OpenNTF success story - or how could open source help to promote Lotus Notes

Dear fellow reader,

yesterday I received a request from Vincent Yeung how much it would cost to deploy the File Navigator to his whole company. And we’re talking about 3.000+ users!

First my breath was caught when I read the request. 3.000+ users! Woohoo!

And then I thought: “Well, it doesn’t cost anything.” And that’s it. Point. Some may think: “Hey, 5 EUR per user would make up an easy profit.” But that’s not what I would expect from an open source project - and that’s not what I expect from OpenNTF. I know that there are a lot of companies out there which live from supporting open source software. But that’s not my business case for the File Navigator - and from my point of view is it is not the business case of OpenNTF.

I had a small chat with a friend of mine, Michael Gollmick, about this request. He suggested to ask for a donation to OpenNTF. That was a good idea! Or for a charitable organisation. That’s even better. The company should choose how much and to whom they’d like to donate. I’ve got only one requirement then:

PLEASE MAKE IT PUBLIC

That’s not only mentioned for File Navigator. If you use OpenNTF software in your company - tell it, show it, write it. I’d be very glad to read about companies who reduced costs or enhanced the user-experience through OpenNTF software. And if those companies would donate a little amount to the community (not specific individuals) or to charitable organisations a lot of people would say: “Well done!”

That’s what I think about open source, OpenNTF and how it fits into Lotus Knows.