Carl Tyler's Blog

1 - If it's really true it's going to be a real loss... I think it's a real big mistake if Mike Rhodin pulls the plug and decides to write the documentation internally. The real value of the Redbooks is, IMHO, that they are written by subject matter experts not directly involved in the development of the products.

And what a strange point in time to choose for shutting it down. More Lotus products and more releases means even more demand and need to integration style documentation.

2 - That's just too bad. I still recommend the ND6 on Linux redbook to Domino/Linux newbies!

3 - I have always valued the Redbooks as a real life document wriiten by people who actually use the product. What a shame it is for IBM/Lotus to be doing this as they offer more and more products. Well maybe the information is wrong and Mike or Ed will chime in and tell us the real is going on

4 - If there is a coherent approach to providing information of a similar quality in another way, then fine. I'm not convinced that wikis will cut it, but I can see the justification in wanting to experiment with that as an alternative approach.

But if this lifeline is being shut down without being replaced, then that's a shortsighted and frankly bizarre decision.

5 - So if instead of Redbooks, we get a big Connections site that extends developerWorks with blogs and wikis -- does that allay your fears?

I mean, I love Redbooks, too, but to me, there's no information in them that's not available elsewhere. They're just a really good consolidation tool. And we SHOULD have knowledge management tools now that can replace them.

6 - @5 I think it would have been better to try that approach before shutting the other stuff down. There is something to be said for the six weeks being spent purely focused on the redbook, with specific goals. Also I don't read Wikis in the bath tub or before I go to bed.

Microsoft does pretty well as a business, I don't think Wikis will shut that down any time soon.

We could probably shut down Lotusphere, the same can be achieved with Wikis, some Sametime Unyte meetings and a Exhibitor discussion?

7 - @5 - Ah, but Lotusphere at least breaks even. Every Redbook is the equivalent of at least a full-time developer, with no demonstrable offsetting revenue.

Look, I'm not defending the decision here. I'm just saying, Redbooks are a big knowledge capture, right? And Lotus' key new product right now is knowledge management across public and private information source, right?

So why not dedicate two full-time employees to being the gatekeepers and/or aggregators of the vast amount of existing published knowledge? That would be far more effective in actually capturing content. Why should it take 3 months to assemble a team, 1.5 months to write, and another 1.5 months to publish?

Mind you, I haven't heard any plans for building something like this specifically. I can just imagine something in the works that requires funding, which would logically come from eliminating the pure overhead of Redbooks.

As far as your tub & bed reading, get an iPhone.

8 - @7 If everything had to break even then I think it would be hard to justify many marketing activities, the partner program, the lotusphere comes to you events, advertising etc.

I think Redbooks are misunderstood by some people within IBM, Redbooks should be viewed as a marketing expense not as a profit making center.

As I said on Duffberts blog earlier, Lotus Redbooks are not ending (although no more this year), but they are closing the Lotus Redbook center.

9 - Considering that they were distributed for free, I can't imagine anyone in IBM looking at Redbooks as a profit-making center. However, I'd agree that some look at it as a marketing expenditure and some look at it as a development expenditure. I'm not sure which one it really is.

10 - I take it that I have to trust that the current documentation for Quickr and Connections is solid. And it also assists me with installation of those products on the OS/400 and Linux. I am probably wrong, but I have always felt that there was more and better documentation in the Redbook than in any other source of documentation from the Lotus brand.