“Lotus Hannover release is pretty frigging slick”

I have been meaning to write something about Lotus and its future directions since the IBM AR show before Christmas, but my comment on Vendorprisey seems as clear as anything else I might have said.

The Lotus Hannover release is pretty frigging slick, so i wouldn’t be writing it off any time soon. IBM has just completed a multi-year refactoring of Notes/Domino and the benefits are going to be felt from here on in.

The new UI is sweet and the implementation around Eclipse rich client platform is better looking than anything I have seen in Eclipse land so far. The boundaries between browser and rich client really are breaking down in Lotus land, just in time for competition with Vista. Some of the demos I have seen remind me of Smalltalk (in a good way), linking networked and local services seamlessly. IBM definitely has a horse (or three) in the race. Workplace is alive and ready to kick some ass. It has not popped its clogs.
So good job Mary Beth. I am sure you’re going to rock some worlds next week. IBM really needs to start marketing around its return to form on industrial design. There are some really well designed products in the portfolio. Its time for screencasts, podcasts, vblogs, and all that goodness. Nobody is going to believe it if you tell them Lotus is now well designed. So show them – the web is pretty good for that.
Are you watching Microsoft? Because IBM is listening.

disclaimers: IBM is a patron. Eclipse is a patron. Microsoft is an occasional client. I may get in trouble for this post, but its really about Workplace, not that thing that I can’t talk about. I am not exactly the most design savvy guy in the world.