Can IBM Take On Google, Microsoft With iNotes? 171
CWmike writes to mention that IBM has launched LotusLive iNotes, a system designed to compete with GMail and Exchange that offers email, calendaring, and contact management. "Pricing starts at $3 per user per month, undercutting Google Apps Premier Edition, which costs $50 per user per year.
IBM is aiming the software at large enterprises that want to migrate an on-premise e-mail system to SaaS (software as a service), particularly for users who aren't tied to a desk, such as retail workers. It is also hoping to win business from smaller companies interested in on-demand software but with concerns about security and service outages, such as those suffered by Gmail in recent months. LotusLive iNotes is based on technology IBM purchased from the Hong Kong company Outblaze."
Costs Less, But... (Score:4, Informative)
Re:If LotusLive iNotes is in any way based on (Score:4, Informative)
Lotus Notes, no way in hell will it succeed. Lotus Notes was pure crap, and I say that as an ex-Lotus employee.
I second that, as a current IBM contractor (hence my anonymous cowardness) that's been inflicted with this sorry excuse of a mail system. How is it that IBM has the ONLY big name e-mail system that can't reliably deliver e-mail? Frankly, all their software is crap because IBM is all about getting it out in time for the quarterlies, regardless of quality. I'm really getting tired of shipping off untested software to customers.
Re:If LotusLive iNotes is in any way based on (Score:5, Informative)
>> Lotus Notes was pure crap, and I say that as an ex-Lotus employee.
Actually, Lotus Notes is pure crap. I say that as a current Lotus Notes user. It's a reason unto itself to find a new employer.
Two simple examples:
- we just "upgraded" to v8.5. It takes 127 seconds to start up. It takes 38 seconds more to show me my inbox. It takes 47 seconds to bring up the editor to reply to the first mail of the day. This is all on a fairly new Dell D630 laptop.
- Sort by subject: "Hello world" does not get sorted with "Re: Hello World", nor with "Fw: Hello World". All your "Re:"s and "Fw:"s get sorted together.
There are many more.
MadCow.
Re:It's about Local Control (Score:5, Informative)
Since you can get Google on premise now, as well as this I would say your argument is worthless
Re:If LotusLive iNotes is in any way based on (Score:5, Informative)
Two simple examples: - we just "upgraded" to v8.5. It takes 127 seconds to start up. It takes 38 seconds more to show me my inbox. It takes 47 seconds to bring up the editor to reply to the first mail of the day. This is all on a fairly new Dell D630 laptop.
You're kidding me, right? Or you're making up numbers. Or you are running the Windows version amid the antivirus scans...
Linux box, Fedora 11, T60p, 5400rpm drive - hardly a world beater laptop these days. Times are all intervals.
Release 8.5 Revision 20081211.1925 (Release 8.5) Standard Configuration
So either you've got the CPU clocked down or something is eating your cycles. I hardly hold Lotus Notes in high regard but its improved performance significantly in recent releases.
Cheers,
Toby Haynes
Re:Fave Lotus Notes feature (Score:4, Informative)
The "you have new email" icon looks more like you have a new burrito waiting.
Dude, if I had a burrito for every new mail I got, I'd be happy...
Re:If LotusLive iNotes is in any way based on (Score:5, Informative)
LotusLive iNotes screenshot: https://www.lotuslive.com/en/services/inotes [lotuslive.com]
Lotus iNotes screenshot: http://www.ibm.com/software/lotus/products/inotes [ibm.com]
It's also racist (Score:4, Informative)
How about when you have a message selected (but not opened) and try to export it? Starts exporting the entire mailbox with no cancel.
I offer this poll, Why does Notes suck so much?
*Search don't search
*Sort don't sort
*Cut and Paste from a webpage means grab some coffee
*UI stands for User Interference
*Blazing Speed
*Hit Yes to send with comments, No to send without comments, and cancel to bring you back to this same dialog
*Contextual nonsense
*Reply All to "undisclosed recipients" discloses the undisclosed recipients
I could go on for days, but I just copied this text into Notes to try to spell check it. Time for coffee.
Re:If LotusLive iNotes is in any way based on (Score:3, Informative)
That's another good example of why you need training, but it's not a problem with Notes. Google uses labels the same way Notes uses Folders and so you can make the exact same mistake there. You just don't see as many people hating on GMail because a) it's free and b) their employer didn't tell them to use it (though both of those are syarting to change).
There's nothing wrong with the approach with views and tags, just something with the not educating your staff in how to safely save their messages.
Re:If LotusLive iNotes is in any way based on (Score:1, Informative)
Two simple examples:
- we just "upgraded" to v8.5. It takes 127 seconds to start up. It takes 38 seconds more to show me my inbox. It takes 47 seconds to bring up the editor to reply to the first mail of the day. This is all on a fairly new Dell D630 laptop.
You're kidding me, right? Or you're making up numbers. Or you are running the Windows version amid the antivirus scans...
Linux box, Fedora 11, T60p, 5400rpm drive - hardly a world beater laptop these days. Times are all intervals.
...
Release 8.5 Revision 20081211.1925 (Release 8.5) Standard Configuration
So either you've got the CPU clocked down or something is eating your cycles. I hardly hold Lotus Notes in high regard but its improved performance significantly in recent releases.
The OP is correct. It is the eclipse framework that results in these types of numbers. While troubleshooting the issue IBM told me that up to four minutes is an acceptable start time. I know this is /. but Fedora 11 on a T60 is hardly a configuration to make generic benchmarks comparisons. Without eclipse in Basic mode it is still quite snappy.
On the bright side the decrease of load on the server is amazing.
Re:If LotusLive iNotes is in any way based on (Score:3, Informative)
"maybe my corporate IT dept. has borked their standard image"
Not exactly, but it is they're fault. Here's the scoop...
1) The entire Notes 8.x codestream is now an Eclipse RCP application.
2) Eclipse is incredibly powerful and flexible. It's also a huge collection of JAR files that have to be unzipped to run.
3) You anti-virus software is probably configured to scan every one of those JARs every time they're accessed.
4) Like every Windows machine on the planet, your drive is probably also highly fragmented. Because the Notes client is quite bulky in terms of individual files for execution (about 7,000 Features & Plugins at last count) it benefits quite a bit from defragmentation. Try it over the weekend.
Mr. Haynes is quite right that the Linux client is blazing fast. So is the Mac client, especially the new 8.5.1 version that is about to ship. (I'm on the beta.) It's Windows that truly suffers from the many-small-files modularity that the client now has.