Fast forward to today. IBM has released a whitepaper entitled "Protect and Enrich Your Domino Investment" (http://www-3.ibm.com/software/swnews/swnews.nsf/n/jmae5sxlzr?OpenDocument&Site=lotus) that makes crystal clear what IBM has been alluding to for some time: IBM not only "gets" what Lotus Software in general, and Notes/Domino specifically, are all about, but IBM says Notes/Domino is now a strategic member of the Workplace initiative. And the best news of all: Notes/Domino has a long, fruitful life ahead.

This whitepaper explains how IBM is going to update and refine the Domino server to play nicely inside the Workplace framework. According to the whitepaper, "Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino software are integral parts of the Lotus Workplace collaboration platform and will help drive effective collaboration for years to come." In fact, the whitepaper mentions Domino 8, and IBM management has stated in recent interviews that long-term strategic plans are being made for Notes/Domino for the next 10 years. To quote from the whitepaper, "IBM is committed to supporting and advancing the Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino messaging server and application development and deployment platform for years to come. So you can feel confident that your Lotus Notes and Lotus Domino investments are protected." Although we've heard IBM say this informally, it's nice to see it in black and white.

New skills

But you can't just rest on your past experience, such as Formula and LotusScript skills. Just because Notes and Domino will be around for the foreseeable future doesn't mean things won't change. The whitepaper explains the direction of Notes/Domino: "DB2 software is a key linkage point that, over time, will more tightly integrate the Lotus Domino platform into the Lotus Workplace collaboration platform." We already know the underpinnings of this, most notably the upcoming Notes/Domino 7, which will let you use DB2 instead of NSF as the object store. So, there's your first new skill: Get an understanding of DB2.

But wait, there's more: "IBM is leveraging its understanding of RAD tool users' needs -- along with the expertise gained in developing Lotus Domino Designer software -- to build a premier J2EE RAD tool primarily targeted at IBM and J2EE platforms. This project, a cooperative development effort between the Lotus and WebSphere software engineering teams, is underway." There's your second skillset: J2EE. It's coming, and Domino will be a part of it. For you to stay happy in Domino-land, you have to learn Java and J2EE.

And, finally, "IBM will continue to enhance Lotus Domino Designer software as a hybrid client application development environment for Lotus Domino server with utilities added over time to facilitate interaction with WebSphere tools." This is important: Lotus Domino Designer is staying, and it's getting a facelift to make it easier for you to integrate and work with other members of the Workplace platform, most notably WebSphere. There's your third skill: WebSphere. You have to have a good understanding of WebSphere and how to integrate Domino applications into it.

So, what does this whitepaper mean to you? I asked this question recently on my blog (http://www.LotusGeek.com), and got some interesting responses. Most people feel that IBM has finally realized that recreating all that Domino does in a J2EE environment isn't an easy task, and that embracing Domino as a part of the Workplace strategy gets them there faster. Justin Knol writes, "My feeling about the 'Protect and Enrich' document is that IBM discovered it's taking much longer to recreate Domino-level collaboration in Workplace...it has to re-emphasize all the things Domino does now, and will continue to do until it ramps up the functionality of Workplace. However, I also believe Workplace is IBM's strategic collaboration platform, and the enhancements going into Notes and Domino are all about closer integration with Workplace. The future is Workplace, it just depends on how long you think it will take to get there -- maybe two years, maybe 10."

I agree with Justin. The future is Workplace, and Domino is being brought into the Workplace platform to provide its unique collaborative capabilities.

Adaptable Lotus

The IBM whitepaper solidifies Domino's future for years to come, but also portends some radical changes coming down the pipe -- and this isn't a bad thing. Being an IT professional is all about learning new skills and growing your talents to make you better. IBM's whitepaper says you can stay with Domino while you grow those new skills. Domino will lead the way. When I first got into Notes development many years ago, I thought I'd stay in Notes until the "fad" went away, then I'd learn a new skill and move on. But I haven't had to leave the Lotus world. We've been lucky. As new skills became required in the marketplace, Domino has changed as well. Remember the Internet boom, and how it was the thing that would kill Notes? Nope, IBM added an HTTP stack to it, and voila -- we're coding HTML in Domino. Need to learn Java? Presto! Domino got Java support. Need CSS? Notes/Domino 6 supports it as a shared resource. Not to mention all the other standards such as XML, x509, LDAP, etc. This whitepaper simply reassures the trend will continue. Domino will continue to be a viable platform that will adapt to the needs of the marketplace for years to come.

Where you can learn more

Now that you know what skills you need to succeed, where do you learn them? At Lotus Advisor Live, of course! Join me, as well as other Lotus Advisor technical editors, authors, and industry experts in Las Vegas June 6-10, 2004, to hone your skills in Java, J2EE, WebSphere Portal, Lotus Workplace, and WebSphere Studio. Plus, learn clever tips and tricks to improve your Notes/Domino programming and admin skills. Get details at http://Lotus.AdvisorLive.com. See you there!