Fall of Another Domino.....
Jan 19, 2015
http://www.bleedyellow.com/blogs/DominoHerald/entry/fall_of_another_domino?lang=en_us


I've had to cancel my trip to LotusSphere. My company has decided to migrate off Domino. A lot of the problem stems from IBM's not fixing the SSL problem quickly. That was the straw that really seems to have pushed things over the edge. I have to agree with management that IBM hasn't given the platform the attention it needs. And this is a shop where the entire IT management team (both of them) are Notes guys. The move isn't going to be easy on anyone. There is an ambitious schedule for the change. It's an entirely new platform, we're not going to keep anything and we're not even leveraging the Java stuff I've been putting in. I didn't make this decision.
I do find it amusing the the move has been triggered in part by security and the new platform is known for security problems (that and a lack of inter-operatability) . But again, not my call.
The company may be changing, but I'm not leaving. I'm working on a number for Domino projects at home (for an organization I belong to - it's all volunteer work) so I'll get to keep my fingers in what I love. I can keep posting on XPages and Notes, and maybe come up with an new Notesin9. I figured out DataViews yesterday (thanks to the great Brad Balassaitis). And I'll keep moderating the Notes email list https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/lnotes-l-new/info (join us - it's a great resource).
IBM hasn't pushed Domino in a long time. And I think they miss the boat in the sales area. A salesperson gets higher returns for a new customer than keeping an existing customer, so the interest is to get a sale and move on. And IBM isn't interested in the SMB market. This is also a mistake. SMBs become big businesses a lot more than big businesses grow needs for new services. Becoming a big enterprise doesn't make you switch platforms, you have too much invested in how you got there. We all know that sales are the key. Give salespeople the financial incentive, and they will push anything - no matter how bad. That is how lots of bad products succeed where better ones fall by the wayside. I like to see good products succeed. Apple has been making good products and the "Halo Effect" has been quite profitable for them.
I'll keep doing my Notes/Domino/XPage development, it just won't be as much as I want.
Cheers,
Brian

 


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Comments (8)


1 Nathan T Freeman commented Jan 19 Permalink Recommendations 0
Brian, you might want to point out to your colleagues that it's not necessary to go through an expensive and risky platform migration in order to get a modern web server. If you've made investments in Java development, and you have mission critical data and processes in NSF, you can continue to leverage that investment. Here's one example of how...

 


http://www.slideshare.net/DanieleVistalli/introducing-crossworlds-for-ibm-domino


2 Charles A Reid commented Jan 19 Permalink Recommendations 0
we are going through the same bullshit, Management hates Notes/IBM and are doing anything they can to get off it.


3 Brian M Moore commented Jan 19 Permalink Recommendations 0
@Nathan - I'll pass it on. I'm not involved in any of the decisions, and management doesn't seem to be open to WebSphere.

 


@Charles - yea, I've never even heard of a conversion that _approached_ being on time or even near budget. I have heard of having to hire lots more people to keep at the same level, however.


4 Nathan T Freeman commented Jan 19 Permalink Recommendations 0
@Brian CrossWorlds can potentially run on JBoss. If they're intent to get away from Java itself, though, we can't help.


5 Mike McGarel commented Jan 19 Permalink Recommendations 0
Brian, I'm sorry to hear about your employer's change in direction. I'm glad you'll still be doing some Notes/Domino/XPages development. Good luck!


6 Craig Wiseman commented Jan 19 Permalink Recommendations 0
Brian, 
I'm sorry to hear about the change in direction, but I *AM* glad to hear that they understand your value and are not jettisoning you with the product. 
I'd agree with your assessment of IBM. IBM has shown little interest in Notes/Domino and absolutely no interest in anything other than net-new sales to large companies. They are in the "milk 'em" phase of Notes/Domino lifecycle in the SMB arena. 
I don't really know what their target market is, but I'm 180 degrees away from whatever it is.


7 Brian A Moore commented Jan 20 Permalink Recommendations 0
I am glad I get to keep doing Notes/XPages - even if it's me at home.

 


And see this conversation as well: https://twitter.com/matnewman/status/557369331277783040


8 Eric McCormick commented Mar 9 Permalink Recommendations 0
I highly recommend using a reverse proxy in front of your Domino servers. My company uses NetScaler (from Citrix), but there are plenty who use F/OSS nginx. I recommend checking out Jesse Gallagher's post on setting an nginx instance in front of a Domino server. It's free and requires minimal hassle for considerable gain.

 


https://frostillic.us/blog/posts/6AF303DE836BA02D85257D570058B1CA
This is an archive of my previous blog http://www.bleedyellow.com/blogs/DominoHerald attachments are in the download control