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AirTable is incredibly reminiscent of Lotus Notes. I say that in a good way. Lotus Notes was the first no-code system for developing networked/people/workgrou

AirTable is incredibly reminiscent of Lotus Notes. I say that in a good way. Lotus Notes was the first no-code system for developing networked/people/workgroup oriented systems. Notes lost its way, but Airtable has extracted the essential essence of the Notes client and done an amazing job of making it work. Airtable is worth checking out in detail because it's implemented extremely well with great attention to detail and beautiful solutions to thorny UI problems.

andrewstuart 6y ago
I wonder if the developers/designers are aware of the common ancestry with Lotus Notes. I suspect not because it looks like the founders are too young to have even used Notes - my guess is this is a clean reinvention.
- howsta 6y ago
  Founder of Airtable here--we did look at Lotus Notes as an interesting historical precedent, though of course we've also invented from scratch in many cases, and being web-based and collaborative by default is a huge wedge for us in terms of adoption virality. I admit I'm too young to have used Lotus Notes but we did buy an old Lotus Notes guidebook, as well as looked up old Infoworld and other magazine articles (Google Books indexes those magazines!) about Notes, dBase, and other products in the genre : ).
  - andrewstuart 6y ago
    Cool to see the founder here. People loved or hated Notes. It was way, way ahead of its time. It was really the very first system that integrated the concept or networking, users, groups, a replicated database, nosql unstructured data, form building and in built security with a sophisticated GUI.
    - prepend 6y ago
      I hated it because it was hard to get data out of it and no way as a user to automate tasks. I think it was great if you had departmental developers building stuff, but I hated not being able to make my own forms. And I hated having to open up Notes in 2010 to click a procurement button or a timesheet button. If it was web-based (or had an api) I could have just scripted requests to do the same thing.
  - cutenewt 6y ago
    Maybe more proof that there's nothing new under the sun. I remember looking at this space and how so much was inspired by 80s tools like FileMaker and Hypercard.
  - koheripbal 6y ago
    Any thoughts on creating hierarchical lists? I find flat lists can be done on a shared Google sheet.
- preommr 6y ago
  Its funny that you mention that. I reread your comment, and for some reason this time it triggered my memory of lotus notes. I've heard of lotus notes in the same way as betamax and the avvro arrow - ancient tech that was ahead of its time. I am almost certain that they've heard of it because I've seen lotus notes being discussed in the past and I am pretty sure at least one instance was in relation to airtables.

andrewstuart 6y ago

I wonder if the developers/designers are aware of the common ancestry with Lotus Notes. I suspect not because it looks like the founders are too young to have even used Notes - my guess is this is a clean reinvention.

howsta 6y ago
Founder of Airtable here--we did look at Lotus Notes as an interesting historical precedent, though of course we've also invented from scratch in many cases, and being web-based and collaborative by default is a huge wedge for us in terms of adoption virality. I admit I'm too young to have used Lotus Notes but we did buy an old Lotus Notes guidebook, as well as looked up old Infoworld and other magazine articles (Google Books indexes those magazines!) about Notes, dBase, and other products in the genre : ).
- andrewstuart 6y ago
  Cool to see the founder here. People loved or hated Notes. It was way, way ahead of its time. It was really the very first system that integrated the concept or networking, users, groups, a replicated database, nosql unstructured data, form building and in built security with a sophisticated GUI.
  - prepend 6y ago
    I hated it because it was hard to get data out of it and no way as a user to automate tasks. I think it was great if you had departmental developers building stuff, but I hated not being able to make my own forms. And I hated having to open up Notes in 2010 to click a procurement button or a timesheet button. If it was web-based (or had an api) I could have just scripted requests to do the same thing.
- cutenewt 6y ago
  Maybe more proof that there's nothing new under the sun. I remember looking at this space and how so much was inspired by 80s tools like FileMaker and Hypercard.
- koheripbal 6y ago
  Any thoughts on creating hierarchical lists? I find flat lists can be done on a shared Google sheet.
preommr 6y ago
Its funny that you mention that. I reread your comment, and for some reason this time it triggered my memory of lotus notes. I've heard of lotus notes in the same way as betamax and the avvro arrow - ancient tech that was ahead of its time. I am almost certain that they've heard of it because I've seen lotus notes being discussed in the past and I am pretty sure at least one instance was in relation to airtables.