Nokia adds support for Lotus Notes in Symbian S60

There's hardly anything more embarrassing that admitting that your company still uses Lotus Notes, but for the millions upon millions (140 million, in fact) of licensed users who'd love the opportunity to check in via their S60-based handset, this one's for you. Starting next month, Lotus Notes support will be granted for Symbian S60 3rd Edition, meaning that anyone with a fresh S60 device can soon tap into Lotus Notes Traveler and access real-time email, calendar, address book, journal and to-do list data. On second thought, maybe you shouldn't be so enthusiastic -- leaving work at work is a blessing too many take for granted.

[Dracon @ Nov 20th 2008 7:54PM]

Fact: Australian Department of Immigration uses Lotus notes

[Lowest Ranked @ Nov 20th 2008 8:27PM]

You have a seemingly shitty job.

[Valicore @ Nov 20th 2008 8:56PM]

God no wonder they're so bitchy. Did the same people that made that decision also decide the guy who is the only primary care physician for 60,000 people can't get permanent residency because his son with Down Syndrome would cost the country too much money?

[The Police @ Nov 20th 2008 7:55PM]

I still use Lotus Office Suite *ashamed*

[Tim @ Nov 20th 2008 9:08PM]

I swear we must work for the same department, cause there couldn't be more than one!

[Fusion Fuzo 05 - Proffessional @ Nov 20th 2008 8:00PM]

whats lotus note's a racing game, design program???

[Lotus-Zealot @ Nov 21st 2008 12:00AM]

LOL.. nob!

[Magallanes @ Nov 21st 2008 6:49AM]

Lotus notes is the alternative to microsoft exchange, or you could say a corporate email server. The real trouble with lotus notes is because was created using java then its slow as hell and eat a lot of resources.

But IMHO, if you don't want centralized stuff, then sendmail can do the job and its for free.

[Dopefish @ Nov 21st 2008 8:33AM]

@Magallanes:

Hate to disagree but Notes is the e-mail *client*. The server is Domino.

I've used/maintained a domino server and the 300+ users on it and I can tell you now, its outdated, clunky and integrates poorly into other systems. I really cant understand why they would bother updating their OS to deal with it!

[FGL82 @ Nov 20th 2008 8:05PM]

I work at IBM Argentina and we use lotus notes. And I hate it!

[giulio @ Nov 20th 2008 10:43PM]

FGL82... you are a NOB! Why work for the company who has s/w you hate.. bugger off then and get a job that you can do, like sweep streets or wash dishes...

[FGL82 @ Nov 21st 2008 8:24AM]

Ahahahahahaha!!! :D

You are funny!

[Dopefish @ Nov 21st 2008 8:34AM]

I suppose it would be kind of contradictory not to use it at IBM though!


But yes. It does suck balls.

[digitallysick @ Nov 20th 2008 8:06PM]

What about the rest of us that just got a nokia we will be able to upgrade to this?

[Andrew @ Nov 20th 2008 8:06PM]

I work for a company who's main business in Lotus Notes development :)

[ubn2 @ Nov 20th 2008 8:07PM]

for some reason im really wanting a nokia now *damned tmobile*

[Daren @ Nov 20th 2008 8:08PM]

Lotus Symphony is a great office suit (way better than open office) and is free to use!
http://symphony.lotus.com/software/lotus/symphony/home.nsf/home

[SeanJ @ Nov 20th 2008 8:09PM]

So Darren Smurph would prefer his company to be crippled with viruses, use at twice as many servers, and experience less uptime and functionality by using a Microsoft 'solution' rather than Lotus Notes? If Darren wants to be a tech journalist he should check his facts...
Such as Lotus Notes support for Linux and Macs means that it is gaining market-share and Lotus continues to see year-on-year revenue growth..... Or that Lotus Notes is now open-source based, running upon the Eclipse platform.... Or that the latest version, Notes 8, has been winning awards for its new look and user-experience.

To "Police" you should switch to Symphony, the Lotus improved version of OpenOffice. Did I mention its free?

[Lowest Ranked @ Nov 20th 2008 8:30PM]

$100 says Engadget's editors use the Mac equivelant.

[Troels C @ Nov 20th 2008 8:32PM]

Lotus notes is hardly open source based, consisting of both compiled C++ libraries and Java.

[huh @ Nov 20th 2008 8:41PM]

Engadget was trolling you. They often do this when there are products they are ignorant about, but know there are some users with informed views they can tweak into responding.

Lotus Notes has some very hardcore tech at its roots, but like many concept driven products, suffers from usability issues.

And the current version is based on the open source Eclipse, making it easier for third parties to develop modules that can interact with it.

[Nathan @ Nov 20th 2008 8:51PM]

FUD, FUD, and more FUD. 1999 called, it wants it's Anti-Microsoft arguments back.

We deal with two companies of equal size. Each has about 5000 workstations. One uses Exchange, one uses Domino. They both use the same number of servers (2 each for redundancy), neither company is 'crippled' with viruses, and in point of fact, the Domino servers experience far more downtime than the Exchange servers. (and since IBM Global Services hosts the Domino servers, I would assume they would know what they're doing...but perhaps not) Domino may be a fantastic mail server...I don't deal with that side of things, but Notes has always has been, a pile of crap. I see nothing in version 8 that is making me change my mind.

We're talking about a piece of software written so ineptly that a separate piece of software (Zapnotes) was developed because people were sick of having to log off/log on/restart whenever Notes crashed.

Now, in all fairness, it's good to see that Notes 8 has been rebuilt from scratch, but in all of our pilot tests it still seems as bloated and tempermental as 7.

[Mam00th @ Nov 20th 2008 9:52PM]

Nathan where have you been?!?!?!?

Being Anti-M$ is the new trend. Fuck Vista!

[Baba Booey @ Nov 20th 2008 8:53PM]

The Howard Stern Show uses Lotus Notes..they've mentioned it a bunch of times on the show.

[Larry @ Nov 20th 2008 9:10PM]

We use Lotus at work. I like the idea of Lotus Notes, but the Notes client has so many simple features missing or that are in odd places. Really? I can't right-click and mark unread? I have to highlight the message, go to edit-unread marks-mark unread? I can't create a new calendar entry from mail view? Plus, the contacts system sucks.

I wish we just used gmail.

[Carlos @ Nov 20th 2008 9:35PM]

@Larry
- select the doc/docs and press insert key to toggle read/unread
- try the menu "Create\Calendar Entry"
- it has everything you need, what sucks ???

[joe blow @ Nov 20th 2008 9:37PM]

I find Lotus pretty responsive ever since I updated to Windows to 3.1.

[E. Leigh @ Nov 20th 2008 9:40PM]

My father works for a high-end office furniture company and at one point, they switched from a more robust program TO Lotus Notes. He told me that doing it was going backwards about 1,000 steps in advancement. Lotus Notes: Keeping your business steeped in mediocrity, which is about the only thing it can do well.

[Evas @ Nov 20th 2008 9:45PM]

whatever it is ,it is simply a good news.nokia is trying to make cellphone like a computer

[Major4Play @ Nov 20th 2008 10:05PM]

Lotus notes scales well from being able to run from a main server in say Halifax (UK) and be used in offices in say Edinburgh (UK)
However it's UI is strictly stuck in the 90s, many of its crashes (and slow start ups) can put down to network bandwidth issues.

Mind you as mentioned above Lotus Symphony is fantastic and free.

[Patrick @ Nov 20th 2008 10:10PM]

I love lotus notes. Why would you be ashamed of it?
The new Eclipse based client is awesome.
And domino server is rock solid, much better foundation than JET!

[Josh @ Nov 20th 2008 10:12PM]

Hi. My name is Josh and I use Lotus Notes.

[Mushman @ Nov 20th 2008 10:16PM]

The United nations uses Lotus Notes!

[anandoc @ Nov 20th 2008 10:27PM]

I work for the company which makes Lotus Notes. Everybody I know who work with me HATE Notes.

[doza @ Nov 20th 2008 10:37PM]

Being on the cutting edge, IP Australia uses Lotus Notes...

[bob sakamano @ Nov 20th 2008 10:39PM]

for a moment there i thought engadget was reporting on a "Sybian"

[Aitch @ Nov 21st 2008 2:50AM]

Symbian generates far less buzz.

[noisymime @ Nov 20th 2008 10:49PM]

I have to use Notes every day and whilst I'm not a huge fan of it, I've never seen another product that comes close to matching its capabilities.

...and if anyone who still thinks Notes is just an email / messaging system is thinking of replying, don't bother.

[dave @ Nov 20th 2008 10:49PM]

WTF? Notes is a great platform if it's done right.

[Geogray @ Nov 20th 2008 11:56PM]

Oh dear Lord. Lotus Notes rocks as a development platform. Why in hell people insist on calling it an email platform is beyond me. It is a total package: application server, mail server, web server, application development platform and runs on multiple operating systems. The highly touted and 'advanced' Microsoft solutions requires about ten different products to match the same functionality as the Notes/Domino server and client:
* Exchange server
* IIS web server
* Sharpoint
* Office 2007
* the server side Office backend (Moss)
* Visual Studio
* Sharepoint Designer
* Outlook
* Infopath
* Microsoft Expression, Dreamweaver or other such web design tool

Sign me up for that!

[Lotus-Zealot @ Nov 21st 2008 12:05AM]

Darren Murphy ? You are a NOB! N.O.B. (and all you other clowns who hate Lotus Notes simply because "it doesn't look like outlook!".)

[Ctand @ Nov 21st 2008 12:41AM]

Why is Lotus Notes the Windows Vista of the server world? Oh yeah, because nobody really knows anything about it. If you did, you'd like it.

[mozartfmmars @ Nov 21st 2008 12:48AM]

@ Larry
in Lotus Notes 8.5 you an actually right click and mark read/unread.
Remember to apply the newest template. :-) Although it is still Beta 2 but it is really cool.
While.. Lotus is not an email system.. it's more like a collaboration and work flow application platform.
Check out Bluehouse.lotus.com.. the Enterprise Social Network.

[Matt @ Nov 21st 2008 2:03AM]

It should be noted that Lotus Notes Traveler isn't lotus notes per se. It's a way of checking email and updating calendars, but the meat of Domino/Notes isn't there. Plus Traveler has to be supported ON THE SERVER and requires a license to use. This isn't just a 'install program, get access to my notes server' type of thing. Trust me, I've tried numerous times to get it working correctly on WinMo without server support... no dice.

[Paul Mooney @ Nov 21st 2008 4:25AM]

Lotus Traveler is free. You have to accept a license to install it (at the moment) but there is NO CHARGE. You install it on the server. Yo

If you are trying to set it up on your client, without the server bit running.. its not going to work. If you want help setting it up on the server, there are plenty of step by step instructions available online. Very simple..

[coolblue @ Nov 21st 2008 4:12AM]

I used to be at a company that used Lotus Notes about 6 or 7 years ago. It was rubbish! We also used Smart Suite which apart from Lotus 123 was also rubbish. The funny thing is that IBM were participating in a tender process to supply a software service to us and they sent us a message asking for the documentation to be sent in MS office as they did not use Smart Suite! Says a lot when they don't even use their own software!

[krs360 @ Nov 21st 2008 4:15AM]

Not only does my company use Lotus Notes, we are still on VERSION 6 cf2!!!! It absolutely blows!

Also, we are on XP with SP1 only!!!

Also, we are still on ie6!!!!

Also, we are the 2nd largest insurer in the world!!!!!

[Paul Mooney @ Nov 21st 2008 4:25AM]

We have Mac clients, Linux clients, windows clients - all running Notes. We use it for all its features. Its UI is come on a long way in 18 months. It has more to go, but the UI team in IBM is ahead of the curve with plans. It is not open source on the client - but it is encapsulated with an eclipse shell, which makes it very extendable with open source tools. Little thinks like adding google gadgets to the client, and live text (for example, post codes in my client are "live" - click on them and google maps loads with the location). This does not take design skills - you just follow a wizard.

Many people hate Lotus Notes as they were stuck with versions over the past 20 years. I don't blame them - if you are running Lotus Notes 5, 6, or 6.5 you are working with products that are at least 6 years old. Recently it has come a long way. If you looked at 8.0, look again even now - its a lot faster and more functionality.

As for the server side - IMO you can do more with one domino server then you can with any other "email" product. Its an application platform. Look at what we do with just two domino servers.
http://www.pmooney.net/pmooney/pmooneynet.nsf/d6plinks/PMOY-7JRLVR

[huh @ Nov 21st 2008 7:52AM]

pmooney

[NotDrinkingTheKoolAid @ Nov 21st 2008 9:29AM]

Which is worse, using a secure collaboration tool, or drinking the Kool-Aid from Redmond?

I'll take security, thank you very much!