Domino, the Ginsu Knife of Servers

Nothing but the Domino!

Yes you can do everything, like the old Ginsu Knives commercial from the 70's/80s in the US.

Domino it slices it dices it cuts, grates cheese and still it chops firewood like a champion.

Ok, forget the firewood part and the cheese.

So in the spirit of Ginsu, what do you get for your $8,050? To get to this number use this link. Then select the Enterprise Server and then go figure out the PVU's. I used a quad core Dell Intel Edgeserver for this purpose.

Note to IBM, this is lame by now. Just set a price for the server please.

So for 2-4 times the price of your hardware, what do YOU do with it?
Mail.

Right, what do you think this is? Microsoft Exchange we can only do 1 thing at a time?

Microsoft cost: $3,999 for Enterprise Exchange 2007 server from this Microsoft page. Note this limitation:

Enables creating up to 50 storage groups, with a maximum of 50 databases per Mailbox server role.

No limits on Domino, it keeps going, and going and going.

(said sheepishly by the customer)Applications?
Damn straight applications.

But don't those require a developer? In some cases yes, but there are a number of built in templates for applications already on your client, yes yours, and your server. The server ones are "hidden" but if you know how to find them, and your administrator didn't block you from doing so, go look at them.

Here's a hint, CTRL-N, leave Server as local so it gets created on your pc, give a title and file name, then enter your server name from the drop down list. And find something like a teamroom or a blog or some other template you fancy.

What these are not exciting enough for you? Okay, go to openntf.org and search for what you want, if it isn't there, create a login and post what you are in search of.
Not everything in there is ready for prime time, but some of it is really useful and helpful.

Right, so now the customer says, what about indexing and searching the files on the server? No problem, full text indexing is included(the slices) and you can search on the fly through any database(it chops), the first time might be slow while it creates an index, but after it will take seconds.

Microsoft Price: $8,213 for Sharepoint Server with Standard Search 2007 based on this pages requirements, and this pages pricing. Again all from Microsoft.

Now don't forget you still need Groove 2007 (another $4,290 from this site), .Net and some other pieces of the Microsoft puzzle to accomplish what you get in one Domino server.

SQL Server 2008 by the way is another $8,000 or so, based on this search in Google. Because it might help to have a database, any database, run an application.

For more, you can have a limited Domino server which includes Lotus Sametime, a basic instant messaging system, but still, it's included in the price.
Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007 Enterprise Edition: $3,999, from this Microsoft site, additionally plus another server.

In fairness, the Lotus Sametime Server is priced at, sorry the IBM site does NOT show pricing for Sametime Standard or Advanced for an equal comparison.

Microsoft: $24,000 +/-
vs.
IBM: $8,000 +/-

WAIT, don't forget to include, if you buy into it, hardware costs for all those "extra" services from Microsoft.

Domino wins again. Unfortunately not as seen on TV as much as the Ginsu commercials.

Microsoft CALS cost how much?

What you thought I would forget about this? No way!

I found a nice site which is happy to provide some pricing for CALs.

Stop guessing, just work it out, use your spreaedsheet or calculator of choice and price it out. Post it to your blog or your boss or comment here with your findings.

Granted it may not be discounted or even be correct, but as they list pricing for SQL 2008 and CALs I must presume it is fairly up to date.

To understand the CAL's you will need, check this out for some background:
Directions on Microsoft
MSDN Blog Site

Will try to work out some numbers and report on it, but if you want to go ahead and have fun you can't say you don't have the numbers anymore.

IBM Pricing is usually found on the home page of the product in question.
Sorry the site referenced above only has pricing for Smartsuite.

Project Liberate is about Licensing NOT Pricing

Ed Brill did something I was surprised at, he posted a reference to what has been a quiet program in the background of IBM for a while now, which I saw in action last January at Lotusphere and heard about a month or 2 prior to that event.
The Project Liberate document Ed linked to and the related website are aimed at helping IBM customers, or anyone in need of it, better understand the Microsoft Enterprise Agreements(EA) and/or Software assurance(SA) value, optimization and reality behind the LICENSING.

It is purely aimed at shedding light on what is a heinous crime by Microsoft in targeting their customers and getting lock in, and in some cases 100% extra fees for Microsoft doing ABSOLUTELY NOTHING.

Software Assurance is about getting the next version upgrade "cheaply" among other myths. How many companies do you think bought a 3 year SA or even a 4 year SA between 2000-2004? Did it get them anything? no. Want examples:

Office XP, 2003, 2007? Over 4 years? 100% Microsoft overpayment.
Windows 2000? XP? Vista? Over 4 years? 100% Microsoft overpayment.
Exchange Server 2003, 2007? 4 years? 100% Microsoft overpayment.
Total: $40+ Billion bid on Yahoo! Exaggeration? Sure but think about this:

If 1,000 agreements x $1 million minimum overpay a year = $1 Billion a year in minimum potential free money paid to Microsoft for doing ZERO!

If you read some of the posts in here:
You Paid what?
Microsoft and Sushi?
25% of the World uses Exchange 2000 Bet these people feel pain.
Exchange is free Mr CEO/CIO?
Personal Favorite, Microsoft Apologizes for Vista Redmond shipped it perhaps SOLELY to meet SA's which were about to expire with NOTHING available since the previous 3-4 years!

You know this is not something new from my discussions.(Note to self, fix search box for blog)

So before you go picking on IBM and their licensing which can seem archaic, convoluted or just bewildering...at least you get what you pay for and CHOOSE to use.
Microsoft will sell you everything from Groove (like anyone uses it), Communications Server, don't forget pieces of Sharepoint, SQL and much more.

It's not wrong of them, that's just good business.

What is wrong is that, in theory, EVERY employee is being charged for ALL of the licenses in your EA. Sure you may have worked around a piece or 2, but really an in depth discussion, review and analysis could save a 10,000 person company at least a $1 million a year with a high end of $5 million or more.

I put my money where my mouth is, I offered to do Exchange migrations for free, I/we still do support for free for various people and requests, and we handle SA, EA reviews for free. We do however have an arrangement depending on how much over the minimum guarantee we actually help you retain.

You are still thinking to sign on that agreement? I know you are, because it's easy, isn't it?
Legal said yes, finance allocated budget, who could complain?

Shareholders? Your Board? Your CEO? What will YOU reply after they read the report which is going out to the top companies Boards and CEOs?