IBM Returns to the Desktop Interface Bandwagon, and Coopetition with SAP Abounds

A little over a year ago, IBM tried one of its end runs around its partner SAP and announced a plan to provide Lotus Notes users with direct access to SAP’s R/3. While clearly intended to capitalize on phenomena like Duet – the Microsoft/SAP offering that makes Office a front-end to SAP’s Business Suite – Notes for SAP was also notable for the lack of cooperation between IBM and SAP on the deal. The initiative largely failed, for reasons that IBM is loathe to discuss (there are apparently some customers doing something with Notes and R/3, but, in a market where the slightest win can be made to look like an unprecedented triumph, IBM’s coyness about the initiative says all...