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InformationWeek Labs

April 12, 1999

TechView:
The New Domino Theory

By Sean Gallagher

Now that Domino release 5 is in the can, it's Miller Time in Cambridge, Mass., right? Wrong. While I'm sure the Lotusians are certainly celebrating the birth of their latest heir to the Notes dynasty, they still have their work cut out for them. Though Lotus is half a stroke ahead of the competition right now (with a shipping product), the whole race is about to change.

While Lotus is busily cleaving to existing standards, such as HTML and Java, other technologies (such as Extensible Markup Language) are emerging that threaten to eclipse them. Fortunately for Lotus, its Domino technology provides an ideal model for adopting (and widely replicating) the forms-based applications made possible by XML. Now all Lotus needs to do is make it possible. No problem, right?

Well, that remains to be seen. But as noted in this week's review, Lotus has a few bugs to stomp out of its plain HTML handling before it's ready to deal with rendering XML data inside the Domino/Notes environment.

Yes, Lotus can defer some of the XML rendering problem to Microsoft, which has already taken a lead in XML parsing technology with its Internet Explorer 5.0. But that isn't in the best interest of Lotus, and I don't think it matches up with IBM's plans for Domino or its overall Internet business strategy--assuming, of course, that IBM has an overall strategy for its software business units and Lotus.

Fortunately for IBM and Lotus, Microsoft's answers here are either still in testing or still on the blackboard somewhere at Microsoft Research. Microsoft's BizTalk strategy--standardizing E-commerce transactions on a collection of standard, open XML templates--is a great idea, but at least a year away from seeing daylight, and IBM and Lotus can easily co-opt the strategy for their own ends in the meantime. And while rumor has it that Microsoft's Windows 2000 and Active Directory will become available around October, there's no telling how far the version of Exchange that takes advantage of the new platform will trail behind them.

Lotus also has the advantage of delivering a platform--Domino--that provides a single, integrated solution to many of the needs of collaborative and E-business applications. Lotus solves these problems with essentially one product, while Microsoft's answer is currently a collection of interchangeable parts. Microsoft's approach is great for its independent software vendors, but it doesn't make it very easy for end-user organizations to adapt completed solutions on the fly.

It's Domino's flexibility that will make it possible for Lotus to take advantage of things like XML as they develop. But Lotus will have to jump on those technologies fast, or prepare to live with reacting to everyone else's agenda for the company.


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