Positive mention of Lotus… in Forbes???

When this showed up in my email, I almost fainted. A story that actually talked about Lotus in a positive light in Forbes:

For example, IBM (nyse: IBM – news – people ) acquired Lotus for $3.3 billion in early 1995. Lotus’s growth had stagnated as it fought against emerging e-mail providers. Buoyed by IBM’s topflight sales force, deep relationships with key enterprise customers, and willingness to spend big bucks on marketing campaigns, Lotus experienced significant growth after the acquisition. Lotus sold roughly 3 million units of its flagship Lotus Notes application prior to the acquisition; by 1998 the division had sold close to 30 million units.

That growth couldn’t have come at a better time for IBM. Lotus’s growth provided cover for IBM’s emerging move into services. In fact, Lotus helped to facilitate that move–by 1998 IBM estimated that it received $5 in service, support, consulting and hardware revenues for every $1 of Lotus Notes sold. It is possible that IBM would not have been able to make the seemingly seamless move into services if Lotus had not grown so robustly during the 1990s.

I know it’s a story outlining acquisitions and successes and failures, but to say “if Lotus had not grown so robustly during the 1990s” is a far cry from the “Decline and Fall of Lotus” from 1998. It’s almost like the people at Forbes don’t talk to each other.