Lotus Notes a major threat

Date:

March 23 1993

Synopsis
Reader's remark: "High praise indeed, what you need to do is bundle the shell into Office and don't tell anyone - for at least a year"

"Translation: "understanding what users want": haven't yet figured out how to clone Notes."

Snippet
Desktop Apps Integration Features For Lotus Notes and cc:Mail Mike Mathieu, Word Business Unit, 3/23/93

It has become very apparent that Lotus Notes is a major threat to the continued success of Microsoft. It attacks our systems business by regulating Windows to the OS level taking over the middleware and shell functionality - Notes is the portable platform, not Windows.

It gives Lotus the lead in understanding and prov7iding enterprise-wide services for corporate accounts who are so anxious to rightsize their mission critical business systems. And it attacks our applications business by delivering on their "Working Together" strategy and allowing for easier SmartSuite entry into our Microsoft Office accounts ..

.. If and when Microsoft develops a true Notes competitor, (I'm working on some alternative plans) so much the better. Desktop apps will support that product better than any apps in the world. Until that time, our only viable strategy to address Notes is to work with it as well as Lotus apps do.

We are currently about four years behind Lotus in terms of understanding what users want from groupware ..

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