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Upgrading to Lotus Notes and Domino 7
In the history of software, there have been a number of "killer applications" that were not only successful, but also helped change the entire industry. There was Microsoft Basic, the simple yet powerful programming language that made it possible for almost anyone to be an application developer, VisiCalc, the spreadsheet that helped transform the personal computer from a home hobby to a powerful business tool, CP/M, the pioneer PC operating system that helped pave the way for standardization, Netscape, the web browser that helped bring the internet to everyone.
If you can forgive a longtime Loti for a moment of immodesty, I believe that Lotus Notes/Domino deserves to be included on this list. When Lotus Notes first appeared in 1989, there was nothing like it—indeed, a whole new vocabulary that included words like groupware and replicator had to be invented to describe it. Early adopters soon discovered that Lotus Notes provided them with tools so powerful, it could actually change the way they did business and provided a possible advantage over their competitors. Within a few years, the installed base of Notes users grew from a few thousand, to tens of thousands, to millions, and finally, well over a hundred million now. Notes became a global phenomenon; like the former British Empire, nowadays the sun never sets on Lotus Notes/Domino!
But the impact of Lotus Notes/Domino goes far beyond its success in the marketplace. Notes/Domino actually changed the way people work. Previously, company experts in a particular area were tacitly encouraged to hoard what they knew, to keep it to themselves, and thus ensure their value and importance within the corporation. "Knowledge is power" was the general philosophy, and power wasn't something to be shared. But when Lotus Notes came along, it brought with it a major paradigm shift. With Notes, employees were encouraged to share what they knew, to record this knowledge in Notes documents where it could be found and referenced by others within the organization. An employee's value was no longer measured by what was inside his or her head, but by how much he or she could contribute to the corporate store of expertise. In this way, Lotus Notes served as one of the pioneer knowledge management tools, years before that term became trendy.
An early industry analyst probably said it best. Before Lotus Notes, software products were very good at helping people work—inefficiently. Spreadsheets, word processors, and similar products were all designed to help the single, isolated user be more productive—at working alone. Lotus Notes, on the other hand, encouraged people to work together, sharing information, automating processes—in a word collaborating, a term seldom applied to business software before Notes appeared on the scene.
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