Well, after escaping from Outlook/Exchange/Sharepoint a decade ago and being forced to return to it for normal work, I can still see why I disliked it so.
Outlook content sucks. It doesn't integrate with other applications in the Microsoft suite. Just try pasting a complex email from Outlook, into a Sharepoint riich text edit area. You'll see what I mean.
Well, at least Notes can keep up with other applications in its suite.
Strong internal integration is probably the biggest reason why Lotus Notes has survived. But it's also a big reason Domino is so much easier to develop with, than other systems. Domino is of course the server side of the Notes/Domino product. Domino though, can walk & chew gum at the same time. Virtually the entire business nation in the US has resorted to Active Directory as a file access networking system, mostly because they're de facto on Microsoft network servers. And yet Domino can talk with Active Directory.
Domino can also call Web services.
Domino can also be a Web service for the data it stores.
That kind of integration is not found in business, elsewhere. Sharepoint just seems to sit there, requiring reams of software be developed for connecting up the stuff. And even when you get there, Sharepoint is ... well it's old. There's just not a lot you can do with its "site" development environment unless you're gonna buy its high-priced stuff and write Microsoft-proprietary .Net code. Fun as C# is, it isn't less wordy and unpleasant than Java. It doesn't give you the design building blocks to develop an application quickly. And Sharepoint's integration is nothing to write home about. Everything I've seen talking with Sharepoint has custom components just to login and see what a Sharepoint site has in it.
But I digress. We were talking about Outlook.
One nice thing about Outlook/Exchange today. It hasn't crashed from a data store corruption in six months. That seemed to happen like clockwork a few years ago when I tried it.
Plus, it can tolerate more than 100 emails in one folder without 5 minute delays opening every time. Congrats!
Finally, Outlook's rules are convenient.
But Outlook itself ain't something to be proud of. Searches are still dog-slow. I've got in the habit of just telling people they'll need to forward me the email again if they want me to find it. I can't even page to a reasonable place in the day, there are so many emails.
And the isolationist folders. I don't get a chance to see the emails more than once in one folder. I can't get over that an email is supposed to refer to only one subject. It just ain't right.
Nobody will convince me this is a good system. I'm pretty confident Notes Mail will always be technically faster, better, and more sophisticated, especially with its SwiftFile filter and full text indexes.
Yeah, Microsoft won. The marketing war. Pyrrhic victory for the consumer.
Outlook content sucks. It doesn't integrate with other applications in the Microsoft suite. Just try pasting a complex email from Outlook, into a Sharepoint riich text edit area. You'll see what I mean.
Well, at least Notes can keep up with other applications in its suite.
Strong internal integration is probably the biggest reason why Lotus Notes has survived. But it's also a big reason Domino is so much easier to develop with, than other systems. Domino is of course the server side of the Notes/Domino product. Domino though, can walk & chew gum at the same time. Virtually the entire business nation in the US has resorted to Active Directory as a file access networking system, mostly because they're de facto on Microsoft network servers. And yet Domino can talk with Active Directory.
Domino can also call Web services.
Domino can also be a Web service for the data it stores.
That kind of integration is not found in business, elsewhere. Sharepoint just seems to sit there, requiring reams of software be developed for connecting up the stuff. And even when you get there, Sharepoint is ... well it's old. There's just not a lot you can do with its "site" development environment unless you're gonna buy its high-priced stuff and write Microsoft-proprietary .Net code. Fun as C# is, it isn't less wordy and unpleasant than Java. It doesn't give you the design building blocks to develop an application quickly. And Sharepoint's integration is nothing to write home about. Everything I've seen talking with Sharepoint has custom components just to login and see what a Sharepoint site has in it.
But I digress. We were talking about Outlook.
One nice thing about Outlook/Exchange today. It hasn't crashed from a data store corruption in six months. That seemed to happen like clockwork a few years ago when I tried it.
Plus, it can tolerate more than 100 emails in one folder without 5 minute delays opening every time. Congrats!
Finally, Outlook's rules are convenient.
But Outlook itself ain't something to be proud of. Searches are still dog-slow. I've got in the habit of just telling people they'll need to forward me the email again if they want me to find it. I can't even page to a reasonable place in the day, there are so many emails.
And the isolationist folders. I don't get a chance to see the emails more than once in one folder. I can't get over that an email is supposed to refer to only one subject. It just ain't right.
Nobody will convince me this is a good system. I'm pretty confident Notes Mail will always be technically faster, better, and more sophisticated, especially with its SwiftFile filter and full text indexes.
Yeah, Microsoft won. The marketing war. Pyrrhic victory for the consumer.