Now that I have the trail version of Notes running on our brand new Macs in a cold Windows environment… I next wanted to know the cost, and where to purchase Lotus.
IBM has a link that clearly says, “How to Buy”… following this link… I eventually find Notes… but it has no reference to which platform you were going to be ordering for… probably Windows of course. So, I called the 800 number listed which gave me IBM. A gentleman with broken English put me on hold for several minutes and then transferred me to another 800 number. The next gentleman was not sure that there was a 6.5 version of Notes for the Macintosh and asked me where that I saw this on the internet (see the following link).
He then went on to tell me that they do not sell the Mac version, and to call Lotus at 1.800.GO.LOTUS. He was as friendly as my Windows IT department.
Next, I had to explain to a lady that I work for a large company that uses Notes, and that we purchased some Macs, downloaded the trail version, and now wanted to buy it. She looked up a price and gave it to me, and told me to call another 800 number and ask for the “M User Group”… LORD HAVE MERCY.
Do the developers that were good enough to write a Mac OS 10.2 version of Notes know how hard it is to order their software?
Subject: RE: Please check the IBM World Wide Software Catalog
Q: Why is it hard to find?A: Because the “Ready to buy” page = a drop down list of reams of hardware plus the odd generic software description which then links to the aforementioned “gwareview” URL…
… Which doesn’t work. Like I said before.
B: Because we’re not all US-based Alan
C: Because the gwareview URL you provided fails. See A and previous post…
D: Because the average punter doesn’t know what the difference is between these two offerings:
NOTES WITH MESSAGING USER LIC+SW MAINT 12 MO (D5CPILL) 89.82
NOTES WITH COLLABORATION USER LIC+SW MAINT 12 MO (D5CS2LL) 125.00
Subject: Welll it isn’t too hard to find when the server’s there ; - ) (WAS: No… really why is it hard to find?)
… takes a few clicks to get to Notes, but get there tonight we did. And not a sign of the bizarre Boulder server, so no idea what that was about yesterday…
Subject: I am a reseller. I will glad to help youq
IBM sells primarily through resellers. They have a reseller program and people like me usually help people like you.
You can send me an email or call me and I will get a price for you and find out any questions you have. I do not have the info on Macs right now, but have a number I can call to get it without all of the phone waits you are going through.
But if you have a license to use the Notes Windows version, then you can use that same license for the Macintosh version. You are basically paying for a Client Access License, so it doesn’t matter if you access it with Windows, Mac or browser.
Sorry to hear you’ve had similar experiences to many others. The justification is that this software is really geared up to being sold through business partners / resellers.
As a business practice that would make perfect sense if IBM didn’t undermine it by trying to sell products via their website.
Anyway, hopefully the BP mentions you’ve had so far will help you on your way: good luck!