singer@uwovax.uwo.ca (02/06/90)
Has anybody had any experience with "Notes"--a text database/retrieval program?
If so, how does it compare with others?--
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Ben Singer Department of Sociology
University of Western Ontario
Singer@uwo.ca London, Ontario
Singer@uwovax.bitnet N6A 5C2
(519) 660-0671 (home)
(519) 679-2111 Ext 5137alien@cpoint.UUCP (Alien Wells) (02/06/90)
In article <4905.25cdc52a@uwovax.uwo.ca> singer@uwovax.uwo.ca writes: >Has anybody had any experience with "Notes"--a text database/retrieval program? >If so, how does it compare with others?-- I really can't think of anything that it directly compares with, so let me describe it instead. To start conceptualizing it, think of an electronic bulletin board. (An amusing thought ... it would be a GREAT front end to Usenet, much better than this !#&@ rn ...). People post to the bb. Other people's replies get tagged onto the original post. People can keep current with discussions by periodically getting in and catching up with new additions. Heirarchical organizations and searching make it a very nice archival tool. Hot links (hypertextual) can be used to bounce you back and forth to related things. Now imagine an e-mail system that works basically the same way (consider your personal e-mail database as a private bb database which other people can post to ...). Now imagine an extremely powerful engine underneath all of this which is capable of of setting up and using wan connections, and can gateway to major existing e-mail systems (all-in-one, profs, ...). Each lan has a dedicated notes server which understands all the network connectivity and is able to do the appropriate updating, dialing, etc. Usenet style (but more robust) multiple pathways with redundant and incremental updating are supported. Encryption can be used for data security and authentication. Access control lists are maintained. And here's the beauty of the whole thing. It is programable. The entire idea of the system goes way beyond bulletin boards and e-mail. You can set up systems to organize the data flow through a company. Not just discussions for things like product design and the like ... imagine this: - A call comes in from a customer who wants to purchase a product. The sales person closes the deal and enters the information into a customized Notes form. - The information in this form is used to send one form to accounting (for a credit check and arrangement for payment) while another is sent to update a manufacturing database so inventory can be adjusted. - When accounting approves the transaction, the form in manufacturing gets activated and the product gets shipped. The parts inventory is checked, which might trigger an alarm, sending a form to purchasing to order more parts. This is the sort of thing that people originally thought computers would do to revolutionize the information flow and organization of companies. Notes can do it. Granted, it takes some internal programming (just like d-base requires internal programming to do anything useful), but the tools are all there now. This could be big. However, unlike products like spreadsheets and word-processors, Notes has be installed by MIS (or an MIS like department) as a corporate or group standard and is relatively useless for a single user. Notes is available, now, for both Windows and OS/2 (though I believe that the servers have to run OS/2). Disclaimer: I once worked briefly for Lotus, but have no current connection with them. My interest in Notes is purely as an admirer of what I consider an excellent and revolutionary product. My knowledge is limited to use of beta versions and recent product announcements, and might be inaccurate in some details. -- --------| I don't get my eyebrows trimmed, only styled. Alien | - a Clearpoint VP --------| jjmhome!cpoint!alien bu-cs!mirror!frog!cpoint!alien