I started responding to comments on yesterdays blog entry in-line but it started to get long for a comment so I decided to make it a new post. @1 Nathan – In the typical enterprise the typical end-user does not have access to create databases on a server, why would an enterprise dedicate a resource to blog creation on Domino servers, especially since a great percentage of blogs are created, used once or twice and left to die. In a Connections environment once you have the system up and running it is a user self service environment to create a blog, and the ones that die have virtually no cost associated with them. Steve touched on this in @14 as well. I don’t know how widely it would be used, but a tool to create and manage blogs in Domino would be a welcome addition @9 Kathy @20 Ferdy – when I started blogging I felt very much the same way, I am blogging about Lotus technology my blog should run on it. I am not sure I still feel that way now. Ferdy says it well not every technology blogger is on the platform that they evangelize, in fact those of us in the Lotus Community hosted on Domino are probably the exception not the rule @7 @10 Johns, @8 Ben – I was going with what I was told, while it appears that technically BlogSphere could be put back on OpenNTF the reality is that it is not there. Declan made some excellent points in his post yesterday Where Are All The Open Source Developers? It should not fall on one person to support a project, but based on the post and the comments it certainly appears that this has become the case. While there are some great projects on OpenNTF today it is clear that they are based on the work of a few inidividual contributors, and while being used, not being actively contributed back to. @12 John – excellent idea to have a place to list and prioritize feature requests for Domino Blogging since OpenNTF has it’s own instance of IdeaJam can we get an IdeaSpace for Domino Blog? @15 @18 Mat – yes there is so much more to Notes/Domino then just going off line, but specifically in the area of Blogging the off line capability is particularly strong in Notes compared to other options. @21 Ferdy – yes you have hit the real point here, it is a numbers game, and blogging is being done on a much greater scale on platforms designed specifically for blogging, which drives the innovation and development of plugins, themes, and mobile solutions. Technically Domino is an excellent platform to develop and host blogs on, it just does not have the user base for this functionality. I think I covered everyone I wanted to respond to. I would say the overall consensus is that people in the community want to continue to use Domino as their platform for blogging, I know I would like to keep my blog hosted on Domino and continue to blog via my Notes client, we will see if the tools continue to develop to keep me here, or if I will choose functionality over platform for my blog. (note: functionality as in what applications are developed not capability of Domino) Related Blog Posts: Ben Poole: Is there value in Domino as a ’blogging platform? Declan Lynch: Where are all the Open Source Developers? Mat Newman: Content IS King, and Lotus Notes is THE ultimate Content Manager
Well Bloggers in other tech communities (Java, .NET) tend to just use the standard tools but those tech communities do not define themselves as providing collaboration software.
IBM Lotus Domino should have a first class blog template, a first class Wiki and updated Teamrooms the same as Lotus Domino nowadays has first class webmail experience, first class mobile support for PIM with Traveler.
If Domino as a commercial product falls behind free Open Source solutions then it questions its place in the collaboration space. Enterprise software should never been an excuse for being low in features. And if a commercial product cannot deliver a solution on its own then it should embrace other technologies to make it happen. This is not only true for Domino but also for Sharepoint.
I use the Domino blog template for a variety of Notes based reasons. But the design is not for the squeamish. I’m not a dev person and it drives me up a wall that I can’t put in simple customizations to the interface using data that is very available in the documents, like categories for blog links. And you need dip into programming to change a picture. The whole thing needs to be more user friendly to be easily customized with skins, themes, and such.
I’m just sayin’.
– Andy
Sadly I must agree with Andy on this one. Gave the template to someone to work on and warned them to take an hour or 2 just to figure out what is where.
Damn basic html is infinitely easier to code and stick in a basic nsf and link it.
Ok that comment thing needs some code, but still.
@1 – “…falls behind free Open Source solutions then it questions its place in the collaboration space…”
Amen to that Brother, Amen!
I KNOW I can build virtually anything within the Notes/Domino framework, given the tools provided to me by IBM.
The problem is, users don’t know that – unless they’re trained properly – and organisations are too scared to implement custom stuff in case it breaks their deployment.
Unless – as you say – the template is provided out of the box, it doesn’t appear to have IBM’s backing and endorsement. When OpenNTF becomes widely recognised as the “IBM Apps store”, maybe things will change.