good for me, but any rebranding would have to be trumpeted so that people don't assume IBM are trying to replace Lotus Notes with a new produt. But it would also be an opportunity to re-invigorate interest in the product too.

1. 42  Henning Heinz  | 7/4/2011 7:07:58 AM

   Starting a whispering campaign?

   I don't think they are whispering. They say it loud and clear with statements like "Don't Be the Last Company on Notes" (hear, they even omit the brand name). We will see if products like Sametime unified Telephony will now take an upswing because it is not called "Lotus Sametime" anymore. I have my doubts.

1. 43  GarryL  | 7/4/2011 10:39:52 AM

   Well there seems to be lots of positive posts here. As a customer, however, it is all still confusing.

   I hear mentions of roadmaps but can't find a clear view of what this/these are anywhere. There seems to be a convergence to move everything into the Websphere enviroment somewhere along the line. There is talk of vulcanising everything, but little to show what that actually is. Removal of Lotus as a brand isn't an issue but what they plan to do with it after that is.

   The thing is that there is clearly change afoot but without knowing what is coming how would you base any business platform on that? Other platforms are pretty settled in their paths. I guess some clarity is needed here and I didn't get that from the post.

1. 44  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 7/4/2011 11:21:10 AM
   
   

   @43 I agree and understand we need to publish an updated roadmap for Notes/Domino. My team is working this and we need to get some internal approvals during July before I can do so. What I will say is if you go watch the Admin201w keynote from LotusUserGroup.org along with some of my recent presentations online you'll see what we discuss for 8.5.3 and the next major feature release. There is no architecture change nor any dependency on WebSphere. Some cool new stuff being introduced, but based on where we are at with 8.5.x.

1. 45  Mike Kinder http://www.acadiasolutions.com | 7/4/2011 12:37:32 PM

   Ed, I too thank you for making the comments you made above, and feel that they have cleared somethings up for me.

   I truly believe the vision presented that Notes/Domino will be a key component of the ICS vision going forward. It is true we should likely not focus too much attention on how IBM handles that, as in reality - where IBM doesn't do something it could quite possibly be an opportunity for us.

   I also agree that IBM has a right to keep much of their operations private and are not required to share them with anyone, it is their business and they should run it as they see fit.

   I also understand that marketing all of the individual parts of the IBM Software catalog would be quite difficult, and expensive.

   With all of the above though, there is a sense not only in this community, but in the general landscape of IT, that the Lotus Notes/Domino product is antiquated and outdated. What IT leader wants to deal with explaining their decisions based on that perception, when the whole idea of IT is to move businesses forward. I know, and you know, and I believe our community knows that the perception is inaccurate. Every time I am given the opportunity to explain that the LND platform is not legacy and is using some of the latest technologies people are totally surprised. Why? I think it is clear, the message is just not getting across. From my stand point this is a bit worrying and I would love to see IBM assist with getting that message out.

   That being said, IBM has expressed, at least to some degree, that is too expensive of a proposition. Speaking for myself only, I understand and respect that, but I wonder - what can be done? I have been convinced that the LND platform is truly one of the most capable platforms around for quite some time - and still believe so today. Though still learning xPages I am seeing their "greatness". NoSQL is catching on - yet we have the most scalable, robust, ans secure NoSQL platforms available - yet Mongo, Couch, and Cassandra seem to get the most attention.

   It seems like there are at least 3 areas we could focus on (we being the community as well as IBM) to really show that that LND platform is current and "cutting edge". 1) the NoSQL aspect, amazing that this is just seeming to catch on, but definitely an aspect of focus "We were NoSQL before NoSQL was cool". 2) High availability aspects of the platform. 3) the Eclipse/Java based design capabilities, especially in xPages.

   Would love to here others of course...and hope we see and hear more of this from IBM and many others.

1. 46  Carlos Casas http://about.me/carloscasas | 7/4/2011 3:02:47 PM

   “From challenge comes opportunity”

   Thoughtful post, Ed, thank you. It seems that you alone cannot change perception within IBM or within the Lotus Community. You are the voice of the product team and it's clear you are doing your best to reach as many people as you can. However, the challenge, as I see it, is to get the voices of the sales and executive leaders around you. What actions are the sales leaders taking? What actions beyond slide decks are the likes of Sandy Carter et.al taking to support the community around you? There is so much rhetoric around social business, concepts around the future of messaging and applications and what I am hearing from my peers and customers are while those messages are important, it is the “crystal clear” roadmap we are desperately missing. How about “Clarity” for the Lotusphere 2012 logo? Creating a compelling yet simple message to customers and partners that is consumable in a reasonable amount of time is going to be the challenge and opportunity for your team and your peers in the near future.

   Stuart McIntyre has been posting the wall street journal quarterly reports for IBM on his blog. It is there for the community to read on how IBM Lotus is performing in the marketplace. A number of quarters of positive growth is what I've been told yet the growth is in emerging markets and not in North America or the USA. What is the response from your peers in this regard? I don't direct this solely at you Ed because you are responsible for product development so this is the only other public forum I can direct this question that I know of. So in essence, what is the growth strategy in the mature markets and quite simply, how does IBM want partners to evangelize that message? Sure SVP helps with quality assurance but certainly you can expect client relationships to be tarnished as more and more partners will have to seek new ways to help their customers when they are not authorized to help them.

   Again, I certainly appreciate your efforts and my business has been built on the Lotus stack and it will continue to do so until my customers decide otherwise. It is quite clear that the options to move our customers forward has five shades of grey and it would certainly help to hear from the sales leaders and executive team what their arming their sales force with to retain the passionate Lotus customer base and more importantly, how do they intend to grow and evolve it.

   NOTE: sorry if this has been repeated as I haven't read the last 10 or so comments.

1. 47  Spam  | 7/5/2011 3:32:19 AM

   Spam removed

1. 48  Darren Duke http://blog.darrenduke.net | 7/5/2011 8:49:29 AM

   Why the name matters.....

   In the USA would you pay top dollar for a Yugo? In Europe let's go with a Lada? No, because the perception is that these are shitty brands. They might be but are you going to drop $10,000 to find out? How about $20,000? As James Govenor said on the TWIL 41 (and re-added to the end of TWIL 58) IBM does not own it's brands. The market does (or the public). For all of us that use or sell or make or livings off Lotus we like it. We don't care what it is called. But most everyone one else on the planet does. Why do you think IBM are yanking stuff out of Lotus on a weekly basis? For the coverage? No. For the perception.

   How hard do we all fight to keep Notes in our organizations? How do we all lament on ignorant managers and CIOs for making heart over head decisions? Well, I think those who DO NOT believe that the branding of a product matters is doing this exact heart over head decision making process. So for your next car go buy a Lada or a Yugo. They both just work.

1. 49  Nathan T. Freeman http://ntf.gbs.com | 7/5/2011 12:05:28 PM

   @48 So Lotus is the software equivalent of Yugo? And your complaint is therefore, what? That IBM isn't rebranding fast enough?

   There were probably a lot of Yugo dealerships that would have been delighted to put a new logo on their cars. But I wonder if any Yugo drivers were concerned that the badge on their car says "Yugo" instead of "Zastava Koral." I imagine most of them just wish the thing would stay in one piece.

1. 50  Stephen Hood  | 7/5/2011 2:00:53 PM

   Google is rebranding products to leverage the strength of the Google name.

   { Link }

1. 51  Carlos Casas http://about.me/carloscasas | 7/5/2011 9:51:45 PM

   @46 - Stuart corrected me on my reference on the quarterly numbers. It was another blog where I read them.

1. 52  David (The Notes Guy in Seattle) http:/thenotesguyinseattle.com | 7/6/2011 1:23:11 AM

   I step away for a weekend and look what happens! I think it's time to figure out how to get those RSS feeds into my Outlook client. :-(

   Ed, I hope you are more efficient at writing your blog entries than I am. Such a carefully worded article for me would have taken me forever to write.

   To nit-pick: IBM is the "3rd most valuable brand", not 2nd. Though I'm still not sure what that means. If you look at the list (Apple, Google, IBM, MacDonald's, Microsoft, Coca-Cola, AT&T, Marlboro, China Mobile, GE - See the source: { Link } ) All but one of these brands brings to mind a specific product: IBM. What good is a brand if it's product(s) are unknown?

   At this point I think IBM has, through its own neglect, done enough damage to the Lotus brand name that I think you are making the right decision to sell it as IBM rather than Lotus. (as if you needed my approval, right?) But certainly I can provide a unique perspective to this from my vantage point. I know this region of the world has many IBM customers and they would not be shy to buy IBM solutions, even here in Microsoft land, where they would be a hard sell on Lotus branded products. Of course this assumes someone follows through and actually markets and sells those products. (ahem. nudge, nudge, wink, wink.)

   I completely agree with you that "product management does not drive branding." It shouldn't. Product management should be focused on what it knows best: software engineering, not marketing. Though by default, Ed, you are the mouth and face of the Lotus brand since all of this marketing news is coming from you, not from Sandy Carter, the VP of marketing. I admit that I am more guilty than most of targeting you with points on marketing awareness when I really should be directing that energy toward Sandy. But hey, you're a more visible and accessible person and we all appreciate that.

   I can think of no other company that has such a transparent approach to their product development and direction as IBM has with its Lotus brand. Even other IBM product communities don't have such transparency or stir such passion. But honestly, we don't so much care about the transparency as we do about results. It's much like the way a boss or parent will micro-manage when they aren't getting the results they expect and will be more hands-off when they do. Right now the Lotus community is trying to micro-manage IBM because it doesn't have confidence in your current strategy. This community wouldn't be so involved or vocal if their careers weren't so closely tied to IBM's success. It's no fun to be a stakeholder yet have little voice in the process beyond commenting on your blog or writing on our own blogs. I believe the American Revolution started for the same reason exactly 235 years ago. That is the independence theme in "screw IBM, let's buy the product back from them" . I didn't see the post, but I'll bet the author was an American.

   At PACLUG I had a chance to talk with several people who seem to think "Hey, IBM has adapted to survive for the last 100 years, that is longer than anyone else in this business. We know what we're doing and we will continue to succeed." I say to that, if IBM has a 64 year jump on Microsoft, 65 years on Apple, 85 years on Google, and an incredible 93 year jump on Facebook, then why isn't IBM way ahead of all of them? As the stock purchasing disclaimer goes "past success does not indicate future performance." Or as the customer's mantra goes "It's not 'what have you done for me?' It is 'what have you done for me *lately*?'"

   Ed, in all of my studies and research on marketing, there are 3 books that I have found that stand out to address this issue best. You already know the first one: "Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion". The second is "Neuromarketing: Understanding the Buy Buttons in Your Customer's Brain" by Renvoise and Morin (terrible title, great content). Don't read it unless you're interested in expanding your knowledge on selling, but do at least share it with Sandy.

   I'm just glad I branded myself as "The Notes Guy in Seattle" instead of "The Lotus Guy in Seattle". { Link }

   Cheers,

   -David

   The nice thing about being on the dark side is "When it's dark enough you can see the stars." -- Ralph Waldo Emerson

1. 53  Daniel Silva  | 7/6/2011 1:39:24 AM

   @52, Did you forget to mention the 3rd book?

1. 54  John Taylor http://www.typex.com/blogs.nsf | 7/6/2011 1:50:46 AM

   Why can't all blogs be as good as this?

   Perhaps we should reverse the twitter/texting idea of a maximum message length to become instead a minimum length for blog posts and hence force us all to think a bit more before going public?

   Maybe also delay publication 'a few days to read, reflect, and react'.

   Of course, responses will have to be kept short ;-)

1. 55  John Foo  | 7/6/2011 1:53:52 AM

   Thanks Ed for your post.

   It gives me, a Notes guys since 1995, a little more assurance that the software so many love will go from strength to strength. If it takes a name change to move it forward and upward, then make it soon and smooth, please.

1. 56  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 7/6/2011 7:19:20 AM
   
   

   @52 just to clarify, Sandy Carter is VP of sales and social business evangelism...Kristen Lauria is VP of marketing. And yes, IBM fell to #3 on the most valuable brands list this year from #2 a year ago. Sorry about that.

   @54 That is high praise, thank you!

   I think it's interesting that there seems to be only one voice in favor of the Lotus brand amongst fifty+ comments.

1. 57  Henning Heinz  | 7/6/2011 8:13:04 AM

   Well you will convince me when the first customer drops his migration plans because IBM gets rid of the Lotus brand.

   In addition it will probably take another decade until a product like Lotus Notes will finally adopt a new name.

   If you want a quicker change you would probably need to keep the Lotus brand and products and come out with something completely new (and I am aware you already did this). But if it is really the Lotus brand that is holding back everything then I am all for dropping it.

1. 58  Eric Jewett  | 7/6/2011 8:54:20 AM

   I'm just figuring my Lotusphere 99 bag will become a "Classic" item. This has been a great discussion to follow - passion, IQ and practicality. The software industry history is full of examples of technically superior products that have fallen by the wayside because they couldn't communicate their message. Their perceived value was so far under their actual value that they couldn't survive, except for a few zealots (OK, I ran Lotus Agenda under OS/2).

   This may be the shot in the arm that the N/D community needs to hold the line on "why not just switch to Exchange and Sharepoint?" Never mind the negative ROI. A makeover (_without_ loss of power, please) may smooth it over.

   Thanks again for the spirited debate and well-thought-out posts. Hopefully I don't tank the average

1. 59  David (The Notes Guy in Seattle) http:/thenotesguyinseattle.com | 7/6/2011 9:17:26 AM

   @56 Kristen Lauria? I haven't had the pleasure to meet her yet. Haven't heard of her either. I guess that emphasizes my point.

   @53 The third book is "Your Marketing Sucks" by Mark Stevens. Before you jump to conclusions on its content, he actually makes numerous references to IBM's marketing in positive regard and does not get into Lotus at all.

1. 60  Steve Medure  | 7/6/2011 9:35:56 AM

   When I read this and several other blogs about all of the rebranding I remembered something an IBMer said at a Lotus Sphere Comes to you event. It was several years ago during the initial launch of the Lotus 8 client and they were demonstrating all of the new features. You all probably remember the mouse pads given out with all of the products revolving around a web sphere icon. Several people in the room asked why it wasn't being marketed more, this was the first they had even heard of the new release. Their IBM reps hadn't even mentioned it to them. It was certainly the first I had heard of it at the time. The response from the IBMer was classic. "If IBM were in the business of selling sushi it would be marketed as cold dead fish". As off handed as that comment was I think it was probably a true reflection of how that IBMer felt about IBM's marketing campaign for Lotus....non existent.

   I think it's a very safe assumption that the Lotus name carries a lot of baggage and negativity. Some of it is very justified and some of it is just petty stuff that really doesn't matter. What has IBM been doing all these years to correct it? Why wasn't the Lotus brand lifted to the top of the stack as IBM's premier product, as the must have software?

   Personally I don't care what name it's given or how it's marketed to the masses. As a customer I just want a product that is free of bugs, regressions and unexpected programming errors, it just needs to work.

   PS...

   Ed, I'm still waiting on you to accept or decline the challenge I sent you via email. Just incase you lost my email...

   "Please provide me with a list of the top 10 new features, user or administrative, that were introduced into Lotus software, Notes, Sametime, Traveler etc. within the past 5 years. I'm talking about the big ticket items, the features that were bragged about at Lotus Sphere and other events. The features that were promised to turn Lotus and the Lotus community on it's ear. Then for that same list narrow it down to ones that were introduces without one regressions, or one unexpected defect. Ones that were delivered 100% accurate the first time around. This shouldn't be to difficult, it's only 10 features."

   Why not make that your next posting?

   From your favorite pain in the neck customer,

   Steve

1. 61  Nathan T. Freeman http://ntf.gbs.com | 7/6/2011 9:50:38 AM

   @59 - "Kristen Lauria? I haven't had the pleasure to meet her yet. Haven't heard of her either. I guess that emphasizes my point."

   Seriously?

   I'm not sure why you'd expect to have heard of a marketing VP. Can you name the head of marketing for Coca-Cola or AT&T off the top of your head?

   That being said, I find it hard to believe you wouldn't recognize Kristen, who's been a keynote speaker at Lotusphere 3 years running, including the Closing General Session last year. And frankly, when she takes the stage, you can't take your eyes off her.

   @60 "Then for that same list narrow it down to ones that were introduces without one regressions, or one unexpected defect. Ones that were delivered 100% accurate the first time around."

   Ummm, do you actually work with software? NO product is free from "unexpected defects." (As opposed to expected defects?) So your standard is itself bug-riddled and meaningless.

1. 62  Steve Medure  | 7/6/2011 10:23:33 AM

   @61 Nathan T Freeman

   I doubt you've used much other software if you think all software out there has as many issues as Lotus Notes/Domino. So it's ok for Lotus Notes/Domino to be a rank turd, just because other software has issues. There are free apps in the Apple app store that have more use, function, and less issues than Notes.

   Calling my standard meaningless, that's certainly a nice way to talk to a possible client of GBS. I don't think I would ever do business with them now knowing that you work there. Where did you work before, IBM? That's a lesson from their book, insult the customer, show them that they are stupid and don't have something configured right. Never mind the software is a pile of crap and has to be severely influenced to get it to do anything that resembles productivity.

   And yes I have had the distinct pleasure of working with Lotus/Domino for the past 11 years of my IT life. The term "unexpected defects" came from an email thread with Ed.

   This isn't about competition with other software. It's about IBM not giving a sh@# about it's products, or the quality of their products. It's about IBM not giving a sh@# about it's customers.

   My point is, IBM has every opportunity to make it's software better, to make it the best, and it fails every time. Fix packs do nothing more than band aid the reported issue, and at the same time breaks ten other things. I guess that's job security for IBM developers. The challenge was more of a sarcastic question to drive the point home about quality. Apparently I didn't state it clearly enough.

   Thanks for your meaningless comments.

1. 63  Irv Shor  | 7/6/2011 10:55:56 AM

   @60/@62 ...I'm not an IBM Developer nor an IBM'er. I do, however, remember doing a Domino 4.5x to Exchange 2000 Migration. I went to Exchange 2000 Class and AD classes and learned about all of these great and fantastic things it could do (hmm, that Domino could already do at the time), and spent weeks on work around processes during go-live because the vendor advertised 'feature' set was not yet working as advertised and would be 'fixed' in a future release (Delegation/ACL type issues), or perhaps only worked with POP3 or IMAP. Answers such as 'This is a feature of the application' were provided by the vendor. Folders that wouldn't synchronize without end users manually asking the software to do it (try explaining that the CEO on his first traveling adventure post upgrade where he didn't have his presentation). I know.. years have passed and a good bit of it is fixed now, but I doubt that any major business software release has been 100% perfect for any major product. I'm sure its easy to get a bug free Angry Birds app released on the App Store, but I imagine stockholders in our business might get angry if that's what our personnel had pushed to their smartphones. One thing for sure, when there is a patch or fix pack released, installing it certainly won't break any sweat on a Domino administrator's forehead. But we've seen some cloud services have some outage issues during updates, and significant downtime to patch things up on some other systems, haven't we?

1. 64  Nathan T. Freeman http://ntf.gbs.com | 7/6/2011 11:07:37 AM

   @62 - Since I'm certain that my software doesn't meet your standard of zero regressions and zero unexpected defects, I'm already relieved that you won't be a customer, Steve.

1. 65  Steve Medure  | 7/6/2011 11:27:20 AM

   @63

   Why does everyone always insist on comparing notes to exchange. Exchange is a pile of crap and I would never consider migrating to it. I certainly didn't mention it. Are you for real, "stockholders in our business might get angry if that's what our personnel had pushed to their smartphones.", they are probably the biggest Angry Birds players of all. I also didn't mention angry birds, guess that comes from your own experiences with the iPhone.

   And "the vendor advertised 'feature' set was not yet working as advertised and would be 'fixed' in a future release " that's been the response of nearly every PMR that I've opened over the past year for Lotus Notes issues, next release, next fix pack.

   I would love to see the Lotus brand get better, I just don't think calling it something different will solve the problems that exist. They can only be fixed by better quality management. You want people to stop running away from the Lotus name, solve the reasons they ran in the first place. Don't just cover them up with a new name.

   Sorry if I'm being to harsh for Lotus/Domino evangelist, purists, or yellow bubblers. But the sad fact is if IBM wants Lotus to compete and be the leader, it needs an even more drastic change than the name.

1. 66  Steve Medure  | 7/6/2011 12:05:23 PM

   @64

   Ok, let me see if I can state this in a way that it makes sense to those that didn't get it. I understand that software can have bugs and that no software vendor is immune to that. Now let me rephrase the term "unexpected defects" avoidable defects.

   For example, an issue that existed in 8.5.1, was fixed in 8.5.1 FP3, then later in 8.5.2 the issue is back in the code again. It's fixed in 8.5.2 FP1, then broke again in 8.5.2 FP2. That is supposed to be acceptable? This can be avoided. This happens routinely with Lotus fix packs. Why is it acceptable that issues from a previous version has returned in the new version? The answer I'm hearing is, don't worry about it, all software has problems. We'll fix it in the next release, right, until you break it in the one after that.

   Does that make any more sense? While these sorts of issues are going on everyone is concerned about IBM's marketing strategy and if the name is going away. WHO CARES!!!!! FIX THE FREAKING PROBLEMS and you wouldn't have to worry about hiding behind a new brand name.

1. 67  David (The Notes Guy in Seattle) http:/thenotesguyinseattle.com | 7/6/2011 1:37:29 PM

   @61 OK Nathan, I have certainly seen Kristen. Yes, she certainly has good stage presence and public speaking skills. But I know her by face and not by name or title. I have heard her speak onstage at Lotusphere. But I have yet to meet her, which may seem no big deal, but for how well I know Ed and other IBM executives who, in this transparency, make themselves very available and visible. I have had good discussions with others like Kevin Cavanaugh and Alistair Rennie at events like PACLUG and Lotusphere. I don't expect to know the execs at Coca-Cola or AT&T because I am not a stakeholder and because their *products* are not under scrutiny for a bad image. Also, they don't make the same claim of transparency.

   Since Kristen is not visible or accessible in the same way, we are left to have discussions of marketing with those who are. I think Ed goes far above and beyond his role to engage the community where ever possible. But I think Kristen should be jumping in here. I think Kristen should have been on that call about the rebranding. I think Kristen should have blogged this post and fielded our comments. The product is solid. That is Ed's job. (right?) It's not the product we're discussing. It is the marketing of it.

1. 68  Chris Blatnick http://interfacematters.com | 7/6/2011 2:06:44 PM

   @Steve Medure...Here, on your blog and on every other place you post, all you do is complain about Notes. Why not just move on to another area or technology? All negative with no positive contributions is certainly helping no one, regardless of what the brand is called.

1. 69  Steve Medure  | 7/6/2011 2:30:41 PM

   @68 Chris Blatnick

   Sorry, I tend to post things that have frustrated me with the product from an administrative point of view. I didn't realize there was a requirement to only post a positive image of Lotus Notes on this or my own blog. Not all of my posts are negative as you allude too. As a customer, I think I'm entitled to my opinion of the product. Oh, and I forgot, collaboration is always one-sided and everyone has the same views all the time.

   The fact that an IBM staff member tells it's customers to just go away, to move on to another technology is appalling.

   You want a better marketing strategy, stop telling your customers to go away. Maybe listen to their problems and concerns and do something about it.

   Give me something to be positive about and maybe my postings would reflect a more positive image of the product.

1. 70  Steve Medure  | 7/6/2011 2:36:30 PM

   PS...Chris

   It's not complaining, it's valid feed back from a customer. As a representative of IBM you should welcome feedback no matter how negative it is.

   It's apparent to me now why nothing has changed, apparently IBM's got enough money in the bank that they can afford to tell customers to go away.

   I'm changing the title of my Bleedyellow blog to Mr. Negative Notes just for you.

1. 71  Chris Blatnick http://interfacematters.com | 7/6/2011 3:15:53 PM

   @Steve...I'm NOT with IBM anymore, so don't blame them. Bit of advice though...If you want help, you catch more flies with honey than vinegar.

   Your feedback is given with a tone that reeks of disdain and negativity. There are certainly ways to get your point across in a more positive manner.

   Seriously, though...life is too short. If Notes really bothers you that much, why do you stick with it?

1. 72  GarryL  | 7/6/2011 3:19:16 PM

   Lads, lads - can't we just settle this over a pint?

   :)

1. 73  Chris Blatnick http://interfacematters.com | 7/6/2011 3:19:42 PM

   As far as the topic of this post goes, now that I am a customer again, count me in the camp that believes that it is best that the Lotus brand be retired. It makes sense to lead with IBM. While I know that does not change the work the team is doing behind the scenes, creating a unified front will instill some customers with confidence. Either way, I'm seriously excited about the direction of the collaboration portfolio (Notes, Connections, et al) and the opportunity it affords me to build powerful solutions for my company!

1. 74  Stuart McIntyre http://blog.collaborationmatters.com | 7/6/2011 3:22:28 PM

   @69 Chris Blatnick no longer works for IBM - actually Chris, congrats on the new role. I was chatting to one of your colleagues at Social Connections on Monday, and he was saying how pleased they are to have you back ;-)

1. 75  Sean Burgess http://www.asnddesigns.com | 7/6/2011 3:25:14 PM

   @68 Well said! There is nothing that keeps anyone in IT from dropping one technology for another that they find superior. Since Steve doesn't seem to be doing that, I have to conclude that either that better technology doesn't exist or that he can't adapt to it. In either case, the incessant whining is really annoying.

1. 76  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 7/6/2011 3:35:35 PM
   
   

   Alright, now that we've established some parameters on who works where and why, let's move on. Lots of eyes on this discussion thread.

   @73 thanks for that feedback. Precisely what I need.

1. 77  Chris Whisonant http://lotusnut.gbs.com | 7/6/2011 3:41:26 PM

   @68 - I must add a couple of quick comments here...

   1 - Chris is not "a representative of IBM." He no longer works for them.

   2 - If I go to your main blog page, there are 15 posts. Twelve of those 15 posts are of a negative nature. So, technically, "not all" of them are negative.

   3 - Which operating system do you use? I would like to know which one it is that has no defects or no regression bugs. I've been dealing with this on Windows for YEARS. Maybe the Mac will be better?

   4 - Software is coded by humans and not other software. Humans do tend to make mistakes. You mentioned that there was an issue found in 8.5.1 that was fixed in FP3 but still existed in 8.5.2. OK, did you also mention that at the time of those problems that IBM was working on the following SEVEN versions of Notes and Domino:

   7.0.3 (fixpacks)

   7.0.4

   7.0.4 (fixpacks)

   8.0.2 (fixpacks)

   8.5.1 (fixpacks)

   8.5.2

   8.5.3 BETA Testing

   Each of those have a different core codestream that can't just be changed to fix all subsequent bugs without the risk of creating other problems. And if they do port a fix in, they have to make sure as much as possible that it's not going to have an impact on other pieces of the code.

   And, in addition to that, this is 7 versions of Domino across 5 Platforms with a total of 29 versions of Operating Systems on those platforms.

   p.s. IBM was also porting Domino to be a native 64-bit application for those Operating Systems as well as maintaining their 32-bit support.

1. 78  Sean Burgess http://www.asnddesigns.com | 7/6/2011 3:41:37 PM

   But Dad!!!!!

1. 79  Steve Medure  | 7/6/2011 4:01:40 PM

   @72 - The best idea yet.

   @Chris - Didn't know you left IBM, sorry for the assumption. I'm not bitter and I certainly don't hate the product, nor does it ruin my day. I tend to speak my mind and be a little blunt, sorry if that offended any of you.

   @75, I can adapt to anything, I've been working with Notes long enough :)

1. 80  Stuart McIntyre http://blog.collaborationmatters.com | 7/6/2011 4:08:16 PM

   Let's get this back on track then...

   Ed, in @56 you said 'I think it's interesting that there seems to be only one voice in favor of the Lotus brand'.

   Lets assume that the majority now agree that moving away from the Lotus name is a good thing. If so, when will we hear that the remaining products will definitely be renamed?

   Also, the point about Kristen is well made (though its great to see her on Twitter recently). Some might say that we don't hear enough from Kristen, Alistair or even Sandy regarding ICS products and solutions other than in preprepared presentations at major events. I don't expect all IBM execs to be 'social' (I know we've discussed this before), but when such an issue is discussed this publicly, should those in charge of the branding/marketing effort be expected to engage in the discussion? A tough ask I guess given how busy they are and how tight corporate rules are... Ed, you continue to show the way in that regard, but I'd love to see others follow your lead.

1. 81  Steve Medure  | 7/6/2011 4:10:50 PM

   Ed if you feel my comments are too distracting from your post and that there are too many eyes on them, delete them. I really don't care any more, I've wasted enough time trying to have my voice heard. It's been made perfectly clear that no one wants to hear it. What a great community!

1. 82  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 7/6/2011 4:34:00 PM
   
   

   I don't delete comments except for spam.

   @80 I think the senior execs are engaged in the conversation, but in listen mode mostly. They speak more sparsely because their words are so often amplified.

1. 83  Erik Brooks  | 7/6/2011 10:33:10 PM

   Yeehaw, guess I'll throw my two cents in here.

   Wow, sounds like "the call" was botched pretty good. Thank god for Ed and his blog.

   "Lotus Notes" will forever be the most misunderstood product in the world. Yes, it's primarily IBM's fault due to Workplace, but that's water under the bridge. The reality today is that it's best to drop that name. All of the other Lotus products are so new and/or unknown that they can rapidly be renamed IBM (as has been happening) and nobody will notice/care.

   The thick Notes client is dying a slow death. A few decades from now it will all be the web, despite certain elements being inferior technologically-speaking. Best to start transitioning now, albeit slowly.

   The Domino server, on the other hand, is alive and kicking. IBM has given us one of the most incredible web app dev platforms out there with XPages on Domino. So you can start transitioning to the web *now* if you haven't already. Yes, it would have been much better if IBM had brought XPages to the server 2 years earlier (Workplace again) but again, that's water under the bridge.

   The server is where it's at now. And the momentum there is huge. 8.5.3 has some GREAT stuff. 9.0 *should* be incredible (more on that below.)

   Regarding quality: I've railed IBM before about regressions and broken stuff in 8.x. In their defense, a lot happened during that timeframe to cause an increase in QA problems:

   - the entire move to Eclipse

   - migrating to 64-bit

   - composite apps

   - XPages

   - SSJS

   - IBM QA testing getting moved to China (note that I am not slamming China as a testing ground, but rather the fact that moving QA is bound to cause bumps in the road)

   - IBM having to do all of this in a compressed few years of "catch up" due to Workplace

   In the past several months my company has received something like 12 hotfixes for the Domino server. While this isn't exactly positive (especially the regressions we've discovered) the simple fact that it has been EASY to get hotfixes for the server emphasizes how much easier it is for IBM to improve that piece of software vs. the thick client. That's a Good Thing, and further emphasizes the potential advantages of moving as much as possible to the server in the long run.

   We do Domino web apps, and our clients love, love, LOVE the things we can do. We tell them it's an "IBM" backend, and the response is overwhelmingly positive. We don't dare mention "Lotus" because the general public perception is either vague or tied to the thick client. There are specific individuals who go "Oh, Lotus Domino? AWESOME!" but they are few and far between.

   It's ABSOLUTELY the perfect time to launch an "IBM XPages Server." And it needs to be connected with Lotus as little as possible. There's a thriving XPages-based community already, and the new blood (yes, I said NEW BLOOD) getting involved likes the IBM brand. Some of the new blood hasn't even heard of Lotus. It's definitely best to lead with IBM here.

   @Ed -

   "There will be a new feature release of Notes/Domino in 2012. I have been discussing this release in every public presentation since before Lotusphere 2011. We at IBM have not yet chosen a name for this release."

   Along the lines of both the brand discussion and IBM's commitment to the platform: I assert that, with the 2012 release of the 9.0 (or whatever it's called) server, if there aren't significant enhancements to the NSF datastore the bulk of the Yellowsphere will believe that IBM has no real strategic interest in pushing the product forward. The perception will instead be that IBM is using the platform as a strategic cash cow.

   That's my two cents.

1. 84  David (The Notes Guy in Seattle) http:/thenotesguyinseattle.com | 7/7/2011 12:54:07 AM

   Isn't this just the long-delayed inevitability of what must surely be the slowest acquisition process ever?

   I still think the rebranding effort (or is it 'unbranding'?) addresses a symptom and not the cause. Blaming the brand name is a cop-out. The family of Lotus products is superb and superior to all its competition. There was a period of time 5-10 years ago where the Lotus Notes UI was neglected, but that cannot account for the current state of the brand's perception. And during those times that the UI was being neglected, every other component of the product was making improvements far beyond the competition. (It reminds me of a 1963 VW Beetle.) Many features that were in the Lotus products long ago are just now beginning to appear in competitors' software. Whatever bad rap the Lotus brand has today, the current product cannot be blamed. **The failure is not in the products. It is in the promotion of those products.** Being the best product does not ensure it will be the most successful product or even that it will succeed at all. Betamax vs. VHS is a classic example of this.

   For this unbranding to make a difference, there must be a corresponding change in marketing strategy. It must be revolutionary (and not just by IBM standards.) IBM must jump on this opportunity with great fanfare as a rebirth. This is not a move FROM Lotus, but a move TO IBM.

   In a way, all of this transparency may be harmful. A change like this deserves the "shock and awe" approach. That is one of the most effective marketing techniques and a great way to springboard people to be more receptive of the change. Think VW TV commercials { Link } Of course VW is the advertising champion of the century: { Link } It's all about impact, as in this classic from my childhood involving another yellow product and an elephant: { Link }

   IBM could learn from other companies regarding bad product perception. There is Coca-Cola with Coke-New Coke-Classic Coke, Ford with..well everything that came out of Detroit for awhile, AT&T with less coverage in the U.S. than Verizon, Toyota's brake problem and Microsoft with Windows Millenium, Vista, and SharePoint.

   I think the public will be quite willing to embrace the changes IBM is making. The question is: Is IBM willing to embrace the radical changes in their marketing needed to make the product as successful as it could be? Dr. Spencer Johnson put it most succinctly and eloquently in his short book with the long title "Who Moved My Cheese?: An Amazing Way to Deal with Change in Your Work and in Your Life". IBM, Kristen, regarding your marketing techniques, to quote from the book: "it's time to smell the cheese."

1. 85  Henning Heinz  | 7/7/2011 3:31:57 AM

   Isn't IBM "Former Lotus" Connections the fastest growing software product in IBM history? How was this possible when people normally run away when they hear Lotus?

   Why can IBM show Connections at Enterprise 2.0 but not for example Notes and Domino? Will this change next year when the brand name has disappeared?

   It will be interesting see see what qualifies as "significant enhancements to the NSF datastore" in the next release major of Notes and Domino.

   And maybe the thick Notes client is dying a slow death. Still I am always surprised that when companies switch, they deploy the fat Outlook client in the vast majority of cases (even when they deploy BPOS)!?

   Maybe the browser is the future because nobody has come out with something better. But companies like Apple prove that you can be successful with native applications when being done right.

   Kristen Lauria looks much better than me, earns more money, probably is much smarter and successfully works for a big multinational company in a leading management position. I don't know what books she reads but her strategy for sure seems to be much better than my own (although I am happy with my life).

1. 86  Bill Buchan http://www.billbuchan.com | 7/7/2011 5:05:05 AM

   @80 'I dont delete comments except for spam'.

   So my comment regarding your 'ISV vs Customers' where I mentioned that:

   "in order to 'sell' the idea to ISV's you'd have to Market Lotus Notes"

   was spam? Because it was deleted...

   ---* Bill "Collateral Damage" Buchan

1. 87  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 7/7/2011 7:25:56 AM
   
   

   @86 don't remember seeing that one. I'll check the spam folder.

1. 88  Randall Shimizu  | 7/8/2011 12:16:55 AM

   Personally I hope IBM retains brand names. The problem is that when you combine everything under a single name the products get lost in a big jumble. I can't seem to recall what Oracle call their Siebel line now. HP has a bunch of products that I can't seem to recall either. Product brands like Tivoli, DB2 and Lotus.etc.. have a lot of brand equity and IBM and it does not make sense to throw them away.

1. 89  Stanley Davis  | 7/8/2011 3:17:53 PM

   At this point I see branding as a philosophical discussion. I agree with David that the failure is not in the products. It is in the promotion of those products.

   I can handle the standard why don’t we use Outlook questions. Daily issues I have are:

   -Business applications that integrate with Outlook and make no mention of Notes.

   -Web sites with links that say “synchronize with your Outlook calendar” even though it is just an iCal link.

   -Staff that composes email in Word for the grammar/spellchecking features. And then paste the text into Notes before sending.

   -Staff that use Google Docs for easy document collaboration.

   We are a small shop of 550 clients using Notes, Sametime, and Traveler. I have attended over 10 Lotusphere Conferences hoping to see more organizations our size and I do not.

   I come away asking myself should we be using Notes. You might argue that Notes can do all that. But I think we are the only ones who might know it.

1. 90  Mark A. Roosevelt http://raitc.com | 7/10/2011 1:00:45 PM

   I'm late to the party, but it's been interesting and (thank you) entertaining to read this thread in one sitting. It's great to see this many people so passionate about a product. On the other hand, it's somewhat disturbing to see so much bickering about something other than making the Lotus Notes and Domino platform a feared competitor in the marketplace.

   Some points I'd like to share, having the benefit of this discussion:

   1. Product management should drive branding. The saying "Marketing: That's Just Liquor and a Lot of Guessing" (or is it the other way around? -- note that I market myself as a marketing consultant) has a good deal of truth to it. Without product management guiding the marketing (and sales) teams re: "This is why this product totally rocks!" they might as well throw stuff at a wall and see what sticks.

   2. The name matters, and I will go on record as the second supporter of the Lotus brand. Some examples are very close to home (which I have discussed in "cloud perception" presentations):

   - How many names has the IBM AS/400 had, and have the changes boosted sales or changed customer perception as a rock-solid backoffice system in any significant way?

   - What would Lenovo bought from IBM if not the ThinkPad brand? They dropped the IBM logo from my T61p (my 12th ThinkPad) but kept the ThinkPad moniker, right down to the little red dot.

   - Speaking of ThinkPads, as silly as this sounds, the ThinkPad 701c (aka "Butterfly") was a media sensation despite its name because it was innovative and its innovation was easily demonstrated and made much of. When I delivered AS/400 marketing tours around the world, it literally stole the show when included in my bag of tricks. (Note: I think it ultimately flopped, but it was red hot for a while and really gave ThinkPads a recognition boost.)

   - Microsoft really irked a lot of users when they introduced ribbons, but they like the Office brand SO much that they named their online offering Office365.

   Bottom line: Re-branding is a hit-or-miss proposition. Do we (IBM Lotus and the Business Partner community) really need to spend 10's or 100's of millions of dollars rebranding and re-educating the world? How about instead we focus on getting out the word to SMBs and C-level executives why Notes and Domino really rock?

   3. I agree with Ed that IBM needs not nor should they air their every strategy to the world, but I'd take that a step further:

   Why are we yet again having this pissing match in public? I bet the folks at Microsoft and Google are laughing their collective a**es off right now, if they're even bothering to read this thread.

   I've been working with Lotus Notes and Domino since the R5 rollout. I love it. I love the way it synchronizes my life. With Traveler, I cannot envision the day I switch to another platform. If Lotus were to kill the product tomorrow, I'd still be running 8.5.x 10 years from now (assuming it works with my smartphone anymore.

   @23 Kathy Brown, customers, have the ultimate say-so. They vote with their feet, and when enough find the exit the Business Partners follow. For as many of you have indicated in this and Mike Kinder's LinkedIn thread, we do this for a living and hope it is fun, not the other way around.

   I'm for whatever makes the customers happy and attracts lots more of them to what we so strongly believe in.

1. 91  Thomas  | 7/11/2011 11:12:36 AM

   Let's just create something new and get rid of Lotus Notes and Domino altogether. Create a new product and have an easy migration path from Notes. A new revolutionary product will attract new customers and allow Notes/Domino shops to leverage their existing environment.

   If the new Notes client isn't revolutionary... than stick with what you've got.

1. 92  Heiko Voigt http://www.sit.de/heikos-blog | 7/13/2011 3:59:19 AM

   @91 - been there, done that. Was called workplace. Failed. Now what ?!

1. 93  Thomas  | 7/13/2011 2:33:00 PM

   @92 - Obviously Workplace wasn't revolutionary... enough said.

   Here's an idea IBM. Buy Facebook and create a new software called Facebook Corporate to replace Lotus Notes. I'm sure you could sell that to big business!

1. 94  Fredrik Malmborg http://www.replikera.se | 7/16/2011 2:01:56 AM

   @93 - And with what gain for the customers? Think again and reflect on your own thoughts. I do the same mistake now and then, speaking while thinking.

1. 95  Sean J  | 7/25/2011 9:39:32 AM

   as the thread seems to have gone left-field, how about...

   IBM launches a revolutionary new web-based application server called "IBM Domino Server", which comes with its own development environment "IBM Domino Designer".

   Meanwhile keep selling "Lotus Notes" which connects to the "Lotus Notes Server". The development tool for this being the "Lotus Notes Designer".

   Same products, but those sold as a web-solution are called "IBM" and come in a blue box, those sold as client/Notes solution are called "Lotus" and come in a yellow box

   ;o)

1. 96  mike  | 7/26/2011 1:01:09 AM

   Getting rid of any mention of Lotus or Notes is a smart move. Then hopefully it can cycle and get picked up by all the businesses that dumped Lotus Notes. Anyway, it's already dead isn't it ? </sarcasm>