Every now and then, the good old discussion about Lotus Notes pops up online. In the left corner, a bitter Lotus Notes end user. In the right corner, the passionate Lotus community, defending the platform we love so much. I consider myself to be part of the Lotus community, despite my aspirations in other platforms. Still, I never choose to be part of the discussion. Here's why:

• Value. Having the discussion is fine, but who benefits from it really? No CTO will ever see it, and it mostly is the CTO who decides what platform you will use at work. And, do you really think you can change the opinion of a disappointed Lotus Notes user by pointing out the technical strength of the platform? Some discussions even get nasty, reducing the value of the discussion even more. All in all, often the value of these discussions are limited, even if the provided arguments are true
   
• Time. I have better things to do. It is hard to keep up with technology developments nowadays, especially if you're trying to be multi-platform. I'm passionate about the abilities of the Lotus platform, and I'm equally passionate about the abilities of other platforms. All the extra time I would need to defend these abilities in the community are a waste, the market will decide who wins, not me
   
• Bias. A potential pitfall in these "us vs. them" discussions is that you become biased. There is nothing wrong with collectively defending what you stand for, as long as you can don't lock yourself in. Once you stick to a single platform, you will miss a great deal of self improvement, fun and opportunities. For example, now that I know PHP, web development is a joy. Now that I've seen Visual Studio, I know how much Domino Designer sucks. Now that I've worked with other platforms, I know how good Notes is at security, workflow and replication. This open approach to other technologies has only delivered me benefits. I now know even better what Lotus is good at and what it's not good at. It's all about customers, and giving them the best solution. Customers pay my bills, not IBM, and not Microsoft
   
• Reputation / Employability. There is a danger in being too passionate about a technology. Employers read blogs nowadays. If you claim to hate a certain platform on your blog, it can reduce the number of opportunities you may have in the future. It can even damage your reputation and credibility, as your publications are on the internet permanently. Life-time employment is a thing of the past. Life-time employability is the future. Don't bet it all on one horse

So, what I will do is to continue to ignore the tiresome platform discussions, and work my way towards becoming a multi-platform software engineer, that does not have to rely on a single vendor, employer or tool. I'll pick the cherries out of the rapid technological advances and make them my own, to better serve my customers. What will you do?

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