Lotus vs MS

I would suggest not thinking of both products as Lotus Organizer is fading out and Lotus Notes is for enterprise document sharing and workflows.

I use Notes at Office but switch all contacts and calenders entries to Outlook. I can almost certain that Synchonizing Outlook should be better than Notes (not sure about Organizer). Plus, PC suite only support up to Notes 5.0, and not current version 6.0.

So does this mean the ONLY possibility left to sync calendar and address book is a freaking lousy Microsoft product?

NO WAY! I have Lotus Notes r6 on my laptop, not connected to any Domino server (altought i sometimes connect it when working on clients that also have Lotus Notes/Domino). Everything connects ans syncs perfectly between my P800 and Notes, even if r6 is not officially supported by the Sync software. But it's farly simple to do that.

I have read some posts with people having problems syncing the Calendar, but i have had no problem (well, i had a trouble when a calendar events passes mid-night), and i suspect those problems have to do with diferent time/timezones between the computer and the P800.

So go ahead and dump that lousy Outlook thing... If you need more info feel free to pm me or email me.

PS - I also use Notes as my email program to get my POP3 acounts email, and it works perfectly too...

Nice to hear someone success in synchorizing Notes 6.0 with PC suite, as oppose to the complaints found in this forum.

I've been using Notes since 4.0 (some 6 years ago) and months ago to 6.0. I love the workflow and database replication. Yes, basically there is no problem with the calender, contacts (address book), and emails because those are all inherited from the former favorite Organizer early last decade 😃 . But I found it quite difficult to share with other software and Outlook has a much better connectivity. For example, export and import through Palm Desktop, my previous T68, and name card scanning application, all gave me a lot of headache. If you occassionally call up your contacts for mailmerge (even if you use Lotus Wordpro) or spreadsheet, you would not want to do it twice!

Well, i'm a developper of, among other things, Lotus Notes / Domino, so i think all that is doable... Even more now with DXL/XML :squarewink:

[quote="xptm"]Well, i'm a developper of, among other things, Lotus Notes / Domino, so i think all that is doable... Even more now with DXL/XML :squarewink:[/quote]

Yes, but as a convenient user, I wouldn't like to put myself into trouble water. And I hate working with those Lotus scripts.

LotusScript is VisualBasic... And Lotus Notes is not comparable with Outlook. It does everything Outlook does and a lot lot more. You'll have to bundle Outlook with 3 or more applications to even get close to Lotus Notes :agrue:

However the question here is

So does this mean the ONLY possibility left to sync calendar and address book is a freaking lousy Microsoft product?

Oops, sorry for the "Guest", it was me, i forgot to enable the cookies...

Sorry, I did say Notes is much more than Outlook but certain not much useful for home user. I would only say Lotus Script like VB. 😉

Well, i disagree with you :2gunfire: , but let's not enter a discussion :smilecolros:

Let me just say i don't like MICR :vamp: S :vamp: FT

That's :angel: my opinion :angel:

So I guess I am gonna have to download that 100Mb file from Lotus.com and try it out... Is the client only version enough or do I need the designer/administrator client version? What's the difference? Is this Lotus free anyway? Is this or MS Outlook cheaper???

I just wanna be able to add events to my P800 calendar typing them into the computer with a real keyboard, that's all, is that sooooo hard to do???

Why don't SE just give us a nice Palm Desktop software??? That'd be great!

Thanks

The client only is enough, unless you're a programmer/developer and want to change some of the design or features... (that's my case, i've customized my mail design)

I don�t know about prices of both Notes and Outlook.

The best you can do is try the two options and find out for yourself what you prefer.

I really find it a disgraceful shame that I have to pay for a software to sync my contacts with my computer... SE should have come with like all other Palms and Handspring devices come with it...

Is there anybody from SE who even reads these forums so at least they know about some user's disappointment or do they just not care?

I don�t know what you're you talking about. The interest here is to people to syncronize their P800 with the programs they usually work with, either Notes or wahtever. What do you want, that SE start making programs for PC? And for Unix and Linux and Mac and... And what's the purpose of that? If you change phones you'll have to change everything?

Really don't understand... It's good enough you can do it with Outlook and Notes, hopefully with more PIM programs like those.

Well I was used to having the commodity to be able to enter addresses and calendar events on the computer (using the keyboard) and then have them on the phone as well... that's all... when I had the palm I didn't have to pay for any software because the Palm Desktop would let me do just that, but hey every person's need is different, I was just stating mine

Why not just use comma sepparated lists to sync between apps, a basic enough form that almost all apps support it? You then don't have to worry about what apps or even OS you use. Hell you could sync to an old Amiga if you wanted.

I never heard this... how is that supposed to work?

If not mistaken, installing Notes Client will need an ID from a certifier of Domino Server.

I repeat, I love the workflow and database applications from Notes and I love the calenders and contacts from Outlook. Both without bias as an enduser 😃

[quote="SwitchBlade"]Why not just use comma sepparated lists to sync between apps, a basic enough form that almost all apps support it? [/quote]

I suppose "comma separated lists" are for import and export. When we talk about synchronizing, we mean automatically matching, leaving out what format they are using.

[quote="Eric Chu"]If not mistaken, installing Notes Client will need an ID from a certifier of Domino Server.[/quote]
You're mistaken allright. You don't need no ID from no Domino Server, certifier or not.
[quote="Eric Chu"]I repeat, I love the workflow and database applications from Notes and I love the calenders and contacts from Outlook. Both without bias as an enduser 😃[/quote]
Notes has a great calendar and contacts too, and a lot more functionalities and applications that you can use, many of then free and open source (look at the Sandbox ( http://www.lotus.com/ldd/sandbox.nsf or OpenNTF http://www.openntf.org).

So what do you need Outlook for?

[quote="xptm"]
So what do you need Outlook for?[/quote]

Come on, Outlook Express is free and Outlook is packaged with Office. You have to pay for a Notes Client. Notes Client is more expensive than Outlook individual package even I'm on IBM passport advantage.

I just share my experience as an enduser (or home user), not as a developer and decision maker. In fact, my colleagues (programers and SA) and I also selected Notes email for internal collaboration for my company, but I don't see the usefulness of all those functions for home users.

Let's not bias with the brand names, choose whatever works best for yourselves and your clients.

I'll stop replying here to prevent unnesssary off topic arguments 😉

I use Outlook 2000 at home and Notes 5 at work. I'm happy syncing all my personal stuff with Outlook but would like my work calendar entries on Notes to be passed to my P800. Any idea which would be the best way of achieving this?

Thanks. :P

Eric Chu,

Why do you say that Organizer is fading out?

I've been using it for around 7 years... Each time, I'm sure it's the last version, but version 6 came out and it works great.

It is a great complementary software to Outlook express, for those individuals who do not like Outlook very much (myself).

I do email all the time, but need a separate contact & schedule PIM. The Lotus organizer is a PERFECT companion to outlook express. I've never had a SINGLE glitch with syncing it to the P800.

Sync in both ways (including repeating events) works fantastically well!

The program itself is easy and LIGHT (not HEAVY like Outlook) and loads instantanously.

I'd give it a score of 99 out of 100.

[quote="oferlaor"]Eric Chu,

Why do you say that Organizer is fading out?

I've been using it for around 7 years... Each time, I'm sure it's the last version, but version 6 came out and it works great.
[/quote]

My company subscribe to Lotus maintenance program and I kept receiving upgrades for many years until 2 years ago when sharing documents with other companies became very messy (when many use Office and few using Smartsuite) and basically no new version came out at least for the last 2-3 years :-? . As a bundled software, organizer is simple and intuitive 😃 . I used to stuck with it some 5 years ago, then going to Notes with all those email, calender, contacts, and additional features,... then using Outlook some 2 years ago when switched from Smartsuite to Office. I don't think anybody (in business) can deny that Smartsuite (together with Organizer) is fading as compare to Office, although it is sad. :cry: I used to love Smartsuite very much.

[quote="oferlaor"]
It is a great complementary software to Outlook express, for those individuals who do not like Outlook very much (myself).

I do email all the time, but need a separate contact & schedule PIM. The Lotus organizer is a PERFECT companion to outlook express. I've never had a SINGLE glitch with syncing it to the P800. [/quote]

I agree 😃 I did the same thing before using Notes but won't bother to use two separate software when I can use just one.

[quote="oferlaor"]

Sync in both ways (including repeating events) works fantastically well!

[/quote]

Nice to see that repeating events work!

I think usage of software is a matter of preference. I've no preferred brands, I only use software that best suite my purpose. 😃

If you use Notes, that IS just one programme.

And no way can you describe Outlook as free software - it isn't at all!

Outlook has just as much functionality that the home user doesn't want anyway.

[quote="Eric Chu"]
I think usage of software is a matter of preference. I've no preferred brands, I only use software that best suite my purpose. 😃[/quote]

I DID say a few posts ago

The best you can do is try the two options and find out for yourself what you prefer.

So , i'm not shure about prices, but i'm shure that nothing coming from M$ is free. On the other hand THERE ARE FREE and OPEN-SOURCE applications for Notes, wich can expand infinitely the use of Notes.

So let's not induce anybody in error by stating erroneous things...

But let me say it again,

The best you can do is try the two options and find out for yourself what you prefer.

ok here is the deal... after telling me so many times that the best way is to try and after hearing oferlaor's testimony I decided to give it a try but from lotus.com I can't seem to download the trial version (it askes for an account). They don't offer you a link to register so I found another page where you can register for support and I did but when I tried the dowload again, same thing, they want you to be registered but they don't offer you a login page... what should I do?

On a different note... I am thinking of switching to Mac. If I do, does all of this apply or are there more or less softwares on Mac to sync with the P800?

Go www.lotus.com
- support and downloads
- featured downloads
- trials and betas
- type in "Notes Trial" or "Organizer Trial"
- click the version you want
- enter your ID and password OR click "I'm not yet registered..." to registered
- the download should begin after you login or registered

While there are different versions and languages for Notes, I don't see any for Organizer, maybe you can try.

[quote="marcnyc"]
On a different note... I am thinking of switching to Mac. If I do, does all of this apply or are there more or less softwares on Mac to sync with the P800?[/quote]

Ahhh, for Mac you'll have... Lotus Notes http://www.lotus.com/products/rnext.nsf/0/6A61317D9E7222A685256C3E0053CD65?OpenDocument
Then you have ISync from the apple site.

I don't know if there is a version of Outlook for Mac...