So, IBM is marketing Lotus Domino as a RADD...
I tagged and forgot this. But it's important. Not only about the whitepaper itself, but also about that we are so used to criticize...
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...