IBM's Jonathan Stern outlines Lotus collaborative and social software strategy (iTWire podcast)

Tony Austin
Friday, 16 January 2009 13:45

Opinion and Analysis

Many organizations have regarded IBM Lotus Notes to be just a glorified e-mail and calendaring system (and many users thought that graphical user interface rather kludgy compared with that of Microsoft's Outlook).

But the Eclipse-based Lotus Notes 8.0 client enabled a vastly improved look and feel to be introduced, together with modern application capabilities flowing from the Eclipse platform capabilities (such as adding Google Gadgets and other widgets to your Notes desktop).

Just last week, at Macworld on 6th January 2009, IBM announced the availability of Lotus Notes 8.5, not just for the as before for the Windows platform but also for Apple Macintosh OS X Leopard-powered computers. In addition, IBM announced that the free Lotus Symphony software will be available later this month for the Mac too.

IBM also announced new Lotus iNotes 8.5 software, which allows anyone with a Notes user license to access Notes through a Safari browser from anywhere.

iNotes allows the user to integrate the Notes calendar with Google calendar and also supports most standard widgets. One example of a widget is the mapping of a street address in an e-mail note.

Over the last several years, analysts have noted a resurgence in Lotus Software business. For example, in early August 2008 of Intranet Journal John Roling reported IBM Lotus Software Revenue Grows 21 Percent marking the 15th straight quarter where Lotus Software revenues had grown.

And Ivy Lessner of TheStreet.com reported (also in August 2008) IBM's Lotus Gets Fresh Legs saying that "Lotus Notes was once the dominant software for corporate communications, until it was pummeled by Microsoft's desktop and communications software. Now the Lotus brand is springing back to life."

Finally, let me move on to the point of this article.

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