{blink}So THAT’S the future{blink}

It’s been a few weeks since I’ve posted here.  The end of last year was a juggle of many different pieces of work and learning new technologies but more on that later. I did however take my eye off the ICS (IBM Collaboration Solutions) ball waiting for the HCL deal to firm up and find out more what was going on.

As you may know from my previous post, at the end of October IBM entered a partnership with HCL whereby the latter took development ownership of all Domino products including Verse and Traveler as well as Sametime whilst IBM continued to own the license model, support and most importantly strategy.  As part of that announcement we were told of an upcoming series of workshops around the world called Domino Jam 2025  which were to determine the future path of both Domino and Sametime (so not just Domino and nothing to do with the year 2025!).

Last Friday I (along with about 50 other people) attended a London Domino Jam at IBM South Bank which was hosted by the senior development team at HCL (who transferred in from the same roles at IBM) and the product management team at IBM.  Up until a week or so ago I would say I was more curious and cautiously optimistic than excited.  I had been in coversation with someone in the development team at HCL who I have known from IBM days for 20 years and his introduction to HCL and his enthusiasm for the future sparked my own.  Let’s just say the HCL team seem to be people who have been long immersed in these products, believe in them and are now being let off the leash to develop for the future. During the day we were casually told that there would be new product releases guaranteed in 2018 including

Domino 10

Notes 10

Traveler 10

Verse (10?)

Sametime Instant Messaging 10

That was and is very encouraging news and IBM seemed bemused that several of us in the room kept asking for clarification and confirmation of a thing they thought we already knew.

As part of the Domino jam workshop we were split into groups and asked to brainstorm things like “your biggest pain points” and “what features would you like to see in the future” and then prioritise and present them.  These workshops are going on around the world right now (there’s one in Geneva I believe today) and you can register for them here https://www.ibm.com/collaboration/announcements/domino-jam2025.  In addition if you can’t attend in person IBM are hosting a Domino Jam Forum from Jan 16 - Jan 19 where you can provide your feedback directly online.  See this blog for more information https://www.ibm.com/blogs/collaboration-solutions/2018/01/11/announcing-domino2025-online-forum-january-16-18-2018/

the “#domino2025 Online Forum” will be active for fifty-five hours across the globe to gather your business and technical input and prioritization.” (I prefer “priorities” but I get what they mean :-).

If you are in any way invested in the future of ICS products either mail or instant messaging or conferencing then this is a serious effort to hear what you want and don’t want.  I can tell you there was some very honest and harsh feedback as well as some pretty extreme ideas thrown out by the teams last Friday and we were encouraged to do that.   I know for some of you it’s asking a lot but dig deep, find that kernel of optimism that’s still left, or just throw in your lot because it does no harm to do so and may do a lot of good.

This is an opportunity to help form the long term strategy and direction of products many of us love and believe in.  Take it.

3 thoughts on “{blink}So THAT’S the future{blink}

  1. Hi Gabriella, thanx for sharing that info. We still hope for better future with Domino, but some major decisions across many companies were just made. IBM will not tell us how.many customers already left because of the last few years. We all will stay with the hearth with Domino and still we have many many apps for our customers in Domino, implemented many many years ago and still they are working. But for the future apps we had to make another decision. I was the attendee on the virtual jam and there were many interesting ideas. We hope that the new version will have the WOW effect, what we really need to keep Domino alive. Cause it is not just IBM and co, but thats we and our customers who will keep it alive, cause it is worth. On the other side i was so many times dissapointed of IBM on many levels, that this can be just a big surprise.

    • I understand but this is about HCL’s intent and delivery not IBM’s. I take your point that IBM have not done right by the products in the past few years but that’s why this partnership and the investment by HCL is so encouraging. It’s in HCLs interest to nuture, grow and innovate the products they have invested in. Each time you feel yourself doubting remind yourself it’s not IBM , it’s HCL 🙂

  2. It’s encouraging that people inside the development teams are sharing with you their optimistic feelings. It’s more difficult that the community/business partners have the same feeling. But in the end, deliveries in 2018, is what is going to make us think one way or the other. It’s just that, what it’s going to be included in new releases. What we can see in 6 or 9 months. When we see, we´ll believe… or not.
    By the way, reading what you have been told from inside makes me feel a little bit more optimistic. 🙂

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