One of the RSS subscriptions I check up on frequently is Guy Kawasaki’s blog. The ex-Mac evangelist turned web guru and investor always has an interesting perspective on things and usually leads me to some of the most interesting stuff on the web.

This time, it lead me to a site/tool called Coghead. You can check it out for yourself, but the short version is that they provide the ability to build web-based applications/databases easily. You drag-n-drop, create actions, map fields, etc. all from your browser.

Here’s the thing … their overview page has 4 screen shots that show just how easy it is to use the tool. After looking at these 4 images, I’m confident I could use it to build a vareity of applications we need to crank out at work.

Sure, I could do them in Domino … and probably will. But seeing this makes me continue to wonder why IBM doesn’t make Domino Designer MUCH easier to use for newbies. Its not like you can easily get training courses on Notes/Domino anymore. I know! I’m trying to send an employee in my group to some Notes Dev/Admin classes and I can’t find a company in the 5-state region who’s offering the classes. (Sidebar: my best lead so far is in Hunington Beach, CA … and if that’s the case, then I too, need a refresher course on Notes! )

So back to Coghead & Notes. I’ve thought for some time that Notes needs to have the following pieces added to it:

• Improved web server licensing (make it cheap for only web apps so ISPs pick it up)
• Support for PHP (I mean, a Notes form is a lot like PHP anyway in that you can have in-line HTML and a Notes field … same basic concept … let’s keep going)
• Support for mySQL functionality
• “Easy” button - an easy interface for creating basic application. Basically, blend the stuff on this Coghead site with the demos they’ve done of the Workplace Designer and you’ve got it!
• Some built-in AJAX tools
• Native Designer, Admin and Server clients for the Mac (of course I had to throw that in)

There are other things on my wish-list … but I really think that the ones above would help solidify them as a solid tool in the web-world.

If they don’t … a little start-up like Coghead might come out of no where to threaten them.

(Yes, there’s not a lot of mention about a security structure with this tool, or mail/calendar functionality, or groupware functionality … and Notes has all of that. I get it. — The point is that its companies like this that start out with a great idea, funded by a smart group of people and the next thing you know they’re everywhere! Don’t think for a second that people smart enough to pull this off don’t have a long, long list of functionality they’re going to put in this thing, a direction they’ll take and a list of companies they want to take on. — Who knows … Notes might be on that list! )