Focus On: Lotus

The ink hadn't yet dried on IBM's announcement of Lotus Notes on Linux, before anti-Lotus partisans unleashed their venom. Few gave weight to the thought that desktop Linux has suddenly gained collaboration abilities acceptable to enterprise-level buyers. But like it or not, Lotus Notes just raised Linux to a breathtaking, Microsoft-defying, new level. Question is, how long will it take Redmond to do what needs to be done?

If you were IBM what would you do? Microsoft programmers built a piece of code to allow Microsoft email software to interoperate with IBM's Domino/Lotus combo. When the code doesn't work, IBM advises users to talk to the folks who wrote the broken code, because, after all, it's Microsoft's code. Microsoft triumphantly proclaims that, unlike IBM, it will minister to people who can't make its code work, and by the way, this proves the value of its product. Huh? Most of us would take advantage of the silliness of Microsoft's position. IBM, however, hit the mattresses.

Since Robert Scoble, Microsoft's largest living blogger, announced that he's leaving, the web has been ablaze with speculation over who Microsoft's next Scoble might be. IBM's Lotus chief Ed Brill flirted with the idea that, what Scoble did for Microsoft, he was doing for IBM, until a blogger enumerated exactly what Scoble did for Microsoft. For those in a hurry, the nutshell: Scoble did a lot, and Brill threw in the towel.

It's Groupware Armageddon as IBM unveils a rebate program designed to prevent Microsoft Exchange with Outlook from steamrolling IBM's Domino 7 with Lotus Notes. IBM's rebating properly-certified dealers, while Microsoft's discounting to anybody who shows up with cash. IBM's spending hundreds of millions to get the word out, while Redmond's dropping a half-billion. Beyond that, Email Battles says, conclusions get pretty easy.

A market research firm, Radicati Group, is running an online survey, "2006 Messaging and Collaboration Survey", ostensibly designed to give paying customers preternatural insight into the mysteries of messaging. But the combination of its online nature and questions that ask if you intend to "stick with Domino as long as possible" suggest that the result will look more like a hit piece than a statistically valid survey.