1,000 databases (or more)
One thousand Lotus Notes/Domino databases is a typical minimum number of databases that would exist in an organization of five thousand or more users; and there are many such Notes installations worldwide. Most mission-critical Notes databases have interdependencies with other Notes databases and applications, and even with non-Notes applications.

While Microsoft's offering can analyze a single database, it cannot delve into the intricacies of a global Notes environment to identify how it processes data, workflow and security-or offer any useful suggestions. So even if Microsoft's offering could identify the technical requirements to migrate a single Notes database, this exercise would not even begin to identify the time, effort and technical requirements of migrating an entire Notes infrastructure.

Default templates
Most Lotus Notes/Domino shops don't use the templates at all, but create new customized applications without the templates, or modify the default templates. For the most part, these templates are not intended to be used directly, but are provided as examples, to help get Notes developers started. Email is probably one of the few Notes applications that is not generally customized.

Microsoft provides no software to help businesses migrate away from their customized Notes/Domino applications, which is at the heart of what the Notes/Domino platform is all about. To reproduce a typical Notes/Domino application's feature set on the Microsoft platform would involve a total rewrite -- a truly expensive proposition. Customers need to fully investigate the effort involved before they sign up for this proposition.

Thoughts to consider
If you are considering a migration from Lotus Notes/Domino to Microsoft, I want you to think about a few things before making the leap. The development languages don't mesh, the document store is different, and the general working environments are quite different as well. If anything, Microsoft's new application analyzer will tell you how difficult it will be to migrate from Lotus Notes/Domino to a Microsoft solution.

There's no magic formula to ease this sort of migration. Converting from one proprietary platform to another would involve a great deal of time, money and effort -- much more than it's worth, or at least that is what our customers have been telling us.

Consider The Government of Ontario, Canada. Four out of the top five public-facing applications they use are in Lotus Notes/Domino. They deal with public access to government forms, the Provincial job posting Web site, a translation tracking system and their internal employee services portal -- all key, mission-critical applications.

These applications generate a high level of visibility with officials as well as the tax-paying citizens. That is just one of many satisfied Notes customers. Others include Abbott Laboratories, the U.S. Army, MasterCard, JP Morgan-Chase, Polaroid, Florida Power and Light and the London Stock Exchange, to name a few.