This ensure high portability over a large set of platforms. Steve mentioned that the current time precision in HTTP which is measured in seconds is not good enough in a distributed system. Often higher precision is required and suggested that milliseconds would be a good alternative. Another key element in the Notes model is access control. Access control is very hard to get right and at the same time to keep simple.
Notes have currently a very flexible but also very complex model that has evolved over the years.
It was not clear whether the Notes solution would port to the Web. Flash crowds really do happen. A document often gets highly popular very quickly - the hot spot of the day which results in flash crowds. Different data is hot at different places and at different times. The hot spots of the net load are highly dynamic in that they move around- typically from day to day.