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Today marked the 16th anniversary of the day I started with Lotus Development (now part of the IBM Software Group). After two weeks in Customer Support I wanted to leave, but I stuck at it, moved onto Technical Sales (eventually became the manager of North Region), and I’m now loving my current role of Messaging & Collaboration Sales Leader for UKISA.

When I started at Lotus, we were using Notes version 2.0a, and 1-2-3 version 2.4 for DOS was the top-selling product. Windows 3.1 hadn’t yet been released, and Lotus were actively supporting OS/2 as an alternative. All these years later, I’m still based at Lotus Park in Staines (despite the frequent rumours that the location will be closed).

Only once during the sixteen years have I actively pursued a job with another company, nothing came of it and I’m really quite glad about it.

After more than sixteen years Notes is still in the market and we have the best product ever. 2006 saw continued year-on-year growth, the Lotus brand grew by 23% for the year, 2,000 companies joined the Notes / Domino customer base… and according to IDC we grew market share while Microsoft slipped. The whole portfolio is the strongest it’s ever been and there’s more great stuff to come (I’m particularly excited about something coming in 2008 that I can’t say too much about).

Domino, in so many ways, knocks spots off Microsoft Exchange… if only so many companies didn’t have an inexplicable case of Microsoft-lust. Still in this quarter we have enough Exchange knock-out opportunities to keep me believing there are enough people continuing to see the light.

First bit of news… I’ve recorded yet another video, this time for VNU. It was an interview-style video, mainly about the Lotus brand and Notes 8, but also touching on other parts of the portfolio. I did it in one take, but we did another so they could get some flexibility in the final edit. A bit quicker than my ZDNet performance.

Secondly, my frolleague Brendan Tutt is this week’s star of ZDNet talking about social software… specifically, although not mentioned as per the rules, Lotus Connections. Brendan is a modest man, but I think you’ll agree he does a great job, a very polished delivery, on this subject. Click on the piccie to access this masterpiece.

Finally… oh I love this. The power of viral marketing. It’s a bit of a poke at the Redmond giants and an advert for Lotus Symphony all in one. Check out “Tired of Feeding the Machine?” on YouTube. You might be interested to know that there have been over a quarter of a million downloads of Symphony since it was first announced, and those downloads are continuing at a steady rate.

And while I’m at it I might as well mention that I’m now running Notes 8.0.1 (beta 1). A few new things (like e-mailing a Symphony document directly from the toolbar, and the mail quota indicator), it has Sametime 8 built-in (nice) and all-in-all it seems a bit more zippy and responsive than 8.0 (and this is on a old laptop which I’m using while my T60 is being repaired).

I’ve been dreading this, but actually I don’t think it’s turned out too bad. A few weeks ago our Marketing team asked my frolleague Brendan Tutt and me to record some videos for ZDNet, and we had to choose four pertinent subjects. The tricky thing was we couldn’t mention any product names… just speak on that hot topic.

The first of mine hit the web today, so you can see me talking about Unified Communications and Collaboration. I wasn’t allowed to mention IBM Lotus Sametime or IBM Lotus Notes 8, but obviously a lot of what I talk about pertains to these two products.

I optimistically thought the recording session was going to be easy - after all, the videos were supposed to be just 3 - 4 minutes long. I do so many presentations and stand-up routines that I don’t usually think about it, I just stand up, open my mouth and some sort of verbal auto-pilot takes over. This was a different kettle of aquatic life - I wonder if writing a script that I tried to stick to hampered me rather than helping me. But with a bit of editing it worked out okay.

Anyway, see what you think… and stay tuned for the other three which will be just as much fun.

Today, for the second time this year, I had the opportunity to join Lotus Vice President Kevin Cavanaugh at a customer meeting. Until recently Kevin was the Vice President for Notes / Domino development, but now runs the messaging and collaboration business. Although I spend a lot of time talking about our products, it’s always useful to hear someone talk the talk and give their perspective - and when it’s the guy who’s been in charge of building the products for several years, it’s a good time to shut up and listen.

With version 8 there’s been a lot of focus on the client, but the Domino server seems to be the unsung hero. One of the things that struck me as Kevin laid out the strategy for the customer was how much the product has grown and improved over the past few years. Of course it should grow and improve, but the remarkable fact is that all these improvements have not required a change in the architecture - it’s been consistent for years and will remain consistent in years to come.

Kevin waxed lyrical about the performance improvement goals that he kept setting for the development team… which they kept on achieving. If you’ve seen my presentation on either version 7 or 8 you may remember a chart which shows the scalability improvements from 6.5 to 7 - the scalability on some platforms (Windows and pSeries) increased by 50%, but that was bettered by the whopping 80% on iSeries (sorry, System i) and Solaris. The team did such a great job on reduction of CPU usage in 7 and 8.0 that they then had to focus on I/O so that the server could catch up with itself (that’s layman terms).

Add to that the news posted by Rob Ingram on the Domino Blog this week… the database compression work planned for delivery in a later version was to be brought forward to Domino 8.0.1 - in other words, a capability delivered earlier than expected. Rob explains that the new compression technology reduces database sizes (and that includes mail boxes) by around 40%. This in turn has a beneficial effect on the I/O which in turn benefits the server performance. And we haven’t even played the 64-bit card yet (that’s coming soon).

Now, let’s re-iterate something here. All of these improvements have been delivered on a consistent architecture, one which has evolved but has not required rip-and-replace operations. I always make the point that I would never trivialise the process of upgrading from one version to another, but I make no bones about proudly showing the presentation slide in which the server versions are joined by lines labelled “upgrade”. Even if a customer jumps a version (e.g. 5 to 7 as some customers are now doing) it’s still an upgrade. There’s no requirement to migrate data or move mail boxes from one server to another. And although we can’t see into the future (this is just arse-covering) there are no plans to make this necessary. Why should we? The architecture is solid and keeps improving.

That slide I mentioned… upgrade, upgrade, upgrade, skip versions if you want, co-exist versions… ask those guys from Redmond to show you their version of that slide. I’ve drawn it myself and it’s not a pretty sight, but you don’t want to hear it from me… ask them.

Back in June this year I wrote a post entitled “Should Microsoft be worried?” which discussed the open source productivity editors integrated into Lotus Notes 8. The message was clear for Notes customers… pay money for Microsoft Office or start using the editors which are effectively free because they’re already paid for courtesy of the Notes client license.

Let’s face it, Microsoft don’t even have to get out of bed to sell Office… the money just rolls in because most businesses and consumers believe there’s no alternative (and many get themselves tied into a license agreement which looks good value but is often an expensive option). I have a friend who had left her job at a large confectionery company and was starting her own business as a management trainer. She was talking about the cost of buying a laptop, and then having to buy Office to go on it - I asked why she didn’t just download OpenOffice for free, but to be honest her “what’s OpenOffice” reaction wasn’t a surprise. People just don’t know they have a choice.

Starting today, Lotus are getting very serious about competing with Microsoft in this space with the announcement of Lotus Symphony. If you were born in the 1970’s or earlier you may remember that there’s already been a Lotus Symphony, but this is a new offering which is effectively the Notes 8 productivity editors de-coupled from the Notes 8 client. This means that the editors are no longer just a free proposition for Notes customers… they’re free for everyone. Yes, you can download and use them free of charge.

Add to this the fact that IBM joined the OpenOffice.org community last week and you can see there’s a lot of commitment behind this move. What’s also interesting is that IBM (and Lotus) traditionally offer software for businesses, but now here’s something for the consumer market. Don’t forget that this is also an option for Linux users and at some point in the future Mac users. Okay, Microsoft probably aren’t shaking in their boots today, but that’s not the point… the point is that now you have a choice.

Final point - I pay taxes to the UK government and to my local authority. Millions of other people do the same. Some of that money swells the Microsoft coffers, and that makes me unhappy. There is a growing movement in the UK to stop this kind of behaviour and ensure that publicly-funded organisations take advantage of free open source software. Be part of it.

What a week… I arrived at Cape Town on Tuesday morning, in the nick of time to present at the launch event for our three new offerings (Notes 8, Connections and Quickr). That evening I flew to Johannesburg with my colleagues (Ross, Uffe and local-boy Hannes) ready for the next event and a meeting with the press on Wednesday. The Joburg event (in the swanky Melrose Arch development) was crammed to capacity with an audience of around 140 attendees. This was followed by dinner at the Butcher Shop in Nelson Mandela Square (I had ostrich - but not a whole one, and not even a leg). An early flight to Durban started the Thursday agenda, and Friday consisted of some customer visits before a late lunch at the Indigo Moon restaurant in Pretoria.

Reaction to the new products was amazing. I’ve already heard that one company in South Africa has already upgraded to Notes / Domino 8, and an attending CEO has taken the decision to move in Notes / Domino 8 in place of Outlook / Exchange in his company. That speaks volumes. And again, just like some recent events in the UK, I had numerous conversations with people very serious about replacing Microsoft Office with the free integrated productivity editors.

I came to one important conclusion while travelling in and out of South Africa… they really need to sort the airports out before the 2010 World Cup. Okay, they have improved the departure gates at Johannesburg, but the check-in area is still absolute bedlam. They seem to think the best way to reduce unemployment is to give everyone a job at the airport (but not assign them any duties… just let them stand around doing nothing).

Cape Town airport isn’t much better - I arrived at 08:20 in the morning and it was the only flight coming in. I got off the plane and got to the luggage carousel within 15 minutes (great)… but it was a further 40 minutes before my case arrived. Acceptable for a large airport with a lot of flights arriving, but not a small airport handling just one flight.

I travelled out in Premium Economy (or ‘World Traveller Plus’ as British Airways call it). Officially I was eligible for Business Class (over 10 hours, overnight, work on arrival) but I find gaining approval too long-winded and tiresome. So I opted for the easy approval option of World Traveller Plus - this worked well as I had the first row with plenty of leg room. However the return journey promised to be a nightmare, in cattle-class shoved in a tiny seat with no leg room or elbow room for 11 hours. Things promised to get worse - even though I checked in fairly early (after battling for 15 minutes to join the end of the queue) there were no aisle seats left (groan). I requested a seat move if at all possible and carried on. After a cuppa and a mooch round the shops I went to the gate to find that they’d found me an aisle seat, 28J. Economy, but an aisle seat, so an improvement. What I didn’t know until I got to 28J was that this newly-allocated seat was in World Traveller Plus… and, double bonus, was on it’s own next to the emergency exit so I had 7 feet of leg room (more than enough) and no-one beside me. Thank you British Airways.

Not much I can say that Ed Brill hasn’t already said himself or posted links to, so you may as well head on over to his web site. Okay, I’ll say this… it’s getting rave reviews, people are loving the Notes 8 client (not just the new user interface but what it means for extensibility, integration and openness), and customers are seeing that the roadmap is not only solid but also innovative. The Domino 8 server represents an upgrade (that’s a true upgrade, not like some other vendor’s idea of what constitutes an ‘upgrade’) which offers immediate business value.

Furthermore, I’m seeing a lot of companies interested in the integrated editors - the idea of using something they’re already paying for (i.e. Notes) rather than paying big bucks for Office seems to be very appealing.

For more details on these new offerings, head over to the Notes and Domino pages at the Lotus web site.

Following the success of the Scottish Notes User Group (SNUG), we have resurrected the UK Lotus User Group with the announcement of an event on Wednesday 26th September 2007 at ComputaCenter’s Hatfield location. Registration is now open at the UKLUG web site… in fact we’re near to a capacity crowd already.

A couple of things you may notice. Firstly, SNUG appears to be a Notes user group rather than a Lotus user group. This is purely accidental, although if we named it the Scottish Lotus User Group, it would be known as SLUG. Secondly, what’s with having a Scottish user group and a UK user group (oh, and an Irish user group - more on that later)? What does this mean for SNUG?

Contrary to suggestions there was never any intention to name this new user group the “English Lotus User Group”. For starters that would annoy the Welsh customers (and we have some loyal and important customers in Wales). Does having an UK user group impact SNUG? No… SNUG members are more than welcome to attend UKLUG meetings - we have a vibrant established community in Scotland, but it’s a long way from London, so it’s important that we maintain SNUG as a sibling organisation that is part of the UK community. We have a wonderful corporate sponsor in the form of Standard Life who do a great job of driving the events and ensuring the momentum is maintained.

The Irish Lotus User Group (ILUG) - Paul Mooney of BlueWave and his band of devotees have continued to build this year-on-year, and it’s attracting people from all over Europe. Next year he’s hoping for 400 attendees. UKLUG and SNUG can learn from this and grow.

Anyway, back to UKLUG - Warren Elsmore has put in a lot of work, we have speakers from HSBC, Prudential and Scottish & Newcastle, and Mark Calleran (CIO of The Salvation Army) will be Master of Ceremonies (and discussing their own use of Lotus software). In addition to the customer speakers we have knowledge management guru David Gurteen and the chairman of OpenNTF, Vince Schuurman.

A final point… this is a free event. Due to a limit on the number of attendees we will be wait-listing people shortly. If you register and then cannot attend, please don’t let that place go to waste - let the organisers know and free up the place for someone on the wait-list.

Lotus Quickr, the collaboration solution for serious grown-up business people, is now shipping. But we need to get a couple of things straight.

Firstly, it’s Quickr with a small ‘r’. Quickr, and not QuickR. Check out the Quickr web site for proof.

Secondly, it’s pronounced “Quicker”. The name just happens to have an ‘e’ missing. It’s not pronounced “Quick-Arr”. Think about that popular photo-sharing web site. No-one calls it “Flick-Arr”. Not unless they’re from Devon or Cornwall. Or a they’re a pirate.

I’ve been spending a lot of time presenting Lotus’ upcoming collaborative solutions over the past few months, and the reaction has been very positive. Perhaps “very positive” doesn’t do the reaction justice - people love the new stuff… Quickr, Connections and Notes 8.

Today was no exception, I provided two stand-up routines at an open day hosted by InfoSys, a Lotus Business Partner. You know me, I love an audience, and they seemed to like my positioning of Mentos Mints and Diet Coke movies on YouTube as an example of community innovation. You had to be there, but it got a big laugh (and I think they got the point too).

I spoke to many of the attendees after my sessions and during the day, and there were three main themes. They love Quickr. They love Connections (and get the idea of social software in the enterprise). And increasingly people are becoming very receptive to the idea that there is a cheaper and viable alternative to Microsoft Office… namely the Productivity Editors embedded into Notes 8.
The premise is simple… Notes customers are already paying for Notes, and we will provide them with spreadsheet, word processor and presentation editor functionality for no extra license charge. In other words, they get the Microsoft Office functionality that they pay for today free with the Notes 8 client. That means that for large numbers of users they can save on the cost of an Office license.

For customers with mixed estates including Linux and Mac client users, the news is even better. No longer the poor cousins, they will experience the same functionality as their Window-using colleagues (Mac to be supported post-Notes 8.0). The thought of supporting the Open Document Format and freeing themselves from proprietary document formats is also very compelling.

There is one interesting perception that I always comment upon and challenge… the idea that organisations could keep Office for their power-users and provide the Notes 8 editors to the rest. That implies that they think the Notes 8 editors are a cut-down offering… they’re not, these are extremely functional editors.

I didn’t expect the battle against Office to be easy, and I’m realistic about the fact that Notes 8 is not going to make a huge impact on their market share in the next year. But I am pleasantly surprised by the number of people who are taking this proposition very seriously and thinking that they could save themselves a lot of money.