Topic: Collaboration

IBM launches LotusLive Symphony technical preview: Is there room for another cloud office suite?

Summary: IBM will launch a cloud-based version of LotusLive Symphony in the second half of 2011. The big question for me is whether LotusLive Symphony can break into this little office suite relay I have going on.

By Larry Dignan for Between the Lines | January 31, 2011 -- 13:19 GMT (05:19 PST)

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IBM said Monday it will launch a cloud-based version of LotusLive Symphony in the second half of 2011.

The news caught my eye since I've been using Lotus Symphony as my offline office suite. There's a bit of a Google Docs, Symphony relay going on with a dash of Microsoft Word Starter on my laptop.

The big question for me is whether LotusLive Symphony can break into this little office suite relay I have going on. Symphony often pings me to tell me about LotusLive connectors, but I usually ignore them.

According to Big Blue, LotusLive Symphony will be tightly integrated to its social business cloud service. The idea is that authors can co-edit documents inside and outside the firewall, remain private, chat and manage revisions. IBM outlined a framework to turn the inbox into an activity stream that will incorporate content from Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, SAP and internal content.

Social enterprise tools have been heating up. Salesforce.com launched Chatter. com and Tibco launched an effort called Tibbr.

The cloud version of LotusLive Symphony is available in a technology preview.

In the end, the cloud version of Symphony may appeal to enterprises that are using Lotus-based products. The real challenge is going to be winning over folks like me who use Google Docs for collaboration and Symphony for offline.

Topics: Collaboration, IBM, Microsoft, Networking, Software

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7 comments

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I doubt if LotusLive Symphony will ever be a "conquest sale" for IBM

I would think any Office Suite that a business has already chosen will remain in effect unless something "drastic" occurs.

For example, I retired from a Detroit Automotive Corporation four years ago and, although drastic changes have taken place since then, that Corporation's use of Lotus Notes coupled to a networked Windows environment using the Microsoft's Office Suite of applications hasn't changed.

I suspect the only sales for this particularly excellent Office Suite of applications outside of IBM's ecosystem will be from new business startups. (And that would be a hard sell, at best.)

kenosha77a
31 January, 2011 14:03

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Lotus?

That lame duck application, shoot it and put it out of it's misery.

james347
31 January, 2011 14:37

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RE: IBM launches LotusLive Symphony technical preview: Is there room for another cloud office suite?

I'm just a user of SmartSuit since it was Alpha Works which IBM bought years ago. I'm not savy on Cloud, but I've always said, that SmartSuit was better than MS Office (even 10 years since any updates by IBM).

carnold172@...
31 January, 2011 15:44

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The potential is there

But not for true "cloud" processing, but for using your corporate network and VPN for a closed-cloud. Instead of using Google servers, you use your own. Instead of Google poring through your keystrokes, it all stays inside the company. Instead of installing and maintaining MS Office on every desktop, you run your own server-based apps. And just like you know and trust (and love?) IBM for building your financial systems and giant databases, you'll love IBM for installing and supporting your server-based apps.

Could this be the return Lotus 1-2-3 and the LCIS macro?!

JoeBob_z
31 January, 2011 19:58

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Standards and interoperability

When office suites and related tools mature, and adopt standards such as ODF, with their vendors in attendance at ODF Plugfests to ensure the highest levels of interoperability, which products you choose will be easier and the product sets commoditised. You will choose the cheapest one that does the job for you; for some that will be mixed approach with interoperating offline/online access like the Lotus Symphony approach, for others pure online like Google Docs and yet others will stick to offline options like LibreOffice.

I mention those products because their vendors have already adopted ODF (1.0-1.2 by configuration) and attend all the ODF plugfests. And they cost rather less than the current popular approach!

putt1ck
31 January, 2011 23:22

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RE: IBM launches LotusLive Symphony technical preview: Is there room for another cloud office suite?

I suspect the only sales for this particularly excellent Office Suite of applications outside of IBM's ecosystem will be from new business startups.<a href="http://sazkove-kancelaree.cz">sazkove tipy</a>

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