Microsoft has hired Don Ferguson who guided IBM’s strategy and architecture for SOA and Web services. Don will now hold the post of Microsoft’s Technical Fellow. Microsoft said, Ferguson will be focusing, "on both the evolutionary and revolutionary role of information technology in business... |
Microsoft has hired Don Ferguson who guided IBM’s strategy and architecture for SOA and Web services. Don will now hold the post of Microsoft’s Technical Fellow. Microsoft said, Ferguson will be focusing, "on both the evolutionary and revolutionary role of information technology in business."
" Understanding the trends, architecting and piloting the implications for existing and new products and evangelising Microsoft’s vision are the key aspects of Don’s job," Microsoft continued.
Ferguson will be one of Microsoft's 15 technical fellows, holding the title of technical fellow in platforms and strategy in the software giant's Office of the CTO. Ferguson and Microsoft weren't available for comment, but a biography posted on Microsoft's Web site spoke volumes about the new post created.
Ferguson's departure comes on the eve of Lotusphere, IBM's conference devoted to the Lotus software it acquired years ago and now is trying to integrate more deeply with its other software lines.
IBM Lotus Notes and Domino 7 Now Shipping
Mid-September 2006, IBM Lotus officials had announced that the company is shipping version 7 of its Notes and Domino collaboration platform. Lotus Notes 7 users will find more than 100 added features, including new visual indicators to help users organise and manage their inboxes by highlighting priority messages, and differentiating between group e-mails and messages targeted for specific users. Notes 7 will also automatically save and return to open documents and applications upon shutdown and restart.
Instant messaging and presence technology, already integrated in the Lotus Notes client, has been expanded to include e-mails and calendar items. The upgrade also adds improved access to large-scale databases and other back-end applications.
IBM officials pointedly positioned this latest release as more than a worthy competitor to what they view as Microsoft’s more-complicated collaboration tools strategy. “Customers are looking for more than just e-mail in their collaboration environment,” says Mike Rodin, general manager of IBM’s Workplace portal and collaboration business.
In support of their low-key jabs, the officials cited 500 customer wins against Microsoft in the first half of 2005, as well as the sheer volume of Notes and Domino already in place in a marketplace created 15 years ago by Lotus, as proof of the collaboration platform’s momentum.
“There are more that 120 million full licenses out there [cumulatively]," says Ken Bisconti, vice president of IBM's Workplace, Portal and Collaboration business. Domino/Notes sales also showed double-digit sales growth during the first half. More than 65 per cent of IBM customers are building as many or more Lotus Domino-based applications this year than one year ago, he added.
"When considering a new platform to replace our aging Microsoft Exchange 5.5 environment, one of the most important elements was the long-term viability of the product," says Jim Tieri, director of IT at Holland Company, a railway manufacturing company based in Crete, Illinois. “As a [former] programmer, I didn’t want to be having to deal with a revolution every two years.”
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