Do Social Media Grassroots Campaigns Work? Have I Got a Story For You...

Since launching this survey on October 14, I'm very proud to say that we've hit the 100,000 mark in all 3 categories.  This means that you folks have pledged that if you were to run Connections, Sametime and Lotus Notes Traveler servers, then you would do it ONLY on IBM i.  All together, there is (so far) 100,000 potential licenses in your shops; from 20-user small businesses to 20,000-user giants. For solution providers and ISV's there's thousands in your customer's shops too.  This tells IBM that not only is the IBM i community passionate about their preferred platform (well, they KNEW that), but that we're more than willing to demonstrate that we won't "just run insert-product-name-here on a Linux partition."  

If it's not running on IBM i, many won't run that product at all. 

I know others out there have not moved to Sametime 8.5.2 because you can't run all components on IBM i.  They're sitting on Sametime 7.5 waiting for something to happen.

There are a good few of us (myself included) running Domino mail on IBM i and are handcuffed from using new Lotus Notes 8.5.3 social capabilities because we can't run Connections on IBM i.

There's 100,000 potential user licenses just waiting to get into the social game, or the mobile game or the audio/video conferencing game.  And I know it won't stop there.  200,000 potential users was my lofty target before I go to Lotusphere in January.  I figured if I convinced a couple of big guns (5,000-10,000 users is a big gun by my standards...I have 250 users) then I'd have something to work with.  Imagine my surprise.  200,000 doesn't seem that lofty anymore.  It seems very realistic because it is.


In just 2 weeks, you people have taken the initial steps of a loudmouth Lotus on IBM i advocate and ran with it.  You've been tweeting, tweeting and retweeting.  You've been emailing each other, discussing it in user group meetings, forums and LinkedIn and even promoting it on webinars. 

I believe, based on the feedback I've received from IBM, is that they're now starting to understand.  There is scuttlebutt.  They have noticed.  They are even engaging!  

So...

Please continue to keep this going.

I encourage not only IBM i customers, but Lotus customers running software on Linux, AIX or Windows, to get involved if you do want to consider running these products on IBM i.  Imagine the power and simplicity of consolidating everything on IBM i.  More platform options means an extension and greater overall footprint of the IBM Collaboration Solutions (i.e., Lotus) brand.  That makes the brand stronger which in turn makes it better for all of us.


Awesome job everyone.