IBM Notes was one of the most popular email server networks during the early 2000s and before that. However, due to its complicated interface and cost, people were regularly
looking for a better alternative. Microsoft gave them the better-performing and feature-loaded Office 365 and since then Notes have been losing its users on a huge scale. Office 365 is a cloud-based suite and guarantees users many features as compared to IBM Notes.
About IBM Notes
Notes were started by IBM as the email client that was made to serve every type of user be it corporate or personal. IBM Notes were able to do many operations such as containing all these items- to-do-list, templates, journals, contacts, addresses, micro-blogging, sharing and storing of emails, etc. This makes it more than just an email client. It became the user’s diary of all things that they wanted to store.
As people got familiar with IBM Notes they started thinking about having the ability to access their email from anywhere and on any device. This was still not possible in Notes and that caused users to look for other alternatives. IBM Notes which was acquired by the Indian tech giant HCL are working vigorously on getting a solution that suffices most of the user’s needs and again become a household name.
About Office 365
Office 365 was a result of a demand in the market globally that required it to be features loaded and flexible in terms of accessibility and other things. This cloud-based solution suite includes almost all the features of other email clients and also can collaborate with a few other applications to make it pleasant for their users. With the help of MS Exchange online, Office 365 can collaborate with applications such as SharePoint, Skype for Business, and other desktop applications.
IBM Notes vs Office 365
There are many differences between the two giant email serving applications where Office 365 mostly comes as a winner.
Arrangement: Cloud-based vs On-premises
Office 365 is a cloud-based arrangement which means it can be accessed from anywhere and on any device with the help of good internet. However, there are monthly and yearly subscriptions that allow users to gain control of the many features. The number of features you get depends on your subscription.
On the other hand, IBM Notes is an on-premises arrangement that makes it impossible to have access at all places. You can access the emails only on those devices where Notes is installed.
Differences of User Interface
Both Office 365 and IBM Notes provide good user interface but Office 365 have more features as compared to Notes. The IBM Notes user interface requires improvement to get to a level of user-friendly interface. Although you get used to it after some time and won’t have any issues there are few benefits of using Office 365. The best benefit is if you use Office 365 for work, you will get amazing compatibility and integration with other Microsoft products such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint, etc. It also enables users to use all these features remotely on any device with internet connectivity.
Mailbox Protection
IBM Notes stores its database in NoSQL which is non-relational distributed database technology. This makes the database highly flexible and safe that can be managed by the administrator. However, it requires technical competencies in non-relational database management and an extra helping hand with third-party antivirus and other tools.
Office 365 has a different game altogether. It has real-time protection against all attacks- known or unknown. And you won’t need to update the server because everything is on auto-update to save it from hackers and corruption.
Size of the Mailbox
There are very few differences where Office 365 lags behind in comparison and the size of the mailbox is one of those few. IBM Notes doesn’t have a restricted mailbox size and can accommodate any number of emails and other data. On the other hand, Office 365 has a 50GB size limit for the mailbox.
IMAP connection
Office 365 doesn’t have support for IMAP connection and therefore if the user wishes to use any other software they have to use ActiveSync protocol instead of IMAP.
All these differences between IBM Notes and Office 365 were listed so you can know why Office 365 has huge popularity nowadays over IBM Notes. Since HCL acquired IBM Notes, they have been constantly working on making Notes one of the best email servers on the planet again. But as of now, Office 365 takes lead in the competition.
Wrapping it up
IBM Notes or HCL notes were one of the best email clients during the early 2000s but lost their way after that. Since the launch of Office 365, users have started using Office 365 because of the extensive features set and user-friendly interface.
