I am interested in investing some effort in learning a new platform for Web Applications. I have built dozens of Web Applications in the past primarily using the capabilities of the Lotus Domino product. While this product is very powerful for RAD, it is not a mainstream product, is not readily hostable and is not affordable for the SMB market that I am now targeting. I have listed below several important factors in making my decision. Your input is greatly appreciated.
MUST HAVES:
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Powerful, yet easy to use, implement and change
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Database driven
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Excellent user / role management
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Readily hostable at reasonable costs
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Easily adaptable, allows for changes with business process with little effort
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Included capabilities to manipulate data on backend easily (in Domino, this is an agent)
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Light learning-curve…I need to be productive quickly!
MY BACKGROUND:
0 (no experience) - 5 (guru)
Subject: BEST Web Dev Platform for SMB recommendation - Cheap to Host / Simple to Implement and Build (for a Domino Developer)
Hosting Domino is pretty cheap. I’ve used Prominic.net in the past.
Subject: BEST Web Dev Platform for SMB recommendation - Cheap to Host / Simple to Implement and Build (for a Domino Developer)
80+ Million Users is Not Mainstream?
You need to take a look at the IBM Start Now Solutions for Collaboration before making a definitive statement that you cannot target the SMB Market with Domino as part of an integrated solution.
And, you better get the CSS and XML skills up if you want to be competitive in the marketplace.
I would agree that hosting costs can be prohibitive, but you have to look at the Return on Investment.
Subject: BEST Web Dev Platform for SMB recommendation - Cheap to Host / Simple to Implement and Build (for a Domino Developer)
Well, asking here for a good alternative when you want to switch away from Lotus Domino won’t get you good answers. Ever asked an Orthodox rabbi for a good Pork BBQ recepie?
You want something that’s standard, RAD and allows you to do a lot with little work? Hate to say it, but Domino is as good as its going to get on that front. I’m personally far more enamored with Servlets and JSPs, since the platform isn’t static, but you’re going to need to invest more time and effort both in the learning, and in the implementation.
Who needs to learn CSS nowadays, anyways? That’s what you have web UI designers for. The real money’s on the back-end.
Cheers!
Luke
Subject: RE: BEST Web Dev Platform for SMB recommendation - Cheap to Host / Simple to Implement and Build (for a Domino Developer)
Who says that knowing CSS is not a back-end skill? You still have to code to take advantage of it…and it is essential for XML
Subject: RE: BEST Web Dev Platform for SMB recommendation - Cheap to Host / Simple to Implement and Build (for a Domino Developer)
How is CSS essential for XML work? I work with XML every day, using XSLT or JDOM. Never needed a whit of CSS, just for client-side positioning.
So where do you use CSS on the server?
Cheers!
Luke
Subject: BEST Web Dev Platform for SMB recommendation - Cheap to Host / Simple to Implement and Build (for a Domino Developer)
[While this product is very powerful for RAD, it is not a mainstream
product, is not readily hostable and is not affordable for the SMB market that
I am now targeting.]
Uh… what color is the sky on your homeworld? 90+ million users supported by
the world’s largest IT company isn’t mainstream? With the latest version
littered with xSP features designed specifically for hosting, and complete LDAP
support, it’s not readily hostable? How is $40/year/user not affordable for
the SMB market? It’s barely more than Yahoo!
Subject: RE: BEST Web Dev Platform for SMB recommendation - Cheap to Host / Simple to Implement and Build (for a Domino Developer)
While I don’t necessarily agree with Jon’s quoted statement, the 90 million user figure always bothers me.
How many of those 90+ million users are using Domino for anything other than mail? If it’s more than 30%, I’d be amazed. Quoting the 90m to justify Domino’s penetration as an appdev environment is about as valid as Microsoft’s claims of millions of Outlook licenses, that exist only because they were bundled in with BackOffice.
Cheers!
Luke
Subject: I’d disagree with this
If anything, Notes has not lived up to expectations in the mail only world, so I would expect a far higher percentage use Notes for apps than you think. Of course, I have no way of proving it, but the very fact that Notes is fairly high priced for just e-mail would tend to suggest that people are buying it for more than that purpose.
Subject: I don’t know exactly, but in the 5000+ employee category (most of our business), everyone is. Usually more than 2 apps.