Must be careful, clients now read this :-)
So I am doing my DAMO demo and in all honesty, why would someone still say they prefer Outlook?
After seeing a Notes R8 client, in this case 801, and an Office 2003 Outlook client running DAMO (which the R7 DAMO runs on currently as I eagerly await the beta of Damo FOR R8 for Vista/Office 2007) how could one sit there and still think Outlook is superior.
Sure, I am biased, but really, can Outlook:
1) go modular? Notes R8 standard client can if you click on the drop down of a sidebar option and select open in new window. My favorite function. Why is this important to me? Because sometimes I want the item seen while mail is minimized.
2) Stop adding tons of tabs to my screen for every task? Notes has had a tabbed interface sine R5(I believe) and even Microsoft finally gave in that it was a better choice, just look at IE7.
3) Do anything beyond email? Enough said.
4) Can you open a browser from WITHIN Outlook so you don't have to go out to another screen/browser? I can in Notes clients since R4 which is going on 10 years ago!
5) Provide an ROI out of the box? Notes can and has! Now with R8 the client does make life easier, no longer do I need to open extra applications, multiple sites or services, they all can run from within my Notes client, perfectly happy and waiting for my time of need. Need to look up a client's info, invoice someone, forward pricing or look it up, I can do it all from one client license fee.
6) Create a spreadsheet or presentation or contract on the fly? With the built in Symphony suite I can. In fact, if you had configured it years ago, even in the time of Office 2000 you could do this from within a Notes client or application without looking for your icons. OK, some poeple who know how to edit their toolbars could have done this, but few ever did which is why Microsoft created that mini toolbar that floats on top of everything.
From the "about this database" of the Office Library found in Notes clients.
What does this database do?
This database gives Notes users the ability to seamlessly create and save documents using Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, or Paintbrush, without leaving Notes.
Is there more? Sure, but this will keep you going for a little while.
Evangelism is fun, especially within your own organization.
So few people ever think out of the box, and now there is a software communication client that allows one to stay in the box.
Speaker, Blogger, Author. Posts about HCL Digital Solutions, HCL Software, Lotus, Management, Collaboration, Competitive Intelligence and Strategy, Productivity, CRM and B2B Marketing.
Seems this thread gets all the fun comments.
ReplyDeleteIf you need to manage your browser you are living under a rock.
Your employees are using whatever they want when then want, no matter what you have forced them to do.
The Lotus Notes client does not force you to use it's browser, it is there to augment capabilities, you are just as welcome to use IE or FF or something else.
I present to you that if Lotus was that bad it would have disappeared long ago, the truth is it is growing again in interest.
I'd like to see Outlook work the way I want, not the way MS wants me to work.
Future applications I would imagine will be more web based and less client focused(although a browser is a client).
Notes better than Outlook?
ReplyDeleteDelusional.
Ask anyone.
Great points!
ReplyDeleteThe points are valid issues I have with Outlook.
ReplyDeleteI could point to many other issues which people hate about Outlook.
Most people, users, dislike the UI and that is subjective.
Functionality and Technologically Notes is better than Outlook.
That is not to say Outlook doesn't do things better or easier, but again it's just email.
By the way, even Exchange admins love Domino any day over Exchange.
man, Notes does too much. I agree that workflow is good, but sucks big time as a mail client. You said yourself that most user dislike the UI, that is the kicker. And no drag and drop among mail databases??? I can drag anything I want among PSTs I open.
ReplyDeleteCan't file "Sent" mail in a project folder, ever growing "Sent" mail view. If everything is a "document" why can't I store my document where I want it to go? And why can't I make a copy of the document either?
As I said, I'm fine with the back end stuff Notes does, just that its a major POS for email.
"It's just email" - enough said.
@Anon,
ReplyDeleteI posted this almost 2 years ago.
Thanks for reading. But to answer your comments.
The UI in Domino is really no longer an issue since R8.
Drag and drop has been in Notes for some time, even as far back as R6 it did this, although some newer pieces came in R7 and R8. Right now I can move between folders and databases, even to sharepoint, quickr and other "file depositories" calendar, sent and other items too.
You can make a copy of a sent mail and file it where you wish. Your questions seem to come from either a lack of experience on Notes or an R5 perspective which would be at least 10 years old.
Take a look at the new client, download it for free from IBM and then ask me some more questions.
https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/downloads/ls/lsndad/learn.html?S_TACT=105AGX13&S_CMP=LSDL
Well thanks for the reply. I got saddled with Notes 8.5.1 right now and I'm not a happy mail user.
ReplyDeleteI created an Archive to store my mail, not a replica coz I don't want a replica. I tried to move mail from my inbox to my archive.....and it says operation not supported for moving between different databases. Bear in mind it is 8.5 and not something 10 years old. I suppose then that the Notes metaphor has remained the same for the last 10 years.
I've been in IT for 13 years and I tend to fix my own software usability problems but I seriously doubt that Notes deficits can be fixed by anyone.
About the "Sent" folder...it is a VIEW, and I cannot make a copy in my project folder and delete the VIEW without deleting my COPY as well. That is seriously dumb. I believe IBM wants to keep it this way for "legacy compatibility" since 1999...drop in replacement yadayadayada...errr...this is 2010.
My point is, people bitch about Notes the Email Client, not Notes the Domino app/workflow thingy. Fix the email, IBM...there are plenty of I hate Notes sites why don't you solve some of the more obviously silly gripes listed then you will be perceived in a better light. Users tend to have no choice when the BOSS or IT foists Notes on them.
Lotus Notes, used for the back end workflow, is good I *think* but surely not its email!!
@anon,
ReplyDeleteOK so you want to make an archive, which in Notes speak is a "backup" of an existing database or a secondary link to older mails(I do this by year usually).
You perceive the archive as a second db, but it isn't in that format. Because Domino stores details by ID the archive is a subset of your primary mail file. You can choose to archive individual items but usually better to just auto archive every xx days or months.
What you describe you want is a "new copy" of your mail file it sounds like. File- app-Newcopy.
Yes, sent is a view, and you can copy the document to any folder, but really you are just moving a pointer/link, not the email itself so it is only stored once.
I can see your perspective on this, but I can also see, and have saved many clients, with the lotus perspective which is if you move it, and lose it you will never see it again.
You can of course turn off a bunch of items, like don't save sent mail at all, but that is also rather pointless for many people.
When you send an email you can automatically save it in a folder, if you choose, so not sure what the problem is on that part.
Notes as a mail client is perfectly fine if you leverage it for all it can do for you, mail is really just a small piece.
Workflow is Domino's strength and always has been.
Honestly I find Outlook immensely frustrating that it does not allow one to work the way you want but they want it wants you to.
What people don't like I think about Notes is the choices. So many choices, and multiple ways to accomplish a task when people maybe just want a simple do this, do that. Sadly, Apple encourages this as well.
At the end of the day, email is being supplanted by IM and audio.
I can't say anything bad about Domino on the back end, it is solid and efficient.
Good conversation but please email me if you wish for more.