What is Domino Was --> Re: Re[2]: The Magic Box -- MIDRANGE-L


Steve,

        Might I politely suggest you send these people to some Lotus
introduction sessions, as you are not doing a good job of explaining the
power or functionality of the product, based on this message.

        A DOMINO NSF (Notes Storage File) is more like a library that keeps
multiple types of objects, including the actual documents (Records).
Definitions of the documents format called Forms (PF DDS), and Views (LFs).
Within the Forms, Sub-Forms, Views and NSF Events is the application logic
(RPG) in the form of @commands, or Lotus Script, or in newer Releases Java
and/or a combination of the above.

        An application is just as complicated here as it would be as a
native AS/400 application, and sometimes more so, it's just that the tools
are different, and the underlying support of Notes & Domino provide many
GROUPWARE features that the AS/400 does not. Such as field level replication
making the application "SOMETIMES" more portable.

        JMS...

    PS: I am a Notes Developer who has been around the 3X world since the S3
Model 6.  This is the way I translate things, others may do it differently.
<G>


-----Original Message-----
From: Steven Easton <seaston@ionet.net>
To: MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com <MIDRANGE-L@midrange.com>
Date: Saturday, July 03, 1999 3:03 AM
Subject: Re[2]: The Magic Box


>Maybe IBM should explain Domino better.  Most of us learn by example.
There is
>not very many examples in my area.  Here is how I explain the differences
to
>people.
>
>RPG programs stores data in flat file.  It may take 10 files to store a
customer
>order.  Programmers spend much of their effort keeping these 10 files in
synk.
>
>Revalations, a PC database, has variable length records and variable index
>arays.  It allows you to store an order as a single record in a data base,
and
>still have an index over the items in the record.  Users just fill in the
form.
>Programs  just read & write forms (records).
>
>With Domion, the user fills in the form and the information is stored in a
>document.  If this is an order entry application, each order would be a
seperate
>document.  These documents allows a user to work off line.  That allows
your
>outside sales reps to use the same forms on their notebook computers as you
in
>house sales agents use for phone orders.
>
>____________________Reply Separator____________________
>Subject: Re: The Magic Box
>Author: owner-midrange-l@midrange.com
>Date:  7/2/99 10:54 AM
>
>
>
>>What irks me the most about Notes advertising is that there is one common
>question everyone asks about Notes:  "What does it do?"   If everyone is
>asking that simple question then, damn it, you know what your ads have to
>be.<
>
>Oh yeah, BTW, I contracted in a shop using Notes.  It has its own AS/400
server.
>Like many others, I had heard of Notes and how it was supposed to be a
"killer
>app".  But I never knew what the big deal was.  A week after I started
here, I
>asked, in a status meeting, "is Notes just a glorified mail server?"  I got
a
>few chuckles, but I don't think the supervisor was too amused.  (It was an
>honest question.)
>
>Then I saw the following letter that pretty much sums up my feelings on
IBM's
>efforts (or lack thereof) to explain just what exactly is Domino.  The
letter
>appeared in the May '99 issue of News400:
>
>   I sure hope some IBMers read your "Is It Just Me" column ["Will Domino
Be
>   IBM's Next OS/2?" February 1999], and no, it's not just you!  Here in
our
>   shop we are all blown away by IBM's spectacular output in the AS/400
arena
>   lately:  gigahertz chips, downright cheap 170s, the full-blown Internet
>   capabilities now built into OS/400.  However, we're all stunned at IBM's
lack
>   of marketing savvy!
>
>   Domino should be called Dominowho because no one knows what the heck it
does!
>   It's groupware.  And what is that?  Sharing printers, files, and e-mail?
I
>   could do that in 1985!  People need to know, and IBM needs front page
ads
>   with specifics.  Domino is a document-centric database/application
server/Web
>   server with workflow that brings together e-mail (POP3, SMP, etc.), the
Web,
>   your corporate database, and documents with document history.
>
>   IBM should start a serial ad campaign with an example implemenatation.
For
>   example, DukeCo just installed Domino and here's how they're using it.
Mary
>   writes a P.O., and using workflow, routes it to Jack who modifies it.
The
>   P.O. goes back to Mary, who can still see her original date-stamped
version
>   with the click of a mouse button.  She makes changes and routes it back
to
>   Jack, who approves it and then routes it to Tyra.  She makes the order
and
>   sets the date the products should arrive.  Domino waits until the due
date
>   and sends Mary a reminder that she should have received the products she
>   wanted by now.
>
>   (letter written by) Christian Eidsmoe
>   SAFECO
>   Santa Ana, CA
>
>Is this what Notes does?  Why doesn't IBM tell me and everyone else in the
>world?
>
>- Dan Bale
>
>
>
>
>
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