Okay we got your attention by this title. But we will make it worth reading this blog entry.  The guest function within LotusLive has great value. It makes inter-company collaboration possible even between paying and non-paying LotusLive users.

For those that also look at cloud computing from Microsoft (BPOS), Microsoft  is not able to support inter-company collaboration with BPOS. You will still use e-mail to share files externally.

The guest user within LotusLive is a limited function compared to LotusLive Engage/LotusLive Connections functionality. However I completed a detailed analysis of all the functions available as guest LotusLive users. And the result you have 70% of  all available features for free as a guest users.

The 3 limitations you have as a guest user are:
•        no company features (creating company profile, adding company users, internal company file sharing)
•        limited file storage (25 Mb and not 1 GB)
•        no instant messaging capabilities

The result is that IBMers (they have free access to all functions of LotusLive) and other LotusLive users can stop using e-mail to share files with all external users. Sharing files via LotusLive is better and easier. E-mail storage can be reduced because of this by 50 to 90 percent in my opinion.

You want to try it ? Ask an IBMer or another LotusLive user (like Stuart or me) to send you an invitation to be a guest user.

Steps:

e-mail that guest user receives

Here is an overview of all the functions available as a subscribed and as a guest user:

“Lotus Knows you no longer need e-mail to share files externally”