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I've been playing with Workplace

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and I went in with an open mind seeing how my work methods would hold up with Workplace, and I've decided the best analogy I can come up with to describe it, is that it feels like I'm back using PROFS 17+ years ago but with graphical navigation. Basically in PROFS, I could get to my email, could do my calendar, could take part in forums, could do document management etc. all through my little 3194 terminal.

The problem was I wanted to do multiple things at once, I wanted to work on my document whilst reading the email. No problem the 3194 let me have multiple sessions that I could switch between I just logged on multiple times and switched between them, the 3194 even let me display some sessions side by side, or 2x2., for others they eventually got OS/2 machines with multiple 3270 emulation sessions.

I wont sell PROFS short though, for years PROFS had a calendaring system that worked long before any PC based app came even close, and it worked across the world for 100s of thousands of employees. Profs even had a view where I could see my calendar and my inbox for the day on the same screen!

So why do I say that Workplace feels like PROFS? Well basically because everything seems focused on a single task, it seems to make the assumption that people only do one thing at a time, is this how you work? Do you really only have one application open at a time in your system? If people did, why was there an issue for so many customers when Notes would only open 9 windows at a time?

This is not how I work, but I know I'm a little unique. How about you?

Addendum: This is for Workplace in a portal, I have not yet had the opportunity to play with the Workplace Rich Client to see how that works etc. Also my above experience is pretty much true for most web portals, which is why I think for full time work access they are a dead end. Access whilst travelling great, but in there all day? I'd have no hair within a week.

Comments

Gravatar Image1 - Usually i have 10 to 15 programs running at the same time. I can imagine jobs where 1 window would be enough - mine is a little bit different. One window to run my business

Gravatar Image2 - Totally agree with your assessment. Whilst I think that portlet technology is given a real boost with Workplace 2.5, and the overall UI is most pleasing (a first for IBM?!?), my real interest lies with the rich client. But of course, I would venture that that's a reflection of the kind of users we are -- some may find the simpler portal experience fine for their needs, I dunno.

Gravatar Image3 - PROFS? So can we use a mouse with Workplace, or do we Tab and then hit Ctrl?

I wonder if web-based mail will ever trump "rich" mail clients.
Maybe the future Eclipse stuff will give of the best of both.

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