Hi
I just got this newsletter, thought I'd share it here:
At my previous job, everyone in the company was forced to use Lotus Notes. I recall being often annoyed with the Notes e-mail client for its clumsy user interface and appalling lack of features (to say nothing of its crummy calendar). The moment the platform supported POP3 mail clients, I switched to Netscape Messenger.
But regardless of my personal feelings about Notes, the platform eventually earned my respect. The Notes developers on our IT staff built and maintained several excellent applications exclusively for my department. We used those applications regularly, along with our trading partners, and we quickly came to depend on them. The power of Notes as a collaborative platform is clear to anyone who uses it in this way.
On Monday, a Notes client will be available for Linux. That s right. Companies will be able to http://www-128.ibm.com/developerworks/lotusdownload Lotus Notes on Linux 7.0.1, an Eclipse plug-in that delivers Notes client functionality to Linux workstations. This includes the crummy e-mail and calendar (which themselves are custom Notes apps), and other collaboration software, as well as your company s own custom applications that once ran only on Mac OS and Windows desktops. Initial support will be for Red Hat Enterprise Linux 4, update 3, but IBM promises a version for Novell SUSE Linux Desktop 10 within 90 days.
Pricing starts at US$101 per client plus another $70 per client for messaging. Current Mac OS and Windows licenses can be transferred.
But don t be looking to code your Notes apps on a Linux box. For that, you ll have to wait for the full Eclipse implementation code-named Hannover which IBM says should be at milestone 3 (public beta) by this fall. Hannover will implement RCP under Eclipse 3.2, and will introduce Notes to support for the OpenDocument format (ODF) spec from OASIS. IBM expects general availability the first half of 2007.
Why did IBM wait so long to develop a Linux-based client? We were waiting for Eclipse to be ready, said Arthur Fontaine, IBM s senior offering manager. The company did not want to add a third code base to the MacOS and Windows bases it was already maintaining.
IBM sees an opportunity to enter the Linux desktop market with a lower-cost alternative to Mac OS and Windows operating systems, Fontaine added. Among the subtler messages IBM is sending, he said, is that we re changing to a new client software development model. This has been evidenced by the Eclipse-ification of its Rational tools and later this year its Sametime 7.5 instant messaging client. This sends a message that IBM is attacking the deficit of desktop apps that Linux suffers.
Love or hate it, Lotus Notes usage in the enterprise remains strong. And stronger still are the prospects of enterprise desktop Linux. For more coverage of this important story, see the upcoming Aug. 1 issue of SD Times.
Contact me at mailto:ecorreia@bzmedia.comecorreia@bzmedia.com.
Edward J. Correia
bye Fabi