Nigel Cheshire, CEO of Teamstudio, Inc. (at http://www.teamstudio.com) was very encouraged by the messages coming out of IBM when he attended this year's Lotusphere. "It seemed to me that IBM was finally putting out a clear message about the migration path from Notes and Domino to WebSphere while continuing to support the Notes and Domino platform. More importantly, IBM is also starting to clearly articulate the different benefits of the two platforms, how they can work together, and why it makes sense to start to build blended applications."

Chip LeBlanc, Director of OEM and Partner Programs at Endeca (at http://www.endeca.com) says that, "As a software company, we see a tremendous opportunity in integrating with IBM and Lotus technologies in the areas of collaboration, commerce, content, and enterprise solutions."

According to Tom Witkin of The SpeedWork Company (at http://www.speedwork.com), like much of the IBM Lotus partner community, they're confused by the mixed signals they're getting from IBM. "Fortunately, as a solutions company, we focus on what our customers need and can stay above the fray of which platform they're being pushed to."

Peter Hoffmann, Managing Director at SoftVision Development GmbH (at http://www.svd-online.com) says it's very hard to see the strategy behind it all, adding, "If we as 'insiders' have this problem, what does that tell us for our customers? I think IBM's communication skills leave a lot to be desired. My concern is that this will have a negative impact on the Notes market."

Mats Ingelborn of SolutionPlanet (at http://www.solutionplanet.com) believes IBM has finally decided to capitalize on their investments in Lotus and is bringing together the strongest components from several worlds. "This will give the user base an enhanced product that I believe is far superior to any competitor and will also allow us to leverage on existing applications for years to come. Some users will probably feel 'threatened' by this change, but that is just a natural reaction to change. Some may even look at trading in Domino for something else, but the predominant decision will most likely be to stay with IBM and take the opportunity to enhance the existing platform with new technology."

Andrew Stuart is Managing Director of Touchdown Systems Design (at http://www.touchdown.com.au) in Melbourne Australia. He is also a Contributing Editor for DominoPower Magazine. According to Stuart, IBM has made a mistake by implying that it's going to fold Domino into WebSphere and phase Domino out. "Instead, IBM should have let the world know that it would be adding WebSphere to Lotus Domino." He explains that it's the same thing, but the latter suggestion provides a positive rather than a negative spin. "Such a move would have been perceived as an enhancement to Domino rather than an abandonment of Domino. It would have encouraged more take-up of Domino and Websphere rather than abandonment of an existing platform."