Which lane to take?
As I go about choosing the "roadmap" to my own future you might want to start considering your own. To help you here's a link, that Keith Nolen kindly sent me, to Lotus's recently published "roadmap" to Domino's future. Didn't bother reading it all the way through as I don't speak much marketing but from a quick glance it looks like the future for Domino developers is bleak. I see an extra tier of misery derived from trying to tame two beasts with one whip.
My car is getting a new engine so it's ready to over-take and turn off at the next available exit...
A habit of mine is to strip the domain from the addresses of emails I receive and visit the sender's website. Had a shock today when I got a mail from this company. What would Mr Nielsen say!?
Skip to the 
You can subscribe to an individual
Ah nuts!
And to think, I registered Dominoguru.com for 3 yrs 8-
Ah, the mix of Domino and Websphere [could be so cool, yet IBM are hell-bent on bashing us all ove rthe head with it, and relegating Domino to "niche" collaboration tasks.
Its funny, reading what Mr Nielson says makes me cringe - he should critise the people who do bad sites in flash, not the product itself. I could go on but won't ;o)
He's a bit of an arse, and a self-appointed authority... plus HIS site looks grim as you like.
He does have point with regards misuse of Flash, especially those sites that use it for their navigation like the dreadful one Jake links-to. But your point is taken, it's all about how these things are used...
I think it is time to get started on Java. I always kind of felt that Java was like raw c/c++. Any decent starting points?
Go for it. There are heaps of resources out there. Sun's own stuff is good, though can be dry. Try working through the Dive Log application they have there...
I really like http://www.javaranch.com -- good fun, and plenty of stuff to get stuck into.
Good luck!
Any developer that only specializes in one technology/language will have a "bleak" future.
Good Domino developers will be good Java developers and so on. Embracing change & a strong thirst to keep learning will keep most on the payroll.
And to cheer everyone up more, "Notes is dead": http://staging.infoworld.com/articles/op/xml/02/08/26/020826opcurve.xml
Ray Ozzie has responded with "Publishing is dead": http://www.ozzie.net/blog/2002/08/28.html
guess you dont all read. It pretty clearly states that Domino will continue on, as well as the next generation of collaboration applications that will utilize J2EE architecture. Who cares what the stuff is written in, its still going to be software and does what we need. Geez ... everyone always needs to find reasons to complain without understanding the problem
Calm down!
I am with john - it read good to me and should clear the air on the confusion, jumped to conclusions and misinformation that is currently in vogue
The document makes it pretty clear that the future strategy is delivering Domino-style services through J2EE. Domino will continue as is, but new & existing Lotus products (QuickPlace, Sametime, LearningSpace, Discovery Server) will be delivered thru Web Services/J2EE.
The last page "Preparing for the Future" is the most interesting. It start off:
To prepare for getting the most out of Domino as its J2EE focus grows (i.e., the next gen lane when it merges with the Lotus Domino and WebSphere lanes), consider the following:
Build skills in JavaServer Pages, Java, and Web services technologies, especially XML. JSP and Java are essential to building high-value applications that straddle the Lotus Domino and WebSphere lanes today. Download SoapConnect from http://www.alphaworks.ibm.com and learn to incorporate Web services with existing Domino applications.
In the future, these will be the foundation technologies for the next gen application interfaces, so now is the time to build skills in these areas.
There is also a webcast at:
http://www.lotus.com/world/usa.nsf/itdisp/Next+Generation+Lotus+Software
You can download a PDF of the presentation (8Mb).
Get a copy of Tomcat, WebSphere Studio App Dev or Eclipse and jump right in......
You make it sound so simple ;o)
Take my lead and start with something a lot simpler - PHP/MySQL. Then get in to the principles of Scripting Languages and RDBMSs. Then, if you feel brave and you're lucky enough to know somebody who can set it up, get in to WebSphere.
how much is the next gen going to cost?
If a web-site costs $500,000 to develop you know that it must have used WebSphere!
How much does a Apache/MySQL/PHP/Perl/Xalan/FOP/etc .. system cost in comparison???
__Chosing_a_Lane__
this section of the IBM white paper is quite amusing, as it does read like WebSphere hasn't got many practical applications!
If you use workflow, or rich content or need role-based security models then use Notes/Domino
Use WebSphere if you are writting very high usage transaction software for a Bank !!!
What about all the web-sites/web-apps/web-services that aren't workflow-based? They are too difficult to write in Domino and too small to afford WebSphere?
Howard, Apache is open-source and therefore free, as are Tomcat, Ant, etc. etc.
The problem with Domino is the "developers"! They have a lot to learn if they want to be ready for the shock of WebSphere.
Jeez, that's scary. I mean, we all have our dense moments, but that is extraordinary.
HOW simpler? Did you say somewhere that PHP was perhaps not something there's a lot of careers in? I forget.
Here's a peice published yesterday on itworld.ca.
http://itworld.ca/rx.cfm?v=M,A,20022690011