Collaboration: Lotus Notes/Domino 7 vs SharePoint Portal Server 2003

By David McAmis, ZDNet Australia

25 May 2006 03:11 PM

Tags: e-mail, sharepoint, portal, collaboration, david mcamis, lotus notes, european union, domino

Introduction

Notes/Domino

SharePoint

Verdict

[Click to enlarge] Lotus Notes can be used
to store and track documents, and view
them in different forms.

Lotus Notes/Domino 7.0
As one of the original players in the collaboration and messaging market, Lotus has made a name for itself with business users and IT professionals alike. There are actually two products in play here -- Lotus Notes 7.0, a client software application and Lotus Domino Server 7.0, which provides the back-end components, including messaging services and application services.

Developers can use Lotus Domino Designer to create custom forms and databases from scratch or by using one of the templates provided. There are a number of different ways you can deploy Notes databases and applications, including through Lotus Notes or from the Web. There are some differences between how you actually design applications for the full client vs a thin client, but during the design process you can make sure that whatever you develop can be used in either environment.

[Click to enlarge] Domino Designer can be
used to create databases, forms and
Web pages.

Designing collaborative applications using Lotus Domino Designer does require a specialised skill set and you won't be able to proceed very far without some form of training, whether it is investing the time in self-paced learning or instructor-led training.

Lotus Notes provides a flexible platform for developing collaborative applications, so you will find the basic functionality of sharing and storing information and documents is catered for, as well as more advanced functionality for workflow, scripting with JavaScript and "LotusScript". For instance, you can create a database and set of forms to capture action items from a meeting and e-mail them to the relevant contacts.

[Click to enlarge] Lotus applications can be
used to manage documents, calendars
and projects for multiple team members.

As with most collaborative platforms, Lotus Notes/Domino supports storing and sharing documents, managing calendars and projects. There is also tight integration with IBM DB2, as well as support for accessing data from other data sources, integrating Java applets, JSP pages and more. With an advanced set of features and functionality (and the requirement for training that goes with them), Lotus Notes is well-suited for medium to large enterprises looking for an all-in-one messaging and collaboration platform.

Product	Lotus Notes/Domino 7.0
Price	Licensing starts at around $170 per user. Various server and client licences available depending on usage
Vendor	IBM Australia
Contact	132 426
Web site	www.ibm.com/software/au/lotus/

Interoperability
Interoperability	Good interoperability with DB2, JSP and XML, but poor third-party support
Futureproofing
Futureproofing	Requires specialised skill set for development; may become difficult to find resources
ROI
ROI	Investment in training; development may hamper ROI
Service
Service	E-mail, Web and telephone
Rating

Introduction

Notes/Domino

SharePoint

Verdict

< Prev 1 2 3 4 Next >

Talkback (58)
Print
E-mail
Share
- del.icio.us
- Digg
- Reddit
- Slashdot
- StumbleUpon

Talkback 58 comments

Add your opinion

Wrong Comparison Anonymous -- 26/05/06 (in reply to #120135024)

You should be comparing IBM Team Workplace (Quickplace) to Sharepoint.

Yes it was the wrong comparison Anonymous -- 26/05/06 (in reply to #120135025)

It's like comparing a spreadsheet (Sharepoint) to a Oject relational database (Lotus Notes/Domino). If you want to do a true comparison add Microsoft biz server, Sharepoint and whatever else is need to match Notes/Domino capabilities otherwise do a apples to apples comparison with QuickPlace and Sharepoint.

Products for comparison David McAmis -- 26/05/06 (in reply to #120135025)

ZDNet Australia is written for the Australian market and here the two dominant products in the collaboration market are Lotus Notes and SharePoint, which is why they were selected for the review. Over time, the market may shift to see more implementations of IBM Team Workplace (Quickplace) and we haven't ruled out reviewing it in the future, but for this review it was Notes vs. SharePoint.

Well, Quickplace is a Lotus Domino Application.. Dag Kvello -- 26/05/06 (in reply to #120135049)

wich most closely resembles Sharepoint.

Picking the right product... David McAmis -- 29/05/06 (in reply to #120135081)

We didn't look for products that looked the same, we looked for products that were used for the same purpose. And in Australia, the market is definitely dominated by Notes and SharePoint.

Australian Market Leon Hutcheson -- 27/05/06 (in reply to #120135049)

IBM Quickplace is in the Australian Market do your research

Quickplace is sold in Australia, but not as popular as Lotus Notes David McAmis -- 29/05/06 (in reply to #120135103)

If there are any Australian QuickPlace users who would like to comment, please include your location in your posts.

You missed the point Anonymous -- 28/05/06 (in reply to #120135049)

The point is that they are not in the same market. There is a place for cargo ships and ski boats but comparing their merits is pointless since no one in the market for one would consider the other. A small shop should not even consider Domino/Notes whereas a 10,000 person bank wouldn't really see Sharepoint as viable.
I would have liked to have seen an article on the alternatives to the market leads. Where's the Novell or opensource Wiki-based products? This article basically told us in the opening that there are two market leaders in their segments and defined the segments. Their end verdict is that shops should use the dominant product in their market. That's not a comparison. It also is tailored not to offend either IBM or Microsoft. No worries about their advertising relationship with this article.

Notes vs. Sharepoint Anonymous -- 26/05/06

Being a user of both products and going through a migration from Notes to SharePoint, I argue that neither product is simple enough to be maintained without a special skillset. Sharepoint does come with numerous templates that help get you started, but if you want to do anything beyond what MS thought you needed, you better have a background in creating webservices to get it done, and have an IT department that will let you do so. Notes' LotusScript and @Commands are equally difficult, but are integrated right in the form creation piece rather than a seperate module.

As for security - Sharepoint really drops the ball in this department. Its either all or nothing for most forms, and unless you fork out $$ for the full version, good luck searching for anything.

As with most MS products, early versions really lack, but once they hit version 6+, they're tough to beat.

Where are you coming from? Jeff Berg -- 26/05/06

This story covers about 10% of what a collaboration platform needs to be.

You mention BizTalk is required for workflow but you forgot to mention you will need Exchange/Outlook for email. You will need MS tools to do custom development if supplied web parts don't completely fulfill your needs and that's just the obvious ones.

What about security or don't people need that either? With SharePoint you can add members but try to secure a document (oh wait, you'll need MS rights management).

MS has better intergration???? With what? Itself? The MS desktop?

If you want to compare apples to apples you will need to add Exchange/Outlook, SQL Server, BizTalk, InfoPath... onto the MS stack of products you need to purchase, install and integrate to equal what comes with one price tag and install with Lotus.

You can read by now that I'm a Lotus bigot but it doesn't prevent me from being right. You really need to know more about what you review before you publish something like this.

Better Integration Anonymous -- 26/05/06 (in reply to #120135028)

Everything in SharePoint is exposed as XML Web Services.
If you create a contact list, calendar or metadata for your documents - it can all be extracted via the built in web services. No lock in for your data. Easy to write an app in any language//platform to interact with SharePoint.

Dev tools are consistent with all other MS Office, Web and Rich client .net applications.

Web Services? Jeff Berg -- 26/05/06 (in reply to #120135055)

I have one big problem with Web Services, they are far from secure. If you want to publish content to the masses then Web Services, RSS, blogs, etc.. are fine. That's my major bitching point - from a collaboration sgtandpoint, I do not want to share my content with the world. What I want is to get content out of my In-box and shared with a variety of specific individuals. This requires fine grained security and an the ability for me to push content to my intended recipients. Try doing that with SharePoint 2003.

To complete my argument, Lotus Notes does Web Services too. It's not getting a stonghold because it's inferior to what Notes can do natively through agents, servlets and form-based workflow.

SharePoint 2007 makes big strides in the arena, however, that is not the point of the original comparision.

I don't want to make personal attacks... but when I first read the 'story', I really felt it was some guy retelling what the MS sales guy told him over a lunch. Notice the lack of any real substance to the author's claims.

I do like SharePoint and can see the business value - especially when compared to the tradational approach to putting documents on a file share. What many don't understand is that Lotus has been a pioneer in this area for over a decade. Us Lotus Notes people know the value of wrapping collaboration around business processes and data. We are insulted when when MS fanatics start to realize the same value and think they invented it or can instantly improve it by making it look prettier. SharePoint 2003 does not compare as favorably as the author states for anything but the simpliest of communications.

Well said Jeff! TJGodel -- 27/05/06 (in reply to #120135067)

I have been a Notes/Domino developers for years, but I am first and foremost a solutions developer. I want the best tool for the application I am trying to develop. I want to be productive and for collaboration applications Notes/Domino has been the best for years. Sharepoint maybe great solution if I want to simple document sharing application with end-users doing most of the work. There is a trend of letting more end-users do collaboration with IT application development support. Maybe the next version of Domino called Hanover will address this area and maybe Sharepoint 2007 will be just as good. I think this article was not good product comparison. I am not a Notes biot just a rational developer.

Notes/Domino VS SharePoint Bill Hazelton -- 26/05/06

No discussion of security for either product? Allowing users to build apps does have advanages but users rarely give security any consideration.

Not to mention... Anonymous -- 02/06/06 (in reply to #120135029)

I'm sure plenty of users would fight tooth and nail against this statement but.... Users rarely know the right tool.

I can't tell you how many times I've seen users attempt to run an entire Finance department in MS Excel. I've seen MS Access used like it was a Spreadsheet, one single table, duplication out the window. Mention data normalization, and their eyes dull over, and all they can say is "huh?"

I don't want end-users creating their own applications. I don't TRUST end-users creating their own applications. It's not because I'm a developer, it's because I've seen what kind of mess they dish out, and after the fact, they go running to the IT department screaming "Everything's messed up- fix this."

Interoperability? Email? Anonymous -- 26/05/06

One thing the article glosses over is the fact that Notes can run on Windows/Linux/iSeries/UNIX etc. Sharepoint runs on WINDOWS. Also, in order to get advanced capabilities (like good search) you need SQL thus adding to the licensing. Notes has excellent full-text search built in.

Notes has a native Mac Notes client, and with Hannover (version 8 next year) you'll be able to run the Notes client on Linux as well.

So I ask, HOW does Notes get lower scores for interoperability than Sharepoint?

Also, Notes has email built-in, so you can do email workflow and such like that. Sharepoint also requires Exchange so you have to pay for that too.

So you can have Notes, or a combination of Sharepoint, SQL and Exchange.

You can have Notes in a completely MS-free environment, a total MS environment, or a combination.

Sharepoint, all MS, all the time.

I won't even get into replication and the ability to have applications offline... it can be done in one and not the other :-)

It doesn't require Exchange Anonymous -- 21/04/07 (in reply to #120135030)

It requires an SMTP server...

Installation of SharePoint Portal Server Peter Walsh -- 26/05/06

Easy to install and configure? You obviously did not install it yourself. I tried and had to un-install. I have not heard of any clean installs.

Tell the truth.

Not nice to use either Richard -- 26/05/06 (in reply to #120135032)

We've also had fun with it, and it certainly doesn't mix well when you have different versions of Dot-Net on a server.

The collaboration feature is a joke to use. The discussion groups are terrible. Why couldn't people just stick with something that's been around for a couple of decades, but is an open standard and does more than these tools do - NNTP? Try navigating around a discussion thread in Sharepoint that has more than (say) 2 or 3 posts in it.

Windows software is not easy to install or use. It needs an administrator who knows about Windows. Maybe you assume every enterprise has one, but I've seen a number of people put into this situation gettting into all sorts of trouble.

Sharepoint Futureproof?? Anonymous -- 26/05/06

Let's talk about future proof. What happens when Sharepoint gets it's inevitable "upgrade"? If it's anything like Exchange, or other MS apps, it's a migration not an upgrade which likely means it won't be easy, and you'll spend considerable time "fixing" your sharepoint apps to work properly. And of course it will probably only be supported on 64 bit Windows (see Exchange 12/13/2010). And you'll need to upgrade MSSQL, Exchange, and every other bit of MS sludge you've got hooked into it. And what about Domino? It will be a true upgrade. Install the software on the same server if you don't need/want to upgrade the hardware. The next upgrade will support your old Notes apps without a problem. Why - because it's designed that way. Downwards compatible for 2 releases - by design. So let's reconsider both the Futureproof and ROI scores.

Notes/Domino is VERY Futureproof Anonymous -- 26/05/06 (in reply to #120135033)

I agree with the parent post but want to point out that the compatibility of Notes apps between releases is really quite extraordinary, and I've never seen it equalled in any other application.

I have R4 apps running in R7 right now, with no development work needed to make them fully usable in the new release. That's 3 versions ahead of initial realease and they're still working exactly as intended.
I've heard stories of R3 apps which are still in use today as well.

IBM has publicly committed to keeping all of the current Notes/Domino applications working in Hannover and beyond, and I think their track record proves they will do it.

64 bit??? John -- 03/06/06 (in reply to #120135033)

didn't you mean X64 Windows, not 64 bit as in the itanium processor.

Current shipping Xeon and Opteron processors are all X64 capable so the next version of Exchange wil lhave no issues finding a server to run on. Every Xeon shipped since about July 2005 is capable of supporting X64

Facile Analysis and the wrong products evaluated to boot Anonymous -- 26/05/06

Article is total FUD.

The proper comparision should have been between Lotus QuickPlace and Sharepoint - not Notes/Domino vs SharePoint. Your comparision is like comparing the Queen Mary to a half-deflated zodiac....

Read about QuickPlace here - http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/product3.nsf/wdocs/ltwhome

An honest eval between QuickPlace and Sharepoint would see SharePoint exposed for the dog it is - nothing more than a crippled IIS install and a retard-dimbulb search engine pointed at a 'Doze file server - gag!

Hang your heads in shame!

Take a free 45-day spin with QuickPlace! Anonymous -- 26/05/06 (in reply to #120135035)

IBM offers a free try out of hosted QuickPlace for 45 days - http://www-142.ibm.com/software/sw-lotus/products/product3.nsf/wdocs/ltwtrial

Ever install QuickPlace? It takes 10 minutes tops! This is one of the most amazing products Big Blue has ever offered. Too bad IBM wants so much money for it.

IBM Lotus Workplace Anonymous -- 26/05/06

The comparison should be between the IBM Lotus Workplace Portal products and MS Sharepoint, not Notes/Domino and Sharepoint. Did you consult with IBM Marketing or anyone from IBM before deciding which products you cared to compare to Microsoft's?

Seeking vendor advice... David McAmis -- 29/05/06 (in reply to #120135038)

Generally, we don't seek advice from vendors on what products to review. We do contact the vendor to obtain pricing for the products and when there are any outstanding queries or questions from the review. In this case, we selected Notes and SharePoint as they are the two most commonly used collaboration platforms in this market.

Reasoning rings hollow... Sean Burgess -- 31/05/06 (in reply to #120135149)

If you simply chose to compare Sharepoint and Domino simply because they are the two most commonly used collaboration platforms, then you should have indicated the capabilities of each platform more fully. It would be like comparing a motorcycle and a family sedan without ever talking about the ability of the sedan to carry more people, work in any weather, and protect you better in a crash.

Some of the major differences are:
- OS Support: Sharepoint is Windows only while Domino supports Windows, Linux, MAC (Client), OS/390, and many flavors of UNIX.
- Email: Domino has it built in while Sharepoint needs Exchange.
- Security: Fully integrated into front-end and back-end of Domino, with granularity at the field level. As many other comments have indicated, it's an all or nothing approach in Sharepoint at the folder level.
- Clustering, Replication, and Off-line capabilities: Domino has it, Sharepoint doesn't.
- Search: Built into every Domino application, including the ability to search across multiple databases. Only included in SPP.
- Future-proofing: I just think you put the check mark in the wrong column. How can you not say that a platform that supports applications built over 13 years and 5 versions ago without modification is not future-proof. Name me one MS application that can say that.
- Integration: If by integration, you meant that you HAD to use other MS applications to do any real work, then maybe you got this one right. Thanks to Domino's support of all the popular web standards, it is able to be intergrated to almost any environment.

I'd also like to point out that Domino 7 also has support for Web Services out of the box and that this functionality is the key to it's intergration with RIM's Blackberry MDS Studio 4.1.

Just one more thing: it's really key to know EXACTLY what your review criteria were. Just something simple, like install server, create application to do XYZ, yada yada yada. That information will make determining the usefulness of any review much easier.

Sean---

Terrible article Anonymous -- 26/05/06

This article is very poorly researched, and as already commented on, this is the worng comparison anyway

Document Management Alan Smithee -- 26/05/06

I have managed a migration from Notes to Sharepoint in the last 9 months, and out of the box, you need to buy Domino.Doc if you produce documentation on the Lotus side. On the Microsoft side, there is no off-the-shelf document control solution. Sharepoint fails to deliver the necessary functionality for appropriate access control, audit trail, workflow/approval, lifecycle management, and is only marginally capable of version control. For robust document and record management, Sharepoint is simply inadequate

Useless review Anonymous -- 26/05/06

Good thing this review was not out in paper- print, because it wouldn't be a worthy replacement for toilet paper.

Users love SharePoint and it delivers immediate value Anonymous -- 26/05/06

One response from the user side of fence. SharePoint is easy to use and has been enthusiastically adopted by us users. Value is derived from this adoption, and SharePoint delivers immediate value through ease of use and integration with MS Office which we all use. The change management investments are lowered which lowers risk in introducing a collaborative platform that doesn't get used. We the user voted with our wallets to adopt PC's and associated productivity applications becuase we could get stuff done ourselves without needing to request all solutions from an IT department. SharePoint gives us this type of capability in our collaborative platform. Yes, Quickplace is similar but not nearly as functional, user friendly and not integrated with the Office apps we use in conjunction with the environment. Looking forward to the version out later this year, we already see the capabilities around Server side Excel, Workflow, Forms, Search, Enterprise Content Management, Collaboration, and Business Intelligence are going to add a great deal of further value to the investment. I'd say an investment in SharePoint is a very safe one.

Absolutely correct Anonymous -- 26/05/06

.Net makes SharePoint a good investment irrespective of the value-add in SharePoint 2007.

Lotus defense front Anonymous -- 26/05/06

So I wonder which of the various rabid Lotus zealot blogs posted a link to this story for all of the lotus developers and admins to come and defend their precious?

If I develop what should have been a RDBMS driven application in notes, I'm pretty much locked into Lotus from that day forward (and surely I would join the zealous lotus defender army to ensure my job security for having locked my company into such a decision indefinately). If I develop it with a SQL Server backend, I can always fairly easily migrate it to Oracle or DB2.

Companies who deploy lotus are pretty much married to lotus from that day forward, not because they want to stay on lotus but because they don't have a choice. Users hate any of the fat-client applications (and for the love of all that is holy, lotus notes is a horrifically bad email client).

Running an R4 application on R7? Bet the users love you.

Notes/Domino connects to any RDBMS you can name Anonymous -- 26/05/06 (in reply to #120135052)

If you need an RDBMS then Notes can act as the front end to that. Do the part in Notes that makes sense and keep the big data in the RDBMS.

In fact, Notes R7 is build on DB2 so now you can have it both ways. Notes object-store and/or DB2 RDBMS.

Where's the difference to MS Software? Anonymous -- 26/05/06

If I deploy Exchange, I'm married to Microsoft. If I deploy Sharepoint, this marriage is renewed. You are stuck with MS Operating systems and all the other parts of the MS Software stack. And of course MS software only really interoprates with MS software. This lock in continues right to the user's desktops. Exchange requires Outlook to be usable, most Sharepoint apps I know require IE to work even slightly right. I'm not even a Notes user. My company is heavily into Microsoft's bugware. We have Sharepoint everywhere and it's a pain to use from the enduser perspective.

You'[re an idiot Anonymous -- 09/01/09 (in reply to #120135071)

SharePoint is VERY user friendly and anyone that says different is a moron. What's the big deal in being "married" to MS? ALL businesses use MS Office, so why not use a collaboration suite and development platform that integrates with it seamlessly, instead some old out-dated junk like LOTUS BROKES that doesn't play nice with ANYTHING?

Wrong Anonymous -- 26/05/06

It seems people deploying sharepoint love it. I'm a Sharepoint user. Many of our corporate intranet services were switchted to sharepoint. Let me tell you, I don't love it.

I'd say, wait untill things blend-in at IBM's WPLC division Anonymous -- 26/05/06

Some of us know that the common trajecetory for IBM's workplace, Portal and Collaboration software is this "Workplace" destination, all being engineered around Service Oriented Architecture and open standards. --- Yes, folks, open standards.

IBM's Lotus division has set the stage for collaboration years ago, has lead that market-space ever since and will continue to do so for the next decade with the notion of role-based, activity-centric collaboration. Tools will be engineered around this activity-patterns.

My advice, wait and see for things to blend-in. I tell you, it's really worth while. And regardig MSFT, what's their vision on collaboration anyway ? They had to buy Ray/Groove to get at least a bit of a product that comes close to collaboration. And by the way, I have to be an MSFT-shop to get this all going.

Absolutely Anonymous -- 26/05/06

Absolutely. I have been a Notes developer for 10 years now, and I still have R3 applications working untouched on R7 servers.

The article doesn't even mention that:

1. Notes has an enterprise level mail server built-in. With SharePoint, you need to purchase Exchange licenses as well.

2. Notes/Domino has replication and offline working capabilities.

3. Notes (this is open for argument) has far superior security.

If you really want to compare overall h/w, s/w, roi, etc. costs... Anonymous -- 27/05/06

After working with both systems, Notes/Domino/Sametime out of the box can do more for a business on one server than the products from Redmond. In order to get similar from MS, you would need to not only have Sharepoint, but MS Exchange, MS Office, MSSQL, Outlook, BizTalk, Active Directory (Windows 2003 Servers) and more Server Admin/Develoment staff with that breadth of exposure. On the contrary, IBM's runs on multiple OSes, and has consisently reduced its administrative overhead release after release. Also, there hasn't been a rip/replace upgrade yet (or AD requirement!). P.S. Have fun with Disaster Recovery in an Exchange/Sharepoint/BizTalk combination... its reeeaaallllly eaaasy (??).

While notes is much better sharepoint looks better Anonymous -- 27/05/06

and for many people, this is enough.
Our firm moved to sharepoint/exchange latey, and we are now spending twice the efforts and the money to get less then what we used to get from our old domino environment, but users are happy becuase "now we like everyone else".

Why would ANY systems admins SERIOUSLY consider giving development to untrained Gavin Bollard -- 29/05/06

In my 14 years of IT Experience, I've had a history of problems with user-made software, be it overly complex Excel Spreadsheets, Handmade Access and Approach Databases, Word Processor Macros which dont have any error handling in them... etc...

ALL development products should be in the hands of qualified developers. Users dont consider security, ISO17799, workflow, error handling, commenting, softcoding, subroutines or any other kind of sensible development constructs.

Putting application development in the hands of users is a recipie for disaster.

I don't see why you marked Notes/Domino down for needing qualified people, and sharepoint up, for being able to be cobbled together by end users.

The Notes development client is more expensive than the normal client - that should give you a clue as to WHO should be doing the development.

Salesmen sell, Accountants count malcolm Barr -- 29/05/06 (in reply to #120135147)

We don't pay employees to develop applications. It's no wonder there are so many accountants in the world if they spend most of there time fiddling with software instead of balancing the books.
Let the developers develop.

IBM futureproof? Not even close... Anonymous -- 29/05/06

Over the past 5 years, we have worked to create Notes-based workflow and data gathering apps. I looked into Quickplace, only to discover there is no good migration path for complex Notes applications and code.

Considering how much time and effort we have put into the Notes platform, we are going to stick with it. IBM may be pushing Quickplace, but I am not willing to throw my code away and start over. I don't think IBM understands that.

Did you even look at IBM's roadmap? Anonymous -- 11/01/07 (in reply to #120135148)

I mean seriously....we aren't discussing Quickplace .... but even then look at the Lotus/Domino roadmaps before you comment.
Hannover is the next client release in 2007/2008 and it is completely backwards compatible with the entire Notes codebase and data store back to Notes 1 -2 decades of code that still works...no rip and replace here.

Wrong selection of tools for Comparison Anonymous -- 29/05/06

Author has selected wrong tools for comparing. You can't compare notes with sharepoint, though both beong to colloborative platform. If the author has used Lotus Notes, atleast tried, it is easier to find that has so many features and its anytime more better in usability and administer than sharepoint. Ever worked offline with sharepoint? Then you will realize how easier to work with notes. This comparison is like comparing TV and Home theater systems, because both havespeakers and both are intended for entertainment. Do your reseach before writing the article.

Sharepoint needs to be compared with IBM's Workplace/Portal Anonymous -- 07/06/06 (in reply to #120135165)

Sharepoint is MS's Portal and Collaborative Product including application integration, document management and collaborative tool.

IBM has Websphere Portal which includes thing like application integration, document management and like Sharepoint can grab content and applications from IBM's set of pre-built Workpalce Application, Notes Domino including Quickplace.

I would hope that both of these applications allow you to plug-in 3rd party tools as well - via Sharepoint's Web Parts and IBM's Portlets (JSR168 open standard).

Additionally you will need to look at all the extra stuff you need to make this work. For example, with MS you'll probably need to purchase MS Office 2003 to get the full collaborative capabilities.... and get ready for uprgading all you desktops and servers when the new set of products hit the streets in 2006/2007.

So be careful of the lock-in from each of the vendors and what it will mean for continual upgrade, reatraining and migration of content.

Choose your platform wisely!

Collaboration Anonymous -- 01/06/06

Amusing this - Shared Point and the other stuff can best be described as superficially collaborative. It is a con exercise as vendors rebrand warmed up platforms to get on the collaboration band wagon without actually delivering meaningful collaboration.

It depends how you define collaboration Anonymous -- 03/06/06

A very silly article, comparing 2 totally different products.
It depends whether you consider collaboration sharing a few documents and having a pretty basic website or a full scale document database with email, calender and scripting language.

I've used both Notes (old version) and sharepoint as well as Exchange.

Notes offers far more than sharepoint, it's probably more to be compared with Exchange & Outlook forms.

For 'proper' document sharing and form databases notes has always been ahead of Exchange, although most people seem to give Exchange the edge in Email.

The current version of sharepoint (especially WSS) is very limited and more suited for sharing small amounts of data on a team.

Websphere Anon -- 23/01/07

Comparing apples with apples, isn't IBM Workplace on WebSphere platform a better comparison with Sharepoint ??

Unprofessional article at ZDNet johnny jiang -- 11/02/07

The author(s) should try to install both of them at the least.
And basically, these 2 products are not at the same level of so called collaboration software. Quickplace is the major competitor of Share Point. There are also 2 types of Share Point products.

I agree, comparing apples to oranges Anonymous -- 12/02/08 (in reply to #320074492)

This article is useless, it only can confuse readers. Notes and Sharepoint are not comparable. From IBM, QuickR would be the right product to compare it with - web-based, quick and easy for end users. And from MS there is no product that can be compared with Notes/Domino, maybe a combination of products and complex development.

Good Article. We can help with the Lotus Notes and Domino Development\Administra Solutions Development Corp -- 22/02/07

If you need help with your Lotus Notes projects, we can help. We have over 13 years of experience with Lotus Notes, and over 7 with Lotus Domino.

Please visit us at: http:\\www.solutions-web.com

MOSS vs Domino B. Lannan -- 14/10/08

Anyone who can't see the difference hasn't used both, nor has deployed in a distributed enterprise. No comparison.

What about workflow? Anonymous -- 09/11/08

I was working for years with Lotus/Domino but due a manager decision, we had to move to all MS products and get MOSS as the intranet option.

What was the most terrible thing to me? Dealing with workflows.....well, we can say that MOSS DOES NOT offer workflow capabilities as Lotus does. That part is very poor in MOSS and you have to go to developer guys to build some .NET code to make something like a "workflow" using Workflow Foundation (except if you have bought the expensive licence for BizTalk).

It's always the same strategy on MS. You need more????...well, buy this....need more?? buy that.

After more than 15 years of Lotus leadership in collaboration, I expected MS offered us a more close solution....after 15 years of experiencie we can not accept a plattform that CAN NOT deal with workflow properly as Lotus did....and workflow is only one of MANY complaints I have with MOSS and MS boys.

Lack of knowledge Anonymous -- 10/11/08 (in reply to #320115921)

I build workflows every day using SharePoint designer - it ain't hard. Maybe you should learn something about the toolset?

Do you know what a workflow is? Anonymous -- 12/11/08 (in reply to #320115934)

Do you know what a state machine is? Are you really serious when you say that designer lets you to design a workflow? (a real one, not sequential tasks)

use Visual Studio Anonymous -- 09/01/09 (in reply to #320116122)

it'll do state machine, and about anything else you need. Crappy Lotus couldn't hold a candle to MOSS. I wouldn't be shocked if IBM disbanded the entire Lotus division.

Add your opinion

Reviews by category

Hardware

Software

Other Resources

Latest Videos

Play now

Google Chrome OS demonstration
Vice President of Product Marketing Sundar Pichai gives a virtual tour of Google's new operating system, Chrom… Watch it now
Malcolm Turnbull's ghost twitterer
Surf the Net like it's 1991 with Gopher
ADD: A creative's curse or a blessing? - Malmuth Damkar
More videos »

Blogs

Sick of broken tender sites
Some of the state governments desperately need to invest in more user-friendly tender sites so that looking for information on government tenders doesn't have to be a game of blind man's bluff.
Cyberwar: What is it good for?
In this week's episode, Cyberwar. What is Australia's place in the world of digital warfare? What are the implications for the NBN?
Is wholesale-only backhaul just a pipedream?
The potential acquisition of Pipe Networks by SP Telemedia has raised the question about whether vertically integrated backhaul providers will mean higher wholesale prices for ISP customers.
More blogs »

Reader Services

Essentials

Broadband Plan Finder
Not sure which broadband plan to choose? Try our Broadband Plan Finder.
Best Servers
Check out the best servers here!
Mobile Phone Plan Finder
Pick the best mobile phone plan deal with our Mobile Phone Plan Finder.
Broadband speedtest
How fast is your Internet connection? Calculate the speed here.
Top Ten Servers
Want to find out what servers are in the top ten? Check here!

1) Apple iPhone 3GS 32GB	35 plans	3%
2) Apple iPhone 3GS 16GB	35 plans	1%
3) Sony Ericsson Satio	6 plans	1%
4) Nokia E63	39 plans	1%
5) Nokia N97	42 plans	1%

1) Apple mobile phones	2%
2) Nokia mobile phones	2%
3) Sony Ericsson mobile phones	1%
4) Samsung mobile phones	1%
5) LG mobile phones	1%

Reviews > Software > Productivity