So, IBM is marketing Lotus Domino as a RADD...
Stuart McIntyre blogged about a published whitepaper last week. He also stated that it is dated back to 9th November. It is a shame we missed it.
The IBM solution for RADD (Rapid Application Development and Deployment)
Based on many years of application development for collaborative and business logic applications, IBM offers best-in-class tools, experience and strategies to help companies obtain nearimmediate gains and ROI for custom business solutions.
The open standards-based IBM Lotus Domino platform features XPages technology, which provides one programming model for developers to build applications for desktop, browser and mobile experiences. This comprehensive platform integrates secure and semistructured data storage, applicationlevel security, robust user directories and built-in messaging services that support human-facing workflow.
The IBM Lotus Domino Designer tool facilitates an iterative development process in which business requirements can be quickly prototyped, tuned and deployed to provide a compelling Web 2.0 experience. The graphical drag-and-drop, Eclipse-based environment allows developers to rapidly build web, Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino applications. The tool includes XPages technology, which is built on JavaServer Faces (JSF). XPages technology provides a layer of abstraction on JSF, allowing developers to build online or disconnected applications using HTML, CSS and JavaScript skills, along with a set of modern web controls, Dojo and built-in Ajax services.
Developers use the Lotus Domino platform to support industry-specifc development objectives with built-in, customizable frameworks and templates. And they can build an application once, launch it on practically any deployment model—including the cloud—and make it accessible through the web, mobile devices and rich clients.
My most favorite discussion in 2010 was the strategy of IBM towards the idea: 'Domino is a good platform for development'. In my point of view, it seems stupid to blame IBM killing their product. Still IBM has mistakes and I personally criticized this behaviour face to face with CEE team two weeks ago. When an executive from IBM told me: 'What did you do as a partner?'. I thought that was the key question. Yes, sometimes, we are missing the whole and just whining.
The whitepaper did not change anything. This endless issue will be discussed for a long time.
IBM will not be changed as well. Still, XPages may be withdrawn (god forbid) or moved away to WAS completely :)
However, the tipping point is different. This whitepaper was not a secret. It was available to anyone. How many of us passed this to our customers, or put it on our blogs/company web sites? OK, you don't read every announcements but Stuart's blog is a popular one. Visitors that create a tail of shouting comments on each 'Lotus, you failed!' blog, they just skipped this entry?
There are important strategic moves that cannot be disregarded. Isn't OpenNTF unique? Is there any open source community that are supported by a vendor? Greenhouse? IdeaJams? User Groups? I must admit that as a user group co-leader, I saw it: IBM supports communities!
I will not 'hurray' this but I am so grateful and hopeful it will be continued...
Comments (7)
Serdar,
Sorry, but I could not find the article on the link that you posted. Maybe I am missing something. Is it there another link on the page to get to it?
As for the WAS-based XPages, I do believe that it is the direction that IBM is going. I am not saying that this will kill Domino, but it is a logical direction. That said, Domino is evolving and will have more and more elements of Websphere and Workplace in order for it to integrate nicely with the rest of the IBM portfolio. It will be interesting in how Domino fits into Project Vulcan. Hopefully there will be announcements in Lotusphere 2011. We will see.
A white paper does not equal marketing...
In this case it just shows what a joke the IBM/Lotus marketing folks think of Notes.
If they have not pushed this paper out to all the major IT media, along with a load of additional info, opinions, comparisons, articles, charts, graphs, ROI examples, real world examples and even a bit of hype, then this "white paper" is just a "memo" from IBM to themselves.
Bloody typical.
@Erik,
I do think the same. It seems promising. We'll see...
@Henning,
Outcurve (Codeplex) has some structural issues. They should be (and evantually will be) resolved. There is a problem with its launch. OpenNTF has born from the community. Codeplex has been formed by MS directly, with an important financial figure (1 mil. USD I think). They will change and become a part of MS community in time.
There is no any evidence, trend or reason about withdrawal of XPages. It was just an exagerated example of sharp changes in IBM's strategy :)
Finally, NSF has already evolved a lot in recent years. Currently, it seems as an indispensible part of Lotus strategy, independent of being an application development environment.
@Richard,
It is public and can be seen at the library section of Notes/Domino page ({ Link }).
About WAS-based XPages, I posted an entry about it recently ({ Link }). It will be a good improvement and I don't think it may kill Domino.
Thank you all for your comments.
Was this white paper something IBM made public and marketed. There was definitely no announcement by IBM outside of our community in other publications and the knowledge of the white paper was provide not by IBM, but by a business partner.
It does not matter whether everyone knows about this in our yellow bubble. If IBM cannot define a clear message about Domino and its future to win back customers and actively market it beyond our yellow bubble, they are wasting their time and money.
My opinion is that XPages for Websphere is coming. I believe Volker predicts this also. It is the most logical decision given the direction IBM has been heading. It unifies the development environment for both Domino and Websphere. With all the Workplace code added to Notes and Domino this is the logical step. I don't believe IBM will withdraw XPages, but everything will evolve to Websphere. Gone in the future is what make Domino what it really is, the best application server especially for small businesses.
Microsoft has Outercurve, formerly known as Codeplex but I don't think this is what you would like to hear.
You are the first to write that there is a possibility for XPages to be withdrawn. XPages might extend beyond Domino but for sure it will not disappear (why should it?).
I am more interested if IBM is willing to bring nsf into the 21st century removing old 16 bit limits and introducing new features without recycling old software components.
One paper does not mean IBM is suddenly marketing Domino as RADD. It took the Yellowsphere over a month to find this paper, and that's not good.
But you do have to start somewhere, and hopefully this is the start of a trend that continues. If it's at least representative of a growing mindset within IBM then that's promising.
@Richard,
seems interesting. If it's not 'country-specific', I can see the article. Look at the bottom of the page, in Whitepapers section...
It is not surprising we missed this :)
@Brett,
I agree nothing changed with a single whitepaper. We only wish it would be a start.