I find it strange that Nathan Freeman is listed as a "contributor". Weird.
Reading Jerry's comment about the apparent ratio of developers to vacancies is quite depressing. I don't think IBM have seen what their strategy of promoting Websphere over Domino has meant for Domino developers.
A small company I know is forking out a further (yes, I mean further) £80,000 for an upgrade to Websphere server licensing, and refusing to move to R6 on the desktop because they are now over-budget. This is despite the fact that IMO they have no real need for Websphere. However, all the staff are using Notes email and Notes apps daily, and could clearly benefit from using ND6. IBM is making no more money from this company - the company are just re-prioritising their expenditure, and I believe their move to Websphere is a drain on their resources and will ultimately lead to decreased profitability. They have been spending years (literally) writing quite a simple portal application that could have been done in Domino for a fraction of the time and the cost.
If more and more of the Domino developers who are chasing the few vacancies decide to follow the example of this guy in Singapore, IBM might really have shot themselves in the foot. Imagine if those disgruntled developers took their Domino skills and started recommending and faciliting companies moving to PHP or ASP.NET instead of Websphere. It is not hard to track down ".nsf" sites, and start marketing to them directly. I don't believe that most Domino developers are as passionate and committed to it as a platform in the way that the proliferation of Domino bloggers would lead us to believe. And even if developers have had a long history of commitment to Domino (as Jake, for example), if there are no jobs for them in developing for Domino they are going to have to do what they can to survive.
This anlysis has had quite a bit of discussion on various sites over the last few days (although strangely, I haven't seen anyone else referring to it in any Domino discussions):
I find it strange that Nathan Freeman is listed as a "contributor". Weird.
Reading Jerry's comment about the apparent ratio of developers to vacancies is quite depressing. I don't think IBM have seen what their strategy of promoting Websphere over Domino has meant for Domino developers.
A small company I know is forking out a further (yes, I mean further) £80,000 for an upgrade to Websphere server licensing, and refusing to move to R6 on the desktop because they are now over-budget. This is despite the fact that IMO they have no real need for Websphere. However, all the staff are using Notes email and Notes apps daily, and could clearly benefit from using ND6. IBM is making no more money from this company - the company are just re-prioritising their expenditure, and I believe their move to Websphere is a drain on their resources and will ultimately lead to decreased profitability. They have been spending years (literally) writing quite a simple portal application that could have been done in Domino for a fraction of the time and the cost.
If more and more of the Domino developers who are chasing the few vacancies decide to follow the example of this guy in Singapore, IBM might really have shot themselves in the foot. Imagine if those disgruntled developers took their Domino skills and started recommending and faciliting companies moving to PHP or ASP.NET instead of Websphere. It is not hard to track down ".nsf" sites, and start marketing to them directly. I don't believe that most Domino developers are as passionate and committed to it as a platform in the way that the proliferation of Domino bloggers would lead us to believe. And even if developers have had a long history of commitment to Domino (as Jake, for example), if there are no jobs for them in developing for Domino they are going to have to do what they can to survive.
This anlysis has had quite a bit of discussion on various sites over the last few days (although strangely, I haven't seen anyone else referring to it in any Domino discussions):
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