Lotus Notes, launched in 1989, offered encryption two years before PGP, rich text formatting and attachments before MIME, read receipts, notifications, user directories, and wiki-style cross-message links. Though not an email app, it functioned as a collaboration tool and notes platform allowing users to build applications like Access and Airtable or Access. Its roots trace to PLATO Notes from 1973 at the University of Illinois, where a plain text 'notes' file enabled early online discussions with up to 63 chained responses per note.

David Woolley developed PLATO Notes to replace the chaotic open file, creating one of the earliest online forums. Ray Ozzie, a PLATO alum, later joined Lotus and drove the creation of Lotus Notes, aiming to recreate PLATO’s interactive environment. He described PLATO as offering 'a peek at what the Internet would ultimately become' and enabled early remote work through synchronized databases.

After graduation, Ozzie pursued rebuilding that experience, culminating in Lotus Notes—a system that blended notes, email, and app-building, provoking both awe and exasperation as a vision of digital communication’s future.