The relevance of Domino in today's web (2.0 etc)

In this post, Ferdy gets some of his gripes about Domino off his chest. He starts off by answering a simple question, "Is Domino still the best platform for Web Development?":

It is the worst web development platform I have ever witnessed, and I say that as a big promoter of Domino web development. It feels like web support is added as an afterthought, without proper architecture or vision. It may have cut it back in 1999, but it certainly doesn't right now. There is a reason why hardly any internet site runs on Domino. I do it, and many in the Lotus community do it, but that's about it, exceptions aside.

There's a lot of people in the Notes/Domino world currently wondering about their personal career investment in Notes/Domino. Regardless of how much work IBM is doing behind the scenes it often feels like they're ignoring their community which is made up of some incredibly loyal, patient, and talented individuals. They do this at their own peril. While a great marketing department can do wonderful things (although Bill Hicks would have other advice for them if he were still alive today), the best positive advertising you can have for any product is a happy community. Right now the Domino community feels anything but happy. Yes, there are new things on the horizon in the form of Hannover, Expeditor, new releases of Sametime, and much more, however all that seems to be translating into is a feeling of uncertainty.

Ferdy makes a very relevant point in saying that "One should not rely on a single vendor or platform to make a living". Being a developer is often about lateral thinking, and problem solving. The ability to write code and use development tools is something that develops around that in order to facilitate the problems you're solving in your mind. However with Notes/Domino, it often felt like too much time was spent trying to convince the tool to do what you wanted to do, rather than to solve the actual business problem. While that's also a type of problem solving, it's not especially productive, and can leave developers with a sour taste in their mouths as well as a skillset that isn't overly transferable.

I'm still passionate about Notes/Domino and the things that can be achieved with it, but more and more it feels like it's the Betamax of the Web x.0 world. I still work with Domino, but these days I'm finding that as a consultant, 95% of my time is being spent in the world of .NET - the transition is something which was a little harsh to make initially, but it's something I'm incredibly glad I did, and it's also something which was driven by sheer market demands over here (it's also something that I wanted to write more about but never seem to find the time!).

A selection of links for further reading:

Link: Domino's Relevance and the Modern Web
Link: Ferdy Christant: Bashing Domino
Link: Codestore: Having a stab at Domino
Link: Codestore: Why I'm still a Domino Developer

 Print | Posted on Monday, November 27, 2006 1:37 PM |