Only a Junior Gearhead myself, I didn't get a chance to work with Notes or learn much about it. I only saw one screenshot and had a vague notion that it had something to do with email. Notes was an MS-DOS program back then. Windows was just starting to catch on. Even with the inherent limitations of MS-DOS, however, Notes was a groundbreaking application.

Many people unfamiliar with Notes think it's synonymous with email, just as I once did. This causes problems when IT managers try to compare Notes with Microsoft Outlook. Notes and Outlook are two really different things.

Imagine purchasing MS Outlook, MS Internet Explorer, MS Exchange Server, MS SQL Server, and MS Site Server, all fine products in their own right. Now make them all work seamlessly together as a single package. That's a much closer approximation of what Notes really is. (Actually, it's an approximation of the Notes and Domino combination. I'll explain the difference in terms soon.)

Notes is very good at some things and not so good at others. In this article, I'll attempt to explain what the product is and touch on its strengths and weaknesses in language everyone can understand.

So what is it?
Let's start with the academic definition: Notes and Domino together comprise a highly secure, mail-enabled, multi-platform, open, client/server, distributed database management system.

Huh?

To sort out that rabble, let's start at the end of the definition and work backwards.

Management system
First, it's a database management system, or DBMS. That means it stores data in a structured format, in tables with rows and columns. (Notes purists will tell you that I'm wrong; the data is not actually stored in tables. Technically they're right, but we're talking conceptually here.)

Distributed
Secondly, Notes is distributed. That means all those tables and rows and columns can exist in multiple places at the same time. Imagine a mobile sales force with laptop computers. The laptops all have a Notes database of client information, including past purchases, future purchase plans, and other details.

Each salesperson has his or her own copy of the database right there on the laptop. They don't need to dial in to a corporate Web site or central database system while meeting with the client. Even better, all the salespeople can make changes to their own copies of the database, updating information, adding new clients, and so on, all at the same time.