Smartsuite reloaded? Will we never be set free.

I predict that this will suck so damned hard it may well freeze time. I'm sure the Java underpinnings will be engineered beautifully, but they'll slap some clunker of an interface on it.

Link to the Symphony website since this went green. The discussion on Slashdot is pretty informative, too.

Good move, IBM. Now, get cracking on that Mac version, if you please.

Meh, again?

Please tell me it's as awesome at Lotus Notes...

Headlines:
IBM to rerelease Lotus office to compete against Micro$oft Office. The catch? It's free

News: Labor unions protest IBM paycut. Fark: Protest to happen on IBM's virtual world campus with pro-union avatars waving signs

I wonder if the two are related??

The real catch?

It's Lotus.

lotus eaters un.........zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Woohoo! IBM trifecta in play!

/I work for IBM, so I'm getting a kick out of these replies....

Can someone say Corel Office?

Corel Office used to come with every scanner, CD-ROM Drive, or AOL CD.

mikieb: Woohoo! IBM trifecta in play!

/I work for IBM, so I'm getting a kick out of these replies....

Can you fix your terrible website? It's impossible to find the things I need.

capnmonkey: Please tell me it's as awesome at Lotus Notes...

Now with extra sluggishness!

databit: Can someone say Corel Office?

Corel Office used to come with every scanner, CD-ROM Drive, or AOL CD.

I miss Corel.... I really do. WP7 and 8 were awesome products.

There are already plenty of free, well done alternatives to Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

But when it someone going to create a good alternative to Outlook?

Don't get me wrong, I know Outlook is a lousy program (trust me, I know). But there isn't a single (as far as I know) open source PIM program out there that provides the range of functionalities as Outlook.

Gmail/Gcal? No task list.
Thunderbird? Weak integration with the Mozilla calendar program and again, no task list.
Open Office? No Outlook competitor at all.

So that's what I want to see. Not another free/open-source word processor, but a free/open source Outlook killer.

Asteroth: Can you fix your terrible website? It's impossible to find the things I need.

Tell me about it. The internal website is even worse. A simple search for something like benefits options or employee purchase plans produces so many hits you eventually give up looking. In a related note, I've seen a demo for the new notes 8 that looks really cool, with integrated MS Office document support. I'll hold off my final opinion of it until after they push it out to our laptops.

mikieb: Tell me about it. The internal website is even worse. A simple search for something like benefits options or employee purchase plans produces so many hits you eventually give up looking.

shiat, can I quote you to my boss when he yells at me because I spent three hours trying to find software and then gave up?

rppp01a: I miss Corel.... I really do. WP7 and 8 were awesome products.

so get it online?

Corel is better than ever, with more products than ever.

The "funny" part is that I've been using a bunch of different software throughout the years, and in the last couple of years, everyone of these product's companies has been purchased by Corel.

So now, almost everything graphic or video that I do, is on a Corel product.

But, for this thread... If they were to make Lotus Approach again and free, I'd be a happy duck. At version 3, it was the BEST database out there.

imfallen_angel: so get it online?

Priorities. I'm not in a place to purchase an office suite. I own Office 2k and am testing OO...

Bring back PFS write!

/My dad had an Apple IIe
//They just got rid of it about 5 years ago.

iccky: There are already plenty of free, well done alternatives to Word, Excel and Powerpoint.

But when it someone going to create a good alternative to Outlook?

Don't get me wrong, I know Outlook is a lousy program (trust me, I know). But there isn't a single (as far as I know) open source PIM program out there that provides the range of functionalities as Outlook.

Gmail/Gcal? No task list.
Thunderbird? Weak integration with the Mozilla calendar program and again, no task list.
Open Office? No Outlook competitor at all.

So that's what I want to see. Not another free/open-source word processor, but a free/open source Outlook killer.

Evolution is really great, but AFAIK, there is no windows version, only Linux.

Lotus also sucks donkey balls.

carmody: Lotus also sucks donkey balls.

Which leads to some very happy donkeys.

If we're lucky, when it bombs this time, it'll take Lotus Notes with it.

The last decent software IBM made was OS/2 - super stable, super clunky.

agsfark: The last decent software IBM made was OS/2 - super stable, super clunky

It was nice... years ahead of Windows.

agsfark: The last decent software IBM made was OS/2 - super stable, super clunky

rppp01aIt was nice... years ahead of Windows.

So was the Amiga, but well, bad marketing sorta killed it.

rppp01a: imfallen_angel: so get it online?

Priorities. I'm not in a place to purchase an office suite. I own Office 2k and am testing OO...

Well... as long as you know that it's out there... about half to price of the other suites, and actually does 100x more stuff (and easier once you deprogram yourself from the MS template of doing stuff)

mikieb: Tell me about it. The internal website is even worse. A simple search for something like benefits options or employee purchase plans produces so many hits you eventually give up looking. In a related note, I've seen a demo for the new notes 8 that looks really cool, with integrated MS Office document support. I'll hold off my final opinion of it until after they push it out to our laptops.

You think that's bad? I work for a major retail company and our internal search has worked for maybe a week in the past year. There is no way to find out anything unless it is linked to the main page. We have essentially revert to social networking to find contacts. We ask everyone we know, who asks everyone they know.

The worst part is that I keep finding out the contact is Kevin Bacon.

Someone once said, "The best things in life are free, and worth every penny." Just like Linux. ick.

I'm using Lotus Notes at work so I'm getting a kick...

/Not really
//HATE that program
///F5 logs you out? WTF?

somedude210: the real question is, will it be able to compete with OpenOffice

The new Lotus office *is* OpenOffice. Just like how Eudora is now Thunderbird, Netscape is now Firefox, etc. etc.

Proprietary may die, but the names live on.

When you fail as a company all you have left to do is try to destroy your competition by releasing your products for free.

I know I shouldn't feed the troll, but I don't think IBM is failing as a company. Lotus Symphony isn't going to destroy your beloved Microsoft, any more than Open Office will. It's just another alternative out there for people to use.

7of7: When you fail as a company all you have left to do is try to destroy your competition by releasing your products for free.

Yeah because IBM has failed so hard as a company.

"We're not making any money from this thing anyway, so let's give it away and see if makes a dent in Office."

Why not?

If it is half the resource hog that Notes is then they can keep it.

7of7: When you fail as a company all you have left to do is try to destroy your competition by releasing your products for free.

And here we have the pot calling Internet Explorer black.

Catch is, that it sucks worse then MS works. Even at free it isn't worth the price.

neritz
I use Lotus Notes.

I hate Lotus Notes.

Lotus Notes sucks.

Lotus Notes can DIAF.

/I'm sure Lotus Office is just as good.

We tried Lotus notes a couple of years ago and I have to say that when the people at Lotus tell you that it was never meant to be a mail client you should believe them. I am still using it because I support a small group of clients that had to use it. I dread having to use it every time I open it up.

I haven't seen the latest version of their office, but every other version does suck. There should be a link to their site from wikpedia's def of suck.

I love Bloated Goats.

/No really I do love the program.
//Also called Lotus and Notes

"Evolution is really great, but AFAIK, there is no windows version, only Linux."
Windows Running Evolution

Lotus notes is one of the worst products of all time. God I hate it. Who uses it? Law Firms do. Basically, every piece of crap software from the 80's is still in use at law offices because the lawyers don't want to spend 15 minutes converting their templates to a program that doesn't suck.

mikieb: The internal website is even worse

QFT

Gig103: So IBM finally adjusted the Lotus Office suite to cost what it's worth...

No, if they did that, IBM would pay users to use it.

/Please do the needful
//IBM is 10x worse than microsoft
///CWA Local 1701 FTW