Microsoft's announcement promises much but delivers little. Its collection of free migration software can only address the simplest Notes/Domino infrastructure. Its "Readme" states that it can't handle more than 1,000 databases (though it blames Notes for this); and can only deal directly with Lotus Notes/Domino default templates that have not been modified.

Both statements show a keen lack of understanding of the richness, diversity and stability of the IBM Lotus Notes/Domino customer installed base.

Any organization with an investment in Lotus Notes/Domino should take a hard look at their Lotus applications, to identify applications that are redundant or unused, and to identify those that are key for their business.

This will help them gain a new appreciation of the powerful, comprehensive platform in which they have invested, and help them ensure that their IT resources are being put to best use: managing the environment they currently have, rather the wasting time on a rip and replace strategy.

Nigel Cheshire oversees Teamstudio, Inc.'s product strategy and has been driving the company's growth since he founded it in 1996. Prior to founding Teamstudio, Inc., Cheshire was co-founder and principal of Ives & Company, a leading CRM solutions consultancy. Prior to Ives, he led a software engineering group within the R&D division of Data General Corp.