I haven't gone on an anti-Lotus Notes rant in a while so I figure I am due for one.
Here are the main problems I have with Lotus Notes:
- The client blows.
- The client blows.
- No support for roaming-IBM will tell you to shove it if you want real roaming support.
- The client blows.
- If the file server that you are running the client data files on becomes unavailable for 1/4 of a second, the client craps out. (see item #3 for how much support IBM will give you on this)
We've recently run into issues with trying to get our 'roaming' Notes environment (non-supported by IBM even though everyone uses them until they run into enough issues that they give up) working with both our desktop and Citrix environment. I won't go into all of the issues but they are things that Lotus could EASILY fix. Things that people have been complaining about since Notes 5. So much for listening to your customer base.. I've got another somewhat crazy idea hatching in my head that I am currently working on. It involves copying the "important" Notes client files back-and-forth between the client system and a file server whenever a user launches Notes. I really don't want to have to do this but I am at my wits end on how to get Notes working like it should. I know Outlook has its own issues (MAPI profiles are retarded--the way they have worked as long as I can remember just doesn't make any sense) but I'd love to deal with MAPI instead of the Notes client. I mean, sheesh, the Notes.INI file doesn't even understand system environment variables...how incredibly backwards is that??
Ok, rant over. I feel a bit better. I will feel a TON better if I ever get the damn thing working like I want it to though..