Below is the article where author has made an attempt to Define notes. Really good one. Plz take some time and read.I have pasted the article as it is authors language.
A confession to start with: I was totally ignorant about the Lotus Notes technology before joining IBM.
But Then Again…
I knew at least something about other technologies like Java, C, RDBMS, SAP, etc. So, why is it that people are ignorant about this powerful collaborative tool called Lotus Notes?
The answer I feel lies in the fact that not very many people actually know what is Lotus Notes. Is it an e-mail system or DBMS or a programming language!!
In the subsequent lines I have made an attempt to express my understanding of Lotus Notes, which is entirely based on my personal rendezvous' with Notes over the last year and a half.
So, what exactly is Lotus Notes?The very popular face of Lotus Notes is that of an e-mail system.
But Then Again…
It's different from Microsoft Exchange as it's (by its native character) a database system with an in built mailing system.
But Then Again…
Its not relational database like Oracle or DB2.But Then Again…It's also got support for several programming languages, and a web server component that enables accessing data from a web browser. It's more like an Exchange, SQL Server, Access and Visual Basic all wrapped together. But it's packaged in a way that we don't see all those separate components individually. That's what makes it such a powerful workflow application.
After the above animated description of Lotus Notes let us make things a bit simpler.
Lotus Notes as an e-mail system:
As I said earlier e-mail is the most recognizable feature of Lotus Notes. Having all traits other popular e-mail products in the market, including calendaring and scheduling, it uses the standards-based mail protocols such as POP3 and SMTP. Because Notes has both a client and a server piece, users can use it to read and respond to e-mail, and administrators can use it as an entire e-mail environment.
The Lotus Notes Client:
The Lotus Notes client is a desktop application displays databases on a user's local workstation allowing the users to organize them as per their need. The database files can be stored either on the user's workstation itself or on a server. The Lotus Notes desktop (often referred as Workspace) consists of tabbed pages with icons for local databases as well as remote databases.
Lotus Notes from a developer's perspective:
I repeat, Lotus Notes is primarily a database system. A generic statement can safely be made "Everything in Notes is a database". Even the e-mail system is realized with individual users having their own e-mail databases.
Besides data, a notes database can also contain modules of programming code that will perform background, scheduled, or on-demand tasks for a user. The data is displayed through the display components like Forms, which are used to create and modify documents while views, navigators and outlines are used to access desired data. And now the most important aspect of a notes database-its security. A Lotus Notes database is highly secured and the security is realized with minimal effort. The security in a Notes database is incorporated using ACL (Access Control List). The ACL of a Notes database defines what level of access a user has. Typical access levels are Depositor, Reader, Author, Editor, Designer and Manager. Besides the ACL (which defines the database level security) there are provisions for document level security too through the Readers and the Authors fields. In a nut shell Lotus Notes can be considered a complete package for a rapid development of applications. With security features second to none, this product of IBM which had its first release in 1989 is leading software for office automation i.e. realizing the concept of paperless office. The article explains Lotus Notes in its different manifestations….
But Then Again….
I assume I know only a third of Lotus Notes.
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