Slate

From the web:-

As I was listening to the news about Bernie Ebbers' 25-year jail sentence - longer, AFAIK, than many people get for murder - I felt a comparison stirring.

B. Ebbers: Told a pack of lies, wasted $11 billion of other people's money. Jailed for 25 years.

G.W.Bush: Told a pack of lies, wasted several hundred billion dollars of other people's money, invaded a country illegally, ignored the Geneva Conventions, and caused over 100,000 deaths. Honoured, respected, highly paid, enshrined in the White House.

Isn't "dumbocracy" wonderful?

So the CEO now proclaims...

"We have Lotus Notes opportunities coming out the yin-yang. I've never seen [such] a customer base waiting to be plucked."

But I say they should focus more on Exchange 5 installations (there are still pretty many). Plus the migration success rate is much higher here than moving LN bases.

Though the CEO can get away with a laugh for all the incorrect details/rumors.

The Register: Microsoft's Ballmer tells lurvely partners to stick it to IBM

At a recent partner conference Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has announced the new Forms capabilities in its next version of MS Office.

After having tried to come up with a Notes Killer App by buffing up Exchange/Outlook with workflow and collab features, MS is now trying to embed these features in its flagship Office software.

But the underlying architecture is still very primitive using Email services to route these so called Workflow Forms either to User mail-box or a mail-in database application. So you cannot have two-way updates available to the Application Form Submitter; unless you notify him with an email. So still for MS collaboration is only & all about Emails :)

CNET -> Microsoft to demo forms' abilities in next Office

I dont have this vice, but we have this open office and one cannot help but get to hear some comments.

Below is the conversation of two executives:-

Exec1: Its useful and works, but its not User friendly
Exec2: Yeah, its an IBM Product not Microsoft.

Its no easy task for IBM to change this perception. Though a lot many clients have been lost for this very reason. A great deal of Marketing efforts plus some real useful work on Usability of Products is needed. Microsoft is way ahead in User Interface experience and Usability which makes their product across all the segments intuitive and consistent, thus setting up a standard for end-user experiences.

IBM Workplace, if it needs to quickly catchup with the competitor, should not try to create new Standards, as this will again mean a high learning curve for the end-users and will set the same perception for their new & upcoming products.

Using Eclipse is a good strategy as this will atleast make all IBM products consistent. But the RCP itself should adhere to native OS look & feel.