To start off, I'll quote the same paragaph as
Ed Brill:
Imagine a program used by 120 million people, of whom about 119m hate it. Sound unlikely? Yet that's the perception one garners in trying to discover whether Lotus Notes, IBM's "groupware" application, is - as readers of Technology blog suggested - the "world's worst application".
Where do you start with an article such as this? It's so incredibly out of date and vacuous that it's hard to respond. Once again, I don't want to write much, so here are a few points:
- What is the credibility of anyone who uses this Lotus Notes Sucks website as it's primary source of information?
- Asking questions such as "Why do users hate Lotus Notes so much?" is all well and good - why don't you ask the juxtaposed question as well, "How come there are also so many Developers and end users who are so incredibly passionate about it?"
- Whats with including this line about the interface: None of the options includes "rip up the interface and start again". . How much research did you do on this topic? Heard of Hannover? Seen the screenshots?
- The apparent 'sharp user retort': "Notes's backend functionality has no bearing on us 100m or so end-users.. Well, not if they're all as astute as you buddy, because it sounds like you're an ignorant schmuck stuck in data entry or phone support. However, consider the real people who play with the big boys issues - data security, corporate liability, data retention, risk and change management, investment and ROI - backend functionality probably matters to those people, which is why they get invited to important meetings about IT strategy and chose Domino, and why you're stuck in a dead end job answering phones and explaining to people how to press "any key" to continue.
- The whole Guardian UK article reeks of a hidden agenda. Maybe it's someone in IT who wants to whack in Exchange, and figured the best way to get things happening was to write something like that?
The article is a weird read. I could honestly write more meaningful stuff by sinking a bottle of bourbon and mashing my forehead on the keyboard. Probably the most meaningful criticism that Charles Arthur makes is regarding the history of Notes and Domino, where he makes anally retentive points about the "character-oriented graphical user interface". Uhm, wow, well done, point made.
Seriously, if this is the quality of writing and research we can expect from media these days, then I need to get myself a job working for the Guardian. I could sit back, play games all day, while typing out incoherent gibberish on the laptop in between levels..
Link: The Guardian UK: Survival of the unfittest
Link: Ed Brill's post
Link: Ben Rose's response
Technorati tags: Lotus, Notes, Domino