Ironically, this reflects the fact that Lotus historically maintained that the superior value of Notes came from the fact that it is an application platform and not merely a messaging solution. With further irony, IBM could leverage the application platform capability of Domino not to beat the dead horse of Notes-based collaborative applications but to greatly enhance its email and messaging solution -- potentially making Notes and Domino into an Exchange killer.

Workplace
Looking back, in response to fears on the part of customers that IBM would replace Lotus Notes and Domino as a groupware development platform with IBM WebSphere based applications, IBM assured customers that they were investing heavily in Lotus Software. The Lotus Software division of IBM then released a series of WebSphere-based products branded "Lotus Workplace".

At the same time, IBM moved to integrate legacy Domino data and functionality into WebSphere based applications using new Java-based WebSphere development tools. IBM also later added the option (in Domino 7) of replacing the highly flexible NSF database format with IBM's DB2 database, which had been used in the Lotus Workplace solution.

Today, much of the software developed as "Lotus Workplace" is part of the IBM WebSphere product line rather than Lotus Notes and Domino. It would seem, in retrospect, that customer fears were well founded indeed. Although there are no official numbers available from IBM, the overall result appears to have been a reduction in the total number of Lotus Notes and Domino customers.

Since IBM has not released any data it is unclear if IBM has retained these customers as WebSphere customers or if they are now customers of other companies, such as Microsoft. It probably hasn't helped IBM's case that Ray Ozzie, co-creator of Lotus Notes, is now Microsoft's Chief Technology Officer.

Customer fears
Recently, rumors and speculation in the press that Notes and Domino are "end of life" products have become widespread, although IBM officials adamantly deny that Domino is at the end of the line. In fact, Notes and Domino have continued to improve in a series of new releases, as is typical of a mature product. IBM officials argue that Notes and Domino are going strong and are always quick to point to new features that will be available in the next release.

Unfortunately, a pattern of incrementalism, where minor features and bug fixes are made available in a series of relatively insignificant point releases, could also indicate an "end of life" product. Microsoft and other competitors have exploited IBM's mixed signals(for example, the WebSphere versus Domino doublespeak), with gusto; so much so that members of the press sometimes take it for granted that Domino is a dead platform and have said that competitors smell blood in the water. In response, IBM seems constantly on the defensive. Unfortunately, they have no one to blame but themselves.

How might IBM put an end to customer fears, rumors, and speculation in the press? The answer is very obvious: go on the offense. IBM has been doing relatively little to position and promote Lotus Notes and Domino versus Microsoft Exchange.