Genii Weblog
Are there no dummies using Lotus Notes?
Mon 13 Dec 2010, 10:52 AM
Tweetby Ben Langhinrichs
Copyright © 2010 Genii Software Ltd.
What has been said:
930.1. Keith Brooks (12/13/2010 04:19 PM)
Ben, You are not exactly correct, there was the Lotus Sametime for Dummies, 7.5.
Ed posted about it here:
http://www.edbrill.com/ebrill/edbrill.nsf/dx/lotus-sametime-for-dummies-free-pdf-download
, but you can get it here:
https://epastx.rtp.epa.gov/domcfg.nsf/df29de170207bed685256b5a0068a2d0/$FILE/Sametime%207.5%20Guide%20Dummies.pdf
930.2. Ben Langhinrichs (12/13/2010 04:30 PM)
@Keith - While I am glad to know that, it only brings us forward to 2006, and an obsolete version of Sametime. It is also a free download, which makes me wonder still why it is so hard to get people to buy one. Nothing wrong with free, although why IBM doesn't get this out for Kindle confuses me. They allow free books, and it would at least show up on Amazon then.
930.3. Ben Poole (13/12/2010 16:32)
Keith, that's a free PDF. Ben is talking about proper books and the market that surrounds them (or not).
930.4. Albert Buendia (13/12/2010 16:38)
What about Collaboration for dummies by IBM?
https://www14.software.ibm.com/webapp/iwm/web/preLogin.do?source=swg-collab_for_dummies_book
http://vowe.net/archives/011038.html
930.5. Ben Langhinrichs (12/13/2010 04:48 PM)
You folks are depressing me. We have to give the damn things away to convince people to get them? Umpteen million seats, and we can't sell any books on the topic, even as IBM drains away their own documentation? How are authors going to be talked into writing books if nobody will step up and buy them?
930.6. Keith Brooks (12/13/2010 04:51 PM)
I wasn't addressing free or charge, just that another book was done, albeit on what now is an EOL product.
But I do agree, it does beg a question, one which I think Packt has taken up by producing their books lately.
930.7. Gregg Eldred (12/13/2010 05:00 PM)
The interesting thing in this discussion, at least to me, is that a few/some/most people judge the health of the Lotus Notes and Domino market based on the number of titles they see at their local bookstores. AFAIK, none of the PACKT books appear in any bookstore. Very few IBM Press books appear in any bookstore. Yet, they are out on Amazon for all to see and order.
I would think that there would be more of a market for titles, like the Sametime 8 User Essentials book (an excellent book, by the way), in bookstores as that would be where you would find the real customer of the software. But with limited shelf space, I think that the bookstores go with more popular software packages. Real or perceived popularity.
How often do Lotus Admins or Developers get asked by their customers "Can you recommend a good book for Lotus Notes/Sametime/Quickr/Connections?" Does the answer turn into a sale? Or frustration?
Many is the time I see Rocky and Brian's book on developer shelves:
http://www.amazon.com/Lotus-Notes-Domino-Programming-Bible/dp/0764526111/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1292259064&sr=8-1
and hear the person tell me that they want an updated book. I would imagine the work involved to update it is more than the benefit of having it available for purchase. Which, I think, goes back to your question - if it has been written, will you buy it?
The cynic in me says "No." I would LOVE to be proven wrong on that.
930.8. John Head (12/13/2010 05:00 PM)
Ben - there was a Symphony for Dummies book in 2008. I was the technical editor.
930.9. Henning Heinz (13.12.2010 17:07)
If I follow IBM's logic for cancelling Lotus Redbooks then the answer is nobody is neither buying nor reading technical books anymore.
930.10. John Lindsay (13/12/2010 17:14)
This is one of my pet bugbears as well. I have a Survival Guide for Admin, Developer's Toolbox, Teach Yourself Development 5 by Sams and a Lotus Notes and Domino 6 Development book. In short if there is a book on Notes I have it (forgot to mention Web Development 4.5). I will be buying the Xpages book and I understand there is a Domino Web Development book in the works that I will be getting when it's out (January?). I would love to see a Developer's Book for 8.5 - I for one would buy it. IMHO a Wiki is not a substitute for a decent book.
930.11. Ben Langhinrichs (12/13/2010 05:30 PM)
@Henning - Which would be more believable if there were not so many Microsoft-oriented books, many selling very well based on sales rank.
@John - Good to hear. That's why I am making a Virtual Bookstore, so that people like you can easily find what is out there... and buy it.
930.12. Roy Rumaner (12/13/2010 06:02 PM)
Having been involved in writing two books for Lotus Notes, I can tell you that it is a lot of work with not a lot of payoff. It is nice to be able to say you wrote a book and to give them away to clients but after that, other than the occasional royalties, all you get are pats on the back and a random beer at Lotusphere. I applaud anyone who takes on the project to write a Notes related book and will buy every one I see.
930.13. thomasl (12/13/2010 06:06 PM)
Only the old timers still buy tech books... everything is available online for free. What's the point!
930.14. Ben Langhinrichs (12/13/2010 06:33 PM)
@thomasl - This would be a far more plausible answer if not for the many, many books on Sharepoint 2010. The first couple:
Professional SharePoint 2010 Administration
How to Do Everything Microsoft SharePoint 2010
Microsoft SharePoint 2010 Administrator's Companion
Beginning SharePoint 2010 Development (Wrox Beginning Guides)
Professional SharePoint 2010 Development (Wrox Programmer to Programmer)
There are at least fifteen more, but then I stopped counting as it was too depressing. Do you think all Sharepoint developers/admins are oldtimers?
930.15. John Vaughan (12/13/2010 10:00 PM)
This begs the question of whether there is an audience left for books about Notes.
Publishers tend to solicit and publish titles they think will sell, hence, the Sharepoint titles. The marketplace speaks for itself.
I mean, right?
Sharepoint books are selling because Microsoft is selling Sharepoint. Books about Notes will start selling when IBM starts selling Notes.
I think it's a great idea BTW to put together a virtual bookstore and drum up some interest in Notes related books. I hope it works.
930.16. Richard Schwartz (12/14/2010 01:09 AM)
There are way more MS books for one simple reason: there are way more MS customers due to their near total dominance in SMB. For every 1000 seat IBM customer with one admin and one developer, there are dozens of 100 seat MS customers with one person doing both jobs, and one or more people hoping to move up in the world by training themselves for that kind of job.
930.17. John Turnbow (12/14/2010 01:29 AM)
Ben,
The truth is that most of the "competitor" books are "compensated" by the vendor. Yes, sure, some people buy them, not as many as you'd think. IBM needs to play the same game, it's another point of marketing IBM is missing.
Go into a bookstore and ask how that Sharepoint book is moving... Last time I went in Borders one of the people mentioned they had not sold a Sharepoint 2007 book in 6 months! So, just taking up space...
930.18. Ben Langhinrichs (12/14/2010 01:58 AM)
@John - While I am certain you are correct about the compensation, it doesn't explain the sales. Professional SharePoint 2010 Administration
But that's not even the most popular Sharepoint book. As far as I can tell, the most popular is Professional SharePoint 2010 Branding and User Interface Design
Three Sharepoint books in the top 10,000 books. Care to guess what the highest ranked Lotus book is? Perhaps IBM Lotus Notes 8.5 User Guide
No, Microsoft can do all the compensation they want, but Sharepoint books sell! Lotus Notes books don't. Rich may be right about why, but it still raises the question why you'all are reading this and not off brushing up on your Sharepoint skills.
930.19. Eric mack (12/14/2010 05:18 AM)
I had been trying to convince a colleague - a well respected expert on collaboration - to write a book on Lotus Products. One of the (Many) reasons I got for not doing it was the lack of evidence that IBM/Lotus would promote it beyond a blog post from Ed Brill or a spot at the Lotusphere Book Store. Both are valuable and prized promotional opportunities but neither represents a market that would justify the investment to research and write a book.
I've looked at the economics of writing a book around Lotus software many times but the lack of promotional opportunities makes it hard to justify.
I don't know if my own experience represents others but it may explain in part why we see few titles and when we do, they are mostly highly technical topics - nothing for an end user.
In contrast, FWIW, David Alle's eBook on Getting Things Done with Notes continues to sell well - but they promote the item. Back to my point...
930.20. Henning Heinz (14.12.2010 09:03)
Sharepoint share many things with Notes. You switch platforms and many of your problems remain although you are not as good in getting around them.
In addition people ARE learning Sharepoint (Duffbert for example). John Head works at a company that does Sharepoint (and other things), Richard Schwartz works for HP (definetely not a Notes shop anymore although it still is around there).
John Vaughan recently wrote a few interesting things and later took some of it back. From an Admin pov I could handle Sharepoint but I don't like it (but I understand why it attracts many customers). And many of the comments here are from IBM Business Partners.
There are many reasons why Lotus books don't sell well.
For example Notes and Domino 7 were a no feature release. Lotusscript, Formula and classic Notes are not moving forward and have not changed much since Notes 6 (if I exclude some things like Web Services).
Notes 8 pure client development has not gained enough interest yet. The problem here is that you need a 100% pure Standard environment. A situation that might exist but still is a challenge.
The book about XPages is coming. People who write books often don't reinvent the wheel. They normally collect (some say copy) knowledge from various sources and then (hopefully) improve it. A hard task for something like XPages. No surprise that the work is now done by IBM.
So many books are written about products where there are already many books available.
Books also are written about products heavily used in the academic space. That is why there are so many books about Open Source. Lotus is not a big player there. I could go on and on.
You can also make life easier and just say Notes is dead. I just cannot believe that you want this on a companies blog?
I am here because others still have not given up too. Some people at IBM are still trying their best to turn the tide.
Maybe things will change when Ed Brill finally gets promoted and then cares about something else. I don't know.
Oh and I will buy the book about XPages although I own none of the other.
930.21. Ben Langhinrichs (12/14/2010 11:43 AM)
@Eric - It is an excellent point about promotion. If we could get IBM to promote the books more, it would help. I will also add David Allen's book to the Virtual Library.
@Henning - I don't think Lotus Notes and Lotus products are dead. I wouldn't bother talking about this or promoting the Virtual Library or making a fuss if I did. From my point of view, a lot of people complain, but too few do anything about it. I don't even have a Lotus Notes book out (well, nothing since chapters in Lotus 4.6 Unleashed), but I want people to get in the game and buy the ones that are out there. I want people to see that there are books on Connections, Symphony, Sametime, Notes/Domino, and possibly promote them even if it isn't their book.
Maybe I'll even spearhead an attempt to fill some of the gaps with shorter, more easily updated eBooks at a reasonable price. It's an idea.
930.22. John Lindsay (14/12/2010 13:17)
@Ben - I have that one too but it was going too far back. :-)