Migration. It's not just Ballmer's rhetoric. It's in the job description. Here's the proof.

Remember the whole flap about IBM not allowing Microsoft to have a booth at Lotusphere this year? There are those who would say that Gary Devendorf cares about coexistence of Microsoft and IBM products. For example, Cliff Reeves said (permalink doesn't work, so scroll down to the seventh article):

Gary Devendorf (a colleague of mine from IBM/Lotus -- now at Microsoft) has continually focused on that. He is personally committed to helping customers use these technologies together and he's traditionally attended the annual Lotus conference in January -- Lotusphere -- to do just that, as an exhibitor.

I would agree that if Gary's personal feelings ruled the day, coexistence is all that he would care about and that's what a Microsoft booth at Lotusphere would have been about. Today, however, I ran across the blog of Gary's current team leader, James Conard, and a post that clearly describes his areas of responsibility, including:

• Lotus Notes Migration (Gary Devendorf)

Thanks for making it crystal clear, James.

TrackBack From Duffbert's Random Musings02/11/2006 07:56:45 PM

It's *migration*, not coexistance...

I took a bit of heat in my blog for the pre-Lotusphere post supporting IBM's position of denying Microsoft and Gary a booth. A lot of people tried to tell me that his information was useful, which I don't deny or argue. A few suggested I have a problem with Gary, which I don't. My main problem is that Gary's repeated message of coexistence and cooperation is at odds with Microsoft's message of migration away from Notes.

2. Chris Reckling02/12/2006 05:05:43 PM
Homepage: http://www.ibm.com/developerworks/blogs/dw_blog.jspa?blog=416

Good find, Rich! While Gary may be personable and truly enjoys working with Notes, his employer has been trying to kill it for about 15 years or so.

Chris