Global System Services Corporation (GSS) - The leading provider of email and messaging, directory services, and groupware consulting and professional services

Here's my $.02

Imperfect environments are the norm not the exception. No one needs a product that only works in theory. The cc:Mail architecture has enough dependencies on workstation, networking, and server technologies that Lotus does not control. Problems within the cc:Mail system make it high maintenance and difficult to manage in very large systems: for example, the inability to control Mobile configurations from a central location, e.g., moving a user from one PO to another breaks Mobile, or the inability to monitor cc:Mail Routers and gateways in realtime throughout the system, or the simple lack of built-in automated monitoring, fault tolerance, and error recovery facilities (cc:Mail View does not compensate, unless you're trying to justify additional Router boxes or server disk space). I think Lotus needs to do a lot more listening to customers and coding what customers want. That's how the cc:Mail company became successful.

Saying that the customer's network environment is the problem, when other systems work acceptably (if not perfectly) only points to the limitations of the cc:Mail architecture itself. To be fair, of course e-mail is a mission critical application with a high profile, and there is no perfect e-mail system. Often times, the problems impacting cc:Mail actually do impact other systems: they just aren't as important! In fact, the disruptive effect of network problems on the cc:Mail system can be alleviated by troubleshooting and correcting the network issues.

The most problematic environments are typically riddled with cc:Mail system design flaws that there is absolutely no reason for. Often the customer points a finger at Lotus when the system they have themselves designed implemented is fundamentally unreliable--this is a systems engineering problem, but I think LOTUS is at fault for not taking a systems approach in designing, testing, and documenting their own system.

What I disagree with more than anything, though, is customers pouring resources into maintaining the cc:Mail system, or persistently blaming the vendor, when the REAL causes of ongoing problems just aren't in the cc:Mail system. This then is the customer's reality. The real causes of the problems at hand must be addressed, whether or not the customer thinks things 'should' be as they are. You have to do what works and that means keeping a clean network, running a tight ship all the way around, and designing your cc:Mail system correctly from the start.