Microsoft – Gregg Eldred

Notes Startup Screen: Will Not Be Fixed

Every morning, since about mid-March, this is what I see when I start IBM/HCL Notes:

I can’t change this, as my default mail program is now Outlook.

We are well on our way to migrating tens of thousands of employees to Office365, SharePoint, and Teams in the cloud.

The migration off of Connections will be starting soon. Migrating all of that data to SharePoint and Teams, depending on how the Connections Communities are being used. The fun part of this migration is mapping items in Connections to an equivalent in SharePoint/Teams. However, not everything in Connections has an equivalent in SharePoint/Teams, so decisions need to be made on how to migrate or even if a migration will occur. And then there is file sharing. Yes, Files can be migrated to OneDrive, added to a Team or a SharePoint site, but as for the sharing, such as user to user, user to Community, that’s a bit tougher. In the end, there will probably be copies of files in different places within O365, and none of them will be “the source of truth.” That may cause a bit of user confusion.

I’m glad to see that HCL is moving, rather quickly, to update and refresh Notes, Domino, and Sametime. But it was too little, much too late to keep that software here.

Goodbye IBM Notes: Victoria’s Department of Health and Human Services

One of the largest and most loyal customers of IBM Notes/Domino in Australia is moving to Microsoft Office365 and Exchange.

The move sounds the death knell for the one of the last and largest known hold-out enclaves of the once mighty and celebrated fax-era platform.

A post by Victorian DHHS CIO Steve Hodginkson revealed that the department started the move a few weeks ago, with around 400 users moved to the Microsoft platform already but another 12,000 plus waiting to migrate “over the next year.”

iTnews understands that Notes has been present at the Department since 1998 after it was adopted across much of the Victorian public service. That gives it three decades on the clock.

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They recognize that some Domino applications may be hanging around for a while.

The article isn’t all doom and gloom for IBM Notes/Domino, though. The author writes about the IBM/HCL partnership, what’s coming in Domino 10, and more.

And then there are the comments. It’s exactly what I expected from the Microsoft and the Notes/Domino users.

I really don’t think that the Notes/Domino camp understands that the argument isn’t about the technical superiority of one product over another. If that was the case, you’d be reading about the plethora of IBM Notes/Domino wins. It is about the perception of one stack versus another. Perception makes companies move more than any other trigger. The perception of IBM is that it is not the best messaging/application development platform for current business users. And for the past 10 years, what has been done to change that perception? IBM Verse? Please.

Maybe the article will pique the interest of other Australian/New Zealand companies that are on the fence with their decision and will wait and see what IBM/HCL delivers this year. Maybe not. However, at least the article makes mention of the changes coming in Notes/Domino.

Goodbye IBM Notes: City of Cornwall

A couple of articles on the same topic, the City of Cornwall has decided to move off of IBM Notes to Microsoft Office365 (emphasis, mine).

Cornwall’s information technology department is asking to spend almost $900,000 on software and equipment to keep up with the times.

The budget is proposing $898,000 for several different projects. There is a three-year phase in for a Microsoft Office upgrade and desktop virtualization.

. . . There is also money for moving corporate emails to Microsoft Outlook which will more seamlessly integrate with the other programs the city uses. The migration to Microsoft programs will lead to the city abandoning Lotus Notes, a software suite now owned by IBM, in favour of Microsoft’s shared and remote-computer platforms.

There is also money for a new records management system called for social housing after the province pulled support for implementing such systems recently in favour of producing their own system.

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But the “money quote” comes from a second article:

“Hallelujah!” Coun. Bernadette Clement remarked on word the city would be ditching Lotus.

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That is exactly the problem IBM has long confronted but never addressed. Now, that same sentiment will spill over to HCL. You can argue the technological advantages of IBM Notes/Domino all you want, but it doesn’t make any difference in the minds of a lot of users and, more importantly, the decision makers with the purse strings.

So, I ask, “IBM, how is Domino 10 going to change those people’s minds?” Because until you can show me that the updated version is positioned to make people think well about their Domino investment, and I don’t mean the faithful that have attended some or all of your #domino2025 webinars and sessions, it won’t matter. Oh, you’ll keep some accounts that were waffling, maybe gain a couple of new ones, but until you can change the minds of the users, all of the work you are doing on Domino 10, and beyond, will only make the faithful happy.

Bob’s Big Picture technology predictions for 2017

As he has done for years, Bob Cringely has posted his 2017 predictions. Number six ought to be a fun one to watch.

Prediction #6 — Come-to-Jesus time for IBM. The most important 2017 event for IBM will be the retirement at 60 of CEO Ginni Rometty. The future of Big Blue absolutely depends on the actions this year of her successor. If she follows the example of the two previous IBM CEOs Rometty will stick around for a year as chairman before flying-off to paradise in her jet.

The reason I call this a Come-to-Jesus time for IBM is because the next CEO will have a chance to do something different with the company. If he or she decides to break with the past IBM has a chance. If the new CEO takes whatever game plan Rometty hands over and runs with that, then IBM is doomed.

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Maybe just as interesting, in one of his other predictions, Prediction #1, in fact, he talks about the Cloud Arms Race. In it, he only mentions IBM as an aside, with Amazon, Google, and Microsoft being the leaders. I suppose all of the talk from IBM about their cloud, is just that, talk. Oh, there may be some companies in their cloud, but not in the numbers that fill Amazon, Google, or Microsoft data centers.

Goodbye IBM Notes: Australian Securities & Investment Commission

The Australian Securities & Investment Commission (ASIC) has completed a proof of concept using Microsoft Office 365, and will be moving their mail and applications from IBM to the Microsoft cloud.

Perhaps most limiting of all, it has left ASIC glued to its ageing Lotus Notes system and the capability of its platform lagging well behind that of other government agencies.

“There’s a valid reason for that. We’ve still got a lot of systems that run off Lotus Notes applications and some of that is held up because of the registry separation decision. Because we’ve got Lotus Notes applications we haven’t been able to get off the Lotus Notes email but we’re doing both those things in parallel now. In effect we’re getting off the Lotus Notes email while getting off the old Lotus Notes systems,” Bryant said.

Bryant was referring to ASIC’s new project to split its classified and unclassified workloads to make way for Office 365 email and cut a path to move off the ageing Lotus Notes systems.

This really isn’t groundbreaking news, but what I found most interesting is the list of approved cloud providers.

None of the Australian Signals Directorate’s panel of approved cloud providers, which includes Amazon Web Services, Microsoft, Macquarie Telecom, Salesforce, former CRN Fast50 No.1 Sliced Tech and Vault Systems, have yet been certified to carry ASIC’s classified data.

Hmmm, there seems to be a missing “premier” cloud provider on that list. But, I suppose that if you’re leaving IBM products in the on-prem world, why would you consider the IBM cloud?

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Beyond Bank: Goodbye IBM Notes

Another one bites the dust. This time, in Australia.

Customer-owned financial institution, Beyond Bank, is dumping Lotus Notes and an ageing, legacy CRM app as its moves to the cloud.

Beyond Bank will soon start deploying Microsoft Office 365 to around 600 users at its head office in Adelaide and other branches across the ACT, NSW, South Australia, and Western Australia. The cloud solution will be used to access SharePoint Online, Lync Online, and Exchange Online

The reporter did not say whether IBM’s cloud services were ever considered, but they will be running a dual environment, Notes/Domino and Office365, for a while.

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Beyond Bank: Goodbye IBM Notes

Customer-owned financial institution, Beyond Bank, is dumping Lotus Notes and an ageing, legacy CRM app as its moves to the cloud.

Beyond Bank will soon start deploying Microsoft Office 365 to around 600 users at its head office in Adelaide and other branches across the ACT, NSW, South Australia, and Western Australia. The cloud solution will be used to access SharePoint Online, Lync Online, and Exchange Online

The reporter did not say whether IBM’s cloud services were ever considered, but they will be running a dual environment, Notes/Domino and Office365, for a while.

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Liberté! Publicis ditches Lotus Notes

Back in July of 2013, I wrote about Publicis moving from IBM Notes to Exchange. Now, seven months later, it appears that the holding company is starting the migration.

It’s official: Publicis Groupe is ditching Lotus Notes. The long ad agency email nightmare is over.

The holding company’s staffers collectively sighed in relief this week when they heard news it is switching to Microsoft Outlook for its email needs instead.

“This is quite possibly the greatest day for employees in their history of working for Publicis,” said an exec at one of its global media agencies.

“I was brought to tears with joy,” added another.

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Connect 2014: Domino Onboarding Manager

A feature in an imminent release of Domino was kinda/sorta announced at the Opening General Session. It was at the “What’s New in Domino” session where more information was shared. However, slides are not available for that session on the Connect site. Pity.

Not to worry, dear readers. You download have a rather small PDF of Domino Onboarding Manager right here (see below).

What is Domino OnBoarding Manager?

A tool which can migrate users/groups from Active Directory to Domino and emails/calendars/contacts from Exchange/Outlook to Domino/Notes.

FINALLY . . . we have a tool that will assist in the migration of Exchange/Outlook users to Notes/Domino. Perfect for those organizations that need to migrate recent acquisitions into their Domino environment. Perfect for anyone else that needs to perform a migration. Perfect for allaying the naysayers concerning the future of Notes and Domino.

Enjoy. DominoOnboardingManager presentation