Slashdot is powered by your submissions, so send in your scoop

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
Operating Systems

Journal Otter's Journal: Software I Loathe, Part 6: Lotus Notes 14

Journal by Otter
In the ongoing saga of my whining about the godawful software they make me use at work: Lotus Notes.

Notes is a perfect example of how while Microsoft's much-denounced tactics may contribute to their dominance, the incompetence of their competitors contributes at least as much. As an email client, Lotus blows. Eudora is far better, Apple Mail is far better, Evolution and KMail are far better and while I've never used Outlook, Microsoft Entourage is far better. Notes looks like the developers simply haven't bothered to check out the competition since 1994.

The calendaring may be its selling point -- I don't know how it compares to Exchange calendering. But (and this what prompted me to start complaining) instead of figuring out how to use it, people schedule meetings and classes in email and make me wade through the piece'o'shit email client to manually RSVP after manually checking my calendar!

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Software I Loathe, Part 6: Lotus Notes More

Software I Loathe, Part 6: Lotus Notes

Comments Filter:
  • I was checking out IBM's Blue Gene project (they use 440's too!) and most of the stuff was powerpoint slides, except... a PRZ file and spent hours trying to find a linux reader for this freelance graphics thing until I finaly gave up...
  • we use lotus where i work. it's almost physically painful.
  • Have you ever had to endure Groupwise?

    I think I might actually be less stressed if we switched to Lotus.
    • Blessedly, no. Since moving from DECnet on a VAX to Internet email, I've never dealt with anything but POP or IMAP in a client of my choice, plus a bit of OWA.
    • I have to ask: what is the one thing you want it to do better?

      (I know where the enhancement request website is, and have seen, over the years, three of my requests make it into production code).

      Of course, there are somethings that just don't seem to work, no matter what. I have this one user, a bit of a power user, and he manages to get the thing tied up in knots I have the hardest time unravelling. It's almost like the GW client and database engine doesn't like him - what works for 100 other users won't

      • A short list:

        HTML formatted MAPI. (I don't care who's fault it is; GW installs the details for the Outlook client, so why can't it include enough to have a really formatted MS Word e-mail?

        MIME that doesn't suck. I can understand having the text portion of an HTML mail lose formatting for its TXT component--but since when are "paragraph breaks" formatting?

        An address book that I can actually use as a mail-merge source.>

        • I think I understand two of them, and will be able to submit bugfix / enhancement requests. Let me make sure I get the ideas straight, though.

          When you say 'address book as a mail-merge source' - I assume you have a file format in mind? For example, you can go into the address book, and choose File | Export but the file type is .nab (which is really just .csv). If the export were to actually make your life easier, in what format would the final file be?

          I also know that there is at least on third party tool

  • Sounds like your problem isn't just the software, it's the people. No amount of ctrl-alt-delete is ever gonna fix the old "eye dee ten tee" error. People need to work smarter not harder, especially in team situations.

    Oh well, I'm just frustrated with all the morons working for me and I think it's beginning to show.

  • agree 100% with what u said .. Lotus Email is just painful and more, what's most annoying for the IBM software in general, is the way they mix everything in the menus and the UI in general ... almost any other Windows app uses the same "template" for menu structure and UI elements ... not IBM ... with the exception of the File and Edit menus(not entirely), everything else is so stupidly mixed, one thinks they were trying to hide something or they just hate their users. why else would anyone put the "user

  • and someone's got to compete with them. I have hope for some open standards in this area - I mean how complicated can it be?

    • Like I said, my experience with Outlook/Exchange is limited -- although that's partly because the Exchange-based accounts I've had have allowed me to use an IMAP account and teh client of my choice.

      But Microsoft Entourage is a terrific email client. I imagine Outlook is probably similar, although given the superiority of MS's Mac software over their Windows products, that may well not be the case.

  • It's kinda funny, I've scoffed at OSU (where I now work) for years for mandating Notes campus-wide. Last year, our CIS department suffered a regime change; the new leader negotiated a campus license agreement with Microsoft where everyone from the president to the lowliest parttime student can install Windows XP pro and Office 2003 for no charge. He also dictated that we will migrate from Notes to Exchange server with outlook.

    Being not completely enamored of Microsoft in general, I'm not very excited abo

Slashdot Top Deals

A CONS is an object which cares. -- Bernie Greenberg.

Close