In a week where Lotus general manager Bob Picciano hit out at Microsoft for spreading “ridiculous and fabricated” information (go Bob), here in the UK we’ve seen some press coverage of Lotus Connections 2.5 in Computer Business Review and Computerworld UK.

No surprise to see Jeff Schick quoted, as he heads up the social collaboration business unit. But in Computerworld UK there’s Mr Picciano again…

We have been using it internally at IBM … especially at the end of the business quarter it is amazing how much value it is to me personally. I keep my finger on the pulse of the IBM organisation; who is meeting with who and how those meetings go. It is like having a stream of conscience throughout the organisation.

This is no hollow testimony of Connections’ capabilities. I’m in Mr Picciano’s Connections network, and I can promise you that he is an avid user of this technology. Here’s a senior IBM executive, quite a few rungs of the ladder above me, yet he’s sharing his activities and thoughts with his network throughout the day, and interacting with team members who comment and ask questions. Yes, Bob does understand and make use of the technology, and advocates it strongly. He goes on to say…

There is not an answer from Microsoft for these capabilities.

Bearing in mind that we gave Microsoft a pasting at last year’s Enterprise 2.0 event, they’ve shipped nothing since and now we’ve shipped Connections too, I think Mr Picciano is spot on.