The table below shows how Notes users collaborate to brainstorm, schedule, produce, publish and view their work for a given project, listing the typical standalone applications that would otherwise be required to produce the same result.

For a given task, a dedicated special-purpose product or tool may be further required. In many cases, these specialized applications can be embedded within or called from Notes to support onboard facilities, using OLE and related protocols, or ActiveX or Java components. But there is a qualitative difference between collaboration that is integrated by design, and collaboration that must be stitched together externally. The Notes architecture is the over-riding reason why Notes collaboration works, and why it is extremely difficult to deliver collaboration without a governing architecture.

Copyright 1997 Iris Associates, Inc. All rights reserved.