5 ms·

I always got the impression that Lotus Notes was a great idea, but very poorly implemented. The concepts in it were good, it was just a shame it inflicted so mu

by mcroft 8y ago

I always got the impression that Lotus Notes was a great idea, but very poorly implemented. The concepts in it were good, it was just a shame it inflicted so much suffering.

wycy 8y ago
What aspects of Lotus Notes seemed like a good idea? Genuine question. I remember being horrified by almost everything about Lotus Notes. Sametime was great, though.
- slantyyz 8y ago
  I'll bite... 1 - Document Store (iirc, CouchDB was inspired by Notes/Domino) 2 - Replication - even past the 90s, it was one of the best tools for disconnected users 3 - Low barrier to application creation (it was about as easy as building something in Filemaker Pro) 4 - Easy publication of applications to the web (this was BEFORE 2000, so kind of a big deal back then) 5 - Administration of servers was pretty easy 6 - LotusScript (similar to vba) let you go much further than the prebuilt formula language (if you were willing to learn it) Keep in mind, these benefits were available pre-2000, and in that time many were strong competitive advantages.
  - tonyedgecombe 8y ago
    Replication was huge, we didn't even have an internet connection when I setup a application replicating between three suppliers and a bank.
    - slantyyz 8y ago
      Yeah, when I first started to use Notes, using modems over POTS lines to call HQ was still a thing, so that replication was a big deal. Hell, I don't even think all laptops had ethernet ports back then either. In a lot of cases, you had to buy PCMCIA cards for that.
- kirbypineapple 8y ago
  I realized how great Sametime was after I was forced to move to Skype for Business. The meeting functionality wasn't great but there were other great features. I sorely miss the button that allowed you to drag a rectangle on your screen and it would automatically send the resulting screen capture as a message. Not as an attachment that you had to open up, an actual image in the chat. Why can't skype figure that out!?
rahimnathwani 8y ago
I still wish for a widely-deployed replacement for Notes/Domino. Sure, I can build CRUDish apps with Django, but there are simple use-cases that take me a week with Django, that would have been a day with Notes. It's crazy that things are slower for me 20 years later. I'm pretty sure I'm not dumber now.
- slantyyz 8y ago
  Does Filemaker Pro solve that problem?
  - rahimnathwani 8y ago
    I have never used it, but it's no longer available as of last month: http://www.filemaker.com/products/filemaker-pro/ http://www.filemaker.com/products/filemaker-pro/ "FileMaker Pro is no longer available. It has been replaced by FileMaker Pro Advanced which includes more features to help you develop and deploy custom apps faster and more efficiently."
    - slantyyz 8y ago
      IIRC, File Maker Pro Advanced is basically FileMaker Pro with additional features enabled. You would be able to use that in its place, but it might have a higher price tag.

by mcroft 8y ago

I always got the impression that Lotus Notes was a great idea, but very poorly implemented. The concepts in it were good, it was just a shame it inflicted so much suffering.

wycy 8y ago

What aspects of Lotus Notes seemed like a good idea? Genuine question. I remember being horrified by almost everything about Lotus Notes. Sametime was great, though.

slantyyz 8y ago
I'll bite... 1 - Document Store (iirc, CouchDB was inspired by Notes/Domino) 2 - Replication - even past the 90s, it was one of the best tools for disconnected users 3 - Low barrier to application creation (it was about as easy as building something in Filemaker Pro) 4 - Easy publication of applications to the web (this was BEFORE 2000, so kind of a big deal back then) 5 - Administration of servers was pretty easy 6 - LotusScript (similar to vba) let you go much further than the prebuilt formula language (if you were willing to learn it) Keep in mind, these benefits were available pre-2000, and in that time many were strong competitive advantages.
- tonyedgecombe 8y ago
  Replication was huge, we didn't even have an internet connection when I setup a application replicating between three suppliers and a bank.
  - slantyyz 8y ago
    Yeah, when I first started to use Notes, using modems over POTS lines to call HQ was still a thing, so that replication was a big deal. Hell, I don't even think all laptops had ethernet ports back then either. In a lot of cases, you had to buy PCMCIA cards for that.
kirbypineapple 8y ago
I realized how great Sametime was after I was forced to move to Skype for Business. The meeting functionality wasn't great but there were other great features. I sorely miss the button that allowed you to drag a rectangle on your screen and it would automatically send the resulting screen capture as a message. Not as an attachment that you had to open up, an actual image in the chat. Why can't skype figure that out!?

rahimnathwani 8y ago

I still wish for a widely-deployed replacement for Notes/Domino. Sure, I can build CRUDish apps with Django, but there are simple use-cases that take me a week with Django, that would have been a day with Notes. It's crazy that things are slower for me 20 years later. I'm pretty sure I'm not dumber now.

slantyyz 8y ago
Does Filemaker Pro solve that problem?
- rahimnathwani 8y ago
  I have never used it, but it's no longer available as of last month: http://www.filemaker.com/products/filemaker-pro/ http://www.filemaker.com/products/filemaker-pro/ "FileMaker Pro is no longer available. It has been replaced by FileMaker Pro Advanced which includes more features to help you develop and deploy custom apps faster and more efficiently."
  - slantyyz 8y ago
    IIRC, File Maker Pro Advanced is basically FileMaker Pro with additional features enabled. You would be able to use that in its place, but it might have a higher price tag.