Announcing Notes/Domino 8.5.1 part 1: Free Domino Designer!

October 6 2009

It's finally here -- today is announcement day for Notes/Domino 8.5.1!  The channel announcement is live, the press release will be issued this morning, press coverage is trickling in, and the LotusUserGroup.org webcast on Notes/Domino 8.5.1 is happening at Noon US EDT.  Oh, and the channel announcement spills the beans -- the electronic general availability for Notes/Domino 8.5.1 will be Monday, October 12.

It's going to be a busy day, and there is a lot to the announcements, so I am going to handle them in four parts.  This also gives me an excuse to blog more later in the day, when I will be on the "Lotus Knows" bus here in Chicago (check my Twitter stream for details and if you are in Chicago, be sure to stop by!).

Image:Announcing Notes/Domino 8.5.1 part 1: Free Domino Designer!

Notes/Domino 8.5.1 is more than a maintenance release.  For sure, a ton of quality work went into this release -- four times the number of fixes of a "normal" maintenance release.  There are also a number of new features in this release -- which I've covered in recent presentations such as at IAmLUG, and Mary Beth and team have been covering on the Notes Design Blog.  But the part of today's announcement that I want to focus on first are changes to the way Notes and Domino are marketed and licensed.  The biggest part of the news is that as of Notes/Domino 8.5.1 eGA -- coming in just a few days -- Lotus Domino Designer will now be available at no charge.  That's right!  Free!  My friends at IBM developerWorks Lotus will have some new web pages up later today featuring how to get, learn, and use Domino Designer 8.5.1.

Now, why did we do this?  Lotus Knows!  Actually, making Lotus Domino Designer free was one of the top ideas on the August "Lotus Knows" IdeaJam.  I've wanted to do this for a very, very long time.  In fact, in some ways, making Domino Designer available to all Notes users is a return to the product's roots.  When Lotus Notes was introduced, all Notes users had the application development tools as part of the Notes license and product.  At some point, we changed to selling Domino Designer (originally Notes Designer) separately, and in my mind, that has been a real barrier to bringing new developers into the Notes/Domino community.  Now, anyone interested in working with Domino -- novice to expert programmer, student, consultant, or hobbyist -- can get / learn / use Domino Designer at no charge.

I think the possibilities here are endless.  A developer in an organization that uses Notes but is back-levelled might be able to get a head start on working with Notes/Domino 8.5.1.  A university student who knows Java but wants to "kick the tires" will be able to get Domino Designer in just a few clicks.  A programmer who wants to check out a new tool won't have to hesitate about getting into Domino.

We're going to do more than just give away Domino Designer.  developerWorks Lotus will have a whole bunch of new tools, along with Lotus Education and partners like TLCC, to help educate new Domino developers on how to become experts in Notes/Domino.  We're also looking at ways to have a "Domino server in the cloud" where such developers will have access to a sandbox environment to try out their applications.  We also expect OpenNTF.org to be a critical part of the increased force in the market around Notes/Domino.  The whole effort here is to invigorate the Domino developer community -- and I can't wait to see how this plays out.

Now your next question might be -- how do I connect this free Designer to a Domino server license-wise, or how do I get support?  For those answers, you'll have to wait for today's blog entry part 2 -- about the new Domino client access licensing model.  Stay tuned...

Ed Brill Highland Park, I USA Category:  notesdomino lotusnotes 8.5 lotus  Add/View Comments [74]

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  1. 1  Daniel Silva http://dansilva.org | 10/6/2009 12:29:29 AM

    Great news Ed on the free Designer!!

  1. 2  peter b  | 10/6/2009 1:04:54 AM

    omg that's bloody awesome

    love your work Ed

  1. 3  Giulio http://www.buzznotes.com.au | 10/6/2009 1:12:41 AM

    Hallelujah.. a good way to get a quick win.. This allows Domino development to enter the social space in a siginificant way.

  1. 4  Bhavya K Jain http://www.linkedin.com/in/bhavyajain | 10/6/2009 1:20:00 AM

    Awesome.

    If the first news is this then I have to say I can't wait for more. :)

    Thanks.

  1. 5  Ian Scott  | 10/6/2009 1:49:17 AM

    Domino Designer for free is terrific news. Great stuff!

  1. 6  Graham Dodge  | 10/6/2009 1:51:10 AM

    This is great news but not going to go down well with the customer who paid RRP for his Domino Designer plus 12 months maintenance last week. I presume that there is no rebate on prepaid Designer annual maintenance cost (just want to have the answer ready for when the client asks).

    And I repeat, it is great news!

  1. 7  Amit  | 10/6/2009 1:56:00 AM

    One step of Lotus is going to be the giant step for Developers ....

    Nice Update, Keep it UP ED !!!

  1. 8  Fredrik Malmborg  | 10/6/2009 1:59:10 AM

    Thank you IBM Lotus, that is just going to be awesome.

    And it gives us partners an energy injection to go out even stronger.

  1. 9  Grant Norman http://governancefornotes.com | 10/6/2009 2:44:39 AM

    Great news Ed. Especially about the Designer client, lets hope this makes Notes the "kick-ass development platform" again.

  1. 10  Ben Poole http://benpoole.com | 10/6/2009 2:55:57 AM

    FANTASTIC.

  1. 11  Kerr  | 10/6/2009 3:04:12 AM

    I don't normally jump in just to say "that's great", maybe I should, but this is extraordinary. Well done to everyone involved. I can't wait to hear what else you've got lined up.

    Oh yeah... This is Great!

  1. 12  Hynek Kobelka  | 10/6/2009 3:08:53 AM

    Oh my god. I can't believe it.

    They are listening !!!

    :-))))

    Great news, and thanks a lot.

  1. 13  Dave Harris http://www.wavysworld.com | 10/6/2009 3:20:29 AM

    Ed, this is superb news, really massive.

    Thanks to you and all your team

  1. 14  Anthony Holmes http://www.workingcollaboration.com | 10/6/2009 3:52:56 AM

    I've had a sneaking suspicion that this announcement was coming since 16th July 2009 when you had a blog posting that read "I'm not giving it away now"...

    { Link }

    Although the posting was supposedly about exciting developments and excitement with your career, the title always struck me as a little strained.. either you were proposing to resign at some point in the future, or SOMETHING was going to be given away in the future. Domino Designer made the most sense.

    Or perhaps was I reading too much into it. :-)

  1. 15  Patrick Kwinten http://quintessens.wordpress.com | 10/6/2009 4:08:17 AM

    that is what we call progress!

  1. 16  Ayhan Sahin http://www.fdi.de | 10/6/2009 4:40:13 AM

    Marvellous!

  1. 17  Julian Woodward  | 10/6/2009 4:51:12 AM

    Excellent news.

    Now I'm looking forward to the announcement about the Designer client for the Mac :-)

  1. 18  Michael  | 10/6/2009 4:51:25 AM

    @6 Graham, this should be a simple issue - my vote: at the next lic renewal my customer can purchase X lics at preferential price (maintenance/trade-up) for each designer licence held!!!

    Basically, an excuse for business growth and give me an opening line for business development!!

    Let's get crazy about this: What if IBM autorised the X lics at preferential rates to be completely flexible, enabling the customer to choose any x licences (or combination) at trade-up/maintenance renewal price (sametime, quickr, domino web server, utility express, etc) ....

    MdH

  1. 19  Darren Duke http://blog.darrenduke.net | 10/6/2009 5:20:58 AM

    Whooooo, now we can talk about this! Yeah! The NDA veil is lifted :)

    This is great news, DDE being free is a big USP, especially considering how much it actually was to purchase. Great work by all, and Lotus Knows you all deserve huge praise for the work that went into 8.5.1 and to make DDE free again.

    Paid DDE is dead, long live free DDE.

  1. 20  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 10/6/2009 6:02:55 AM

    @14 good detective work. That was when we obtained final approval from the Lotus senior executive team for this project. :-)

  1. 21  Neil Wainwright http://www.nexonia.com | 10/6/2009 6:06:40 AM

    Nice work Ed. Things are going to start accelerating a lot more in Notes/Domino land. Congrats to you and your team.

    Neil

  1. 22  John Turnbow http://www.recondite2.com | 10/6/2009 6:34:11 AM

    This is great news Ed! This will accelerate more development!

  1. 23  Carl Tyler http://www.iminstant.com | 10/6/2009 6:43:38 AM

    I hope you guys have patented accelerating time, as I'm sure that must have more implications than just around Notes ;-)

    Cool stuff, congrats!

  1. 24  Bart Severein http://www.eniac.nl/essentials | 10/6/2009 7:05:18 AM

    Very, very good news indeed! Not only a massive step foreward to win developers and enlarge the fanbase, but it also shows IBM Lotus is listening.

  1. 25  Nathan T. Freeman http://nathan.lotus911.com | 10/6/2009 7:13:55 AM

    @23 - Unfortunately there is prior art from about 14 billion years ago.

    Congrats, Ed. Lotus knows you've campaigned long and hard for this change.

    What's the over/under on when someone will ask you to open the source code?

  1. 26  David Leedy http://www.lotusnotebook.com | 10/6/2009 7:15:39 AM

    Awesome news! Thanks to Ed and all those inside for the hard work in getting this done. Domino Designer should be free to all!

    Congrats on the great news!

  1. 27  Anthony Holmes http://www.workingcollaboration.com | 10/6/2009 7:33:47 AM

    Re: @14 (Me) and @20 (Ed):

    Darn: this means that from now on I'm going to have to scrutinise every one of your blog post titles for possible hidden meanings!

    The announcement opens up the possibility of getting back some of the flavour of the early days of Notes when tech savvy business people would learn enough about Notes development themselves so that they could give full time developers really good specifications for applications. The Developerworks articles will hopefully help get them started.

    I suspect many Domino Administrators will fear 'untrained'/'cowboy'/'amateur' developers getting hold of Designer, and their instinct may be to try to block it (to protect their environments). But I think the better approach would be to let experimentation happen, but put some rules/guidance/good advice that lets new apps get moved into production without too much red tape (but still provide some protection for the overall environment). Widely available rapid application development = more champions for Domino in the business.

  1. 28  Mike McP http://www.openntf.org/Projects/pmt.nsf/ProjectLookup/mPortal | 10/6/2009 7:34:05 AM

    Thank you Ed and crew, this is a great move!

  1. 29  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 10/6/2009 7:37:18 AM

    @27 indeed, there was much discussion at the end about how to "block" Release 8.5.1 from your servers. Some will do this, and there is an INI parameter for it. But on balance, I think it's a good thing for all and hope that it ushers in a new era of exploration.

    @28 Lotus Knows you had a great idea!

  1. 30  Christopher Byrne http://www.controlscaddy.com/ | 10/6/2009 8:08:52 AM

    @Ed - does this mean that a company on the 7 or code stream can get those versions of designer free too?

  1. 31  Michael Kobrowski  | 10/6/2009 8:09:49 AM

    Great news, wonderful, amazing. I didn't think IBM had it in them. But I guess they could have known what they get when they promoted you - and about one year after your promotion. Thats a fantastic turn of events.

    I would like to see some nice trade-in for people who just paid in the, what last 6 or 12 months, for the designer license and maintenance.

    Now that the Designer is for free, does that mean anybody can also install the client for free at home - as you really need to client, standalone, to test what you design, right? :-)

  1. 32  Darren Duke http://blog.darrenduke.net | 10/6/2009 9:15:48 AM

    @27, the option already exists to block unwanted apps from your servers. It is call the "Security Tab" in the server document :)

    */org has never, ever been your friend.

  1. 33  Dave Harris http://www.wavysworld.com | 10/6/2009 9:21:00 AM

    @32, a very good question, one I was asked today by our sales manager when I told him about this

  1. 34  Matt Brockway  | 10/6/2009 9:29:45 AM

    Just been looking at the announcement and the system requirements:

    Notes Client - Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Service Pack 3

    iNotes - Internet Explorer 6 and 7

    So no WinXP SP2 or IE8 support ?

  1. 35  Keith Brooks http://www.vanessabrooks.com | 10/6/2009 9:31:22 AM

    This is great. So excited I wrote my blog posting last night while watching the game for posting this morning.

    Look forward to new developers.

  1. 36  Olivier Franchet http://www.dominux.net | 10/6/2009 9:35:50 AM

    `For additional information, refer to

    { Link }

    Wrong link in the 8.5.1 annoncement letter, this link to 8.5 availability date!

  1. 37  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 10/6/2009 10:29:15 AM

    @30 Yes. Anyone.

    @34 I will check -- IE8 is supported, at least for DWA/iNotes, so I am not sure why it says that. XPSP2 not sure but will check.

    @36 thanks for the catch.

  1. 38  JP Liggett  | 10/6/2009 11:37:09 AM

    great moves!!!

  1. 39  John Smart http://www.greyduck.com | 10/6/2009 11:41:02 AM

    YES!!!!

    I've commented on this many times. I am SO glad.

    Thanks!

  1. 40  George  | 10/6/2009 11:46:37 AM

    Great news but I really hope Mac OS X will be a supported platform for Domino developers. The Mac / OS X and Eclipse combination is the development platform of choice for our Java developers... It seems Domino developer on the Mac would be a natural fit. Maybe you are saving this announcement for the 12th???

  1. 41  Karsten Lehmann http://www.mindoo.com | 10/6/2009 11:52:42 AM

    Hi Ed,

    this is great news!

    But I have the same question as @31:

    You write:

    "A university student who knows Java but wants to "kick the tires" will be able to get Domino Designer in just a few clicks. A programmer who wants to check out a new tool won't have to hesitate about getting into Domino."

    This is a good chance to get more developers learn about Lotus Notes, which also helps us as a business partner to find developers.

    But how do they test an application in this case? They would need a local Notes client, which - as far as I understand it - is not free.

  1. 42  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 10/6/2009 12:06:47 PM

    @41 the Designer software obviously is as it is today -- for testing, it includes the Notes client capability and the preview in browser capability. You need the Enterprise CAL to connect to a server. We are looking at some other options for "sandbox" testing of the server.

  1. 43  Karsten Lehmann http://www.mindoo.com | 10/6/2009 12:13:42 PM

    @42: Ok, thanks for the explanation.

    You would get even more momentum in the developer community if the personal edition of the Notes client would come back: A client with a NRPC restriction to such a "sandbox" test Domino server, with POP/SMTP/IMAP for email and with full local app dev features.

  1. 44  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 10/6/2009 12:14:52 PM

    @40 - sorry, not this time around

    @43 let's just say we've thought about this. :-)

  1. 45  Kerr  | 10/6/2009 1:29:42 PM

    @44, probably a little cheeky, but has there been any thought towards a Domino Express-C version along the lines of DB2 Express-C? That would certainly complement free Domino Designer nicely.

  1. 46  Frans VandeWetering  | 10/6/2009 1:30:49 PM

    The XP SP2 is an important question for us as well. And regarding IE8, up to now the client didn't work with IE8 installed, so the question goes beyond inotes

    Always a great source for the latest info Ed!

  1. 47  Theo Heselmans http://blog.xceed.be | 10/6/2009 1:36:56 PM

    Just want to add my THANKS as well.

    This will be very well received, also out of the community !

  1. 48  Nazeer Aval  | 10/6/2009 3:09:26 PM

    No words to praise! This is a new beginning to show the real value of Notes/Domino as application platform.

  1. 49  George  | 10/6/2009 3:50:48 PM

    Re: @44 & @40, I'll take that as a glimmer of hope. There is always Lotusphere for big announcements. Parallels will have to do for now. Looking forward to 8.5.1. Thx.

  1. 50  John Foldager http://www.izone.dk | 10/6/2009 4:18:14 PM

    @34, @37, @46 Would be nice with support for the latest versions of both browsers and OS'es (Ubuntu 9.04, 9.10 comming soon, SuSE 11, OpenSuSE 11, etc.) sooner than what is happening today. I know it takes a lot of resources to test and support. However, we are always told to upgrade to the latest and most secure browsers and OS'es... so having support for Ubuntu 8.04 (shipped in april 2008) when Ubuntu released 8.10, 9.04 and soon 9.10 doesn't make sence to me. ;o)

  1. 51  John Foldager http://www.izone.dk | 10/6/2009 4:19:11 PM

    @34, @37, @46 Would be nice with support for the latest versions of both browsers and OS'es (Ubuntu 9.04, 9.10 comming soon, SuSE 11, OpenSuSE 11, etc.) sooner than what is happening today. I know it takes a lot of resources to test and support. However, we are always told to upgrade to the latest and most secure browsers and OS'es... so having support for Ubuntu 8.04 (shipped in april 2008) when Ubuntu released 8.10, 9.04 and soon 9.10 doesn't make sence to me. ;o)

  1. 52  Dave Harris http://www.wavysworld.com | 10/7/2009 12:28:10 AM

    @46 I hear that!! With IE8 installed MIME emails were taking up to two minutes (longer occasionally) to render in the client, which was horrendous given the volume of mail I get.

    I know it's "their" problem software that was causing the issue, but the implications for Notes weren't/aren't good.

  1. 53  Tony Frazier http://www.tonyfrazier.com | 10/7/2009 9:35:29 AM

    Agree with others, excellent news about the Designer client, can only help!

    @46, @52: Have you tried enabling the "Disable embedded browser for MIME email" setting in the preferences? See { Link }

  1. 54  Dave Harris http://www.wavysworld.com | 10/7/2009 10:27:45 AM

    @53 I have now, and it's even speedier than without IE8

  1. 55  Irv Shor  | 10/7/2009 11:39:18 AM

    Maybe asking for too much, but have there been any thoughts on going one step further and permitting shops to setup a free Domino server limited to development/testing only (1 per company)? To prevent abuse, maybe some hard coded 'dev server' features that could broadcast messages to Notes Clients and force browser popups for web app users. This would notify any users that they were working within a development environment (unlicensed for commercial use, of course), and perhaps give IBM an opportunity to advertise more by touting some logo candy ...perhaps 'LotusKnows your trying out a new app on great software'.

  1. 56  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 10/7/2009 11:45:50 AM

    @55 well, yes, something like it -- in the main blog post: "We're also looking at ways to have a "Domino server in the cloud" where such developers will have access to a sandbox environment to try out their applications. "

  1. 57  Charles Robinson http://www.cubert.net | 10/7/2009 1:04:20 PM

    @56 - So the comment from { Link } is finally coming? :-)

  1. 58  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 10/7/2009 1:32:27 PM

    @57 yes, it's connected to that, but I don't want to make any commitments on behalf of organizations I am not a member of directly.

  1. 59  Charles Robinson http://www.cubert.net | 10/7/2009 3:26:36 PM

    @58 - Understood. It's kind of fun to connect the dots. :-)

  1. 60  David H  | 10/7/2009 6:32:22 PM

    Happy Days are here again! I remember that first time I was introduced to Lotus Notes. It was R3.0. A business developer for our company came up to me and asked "Look what I did with this software. I am using it to track all of my clients and leads. Can we do something like this and share it between all the business developers in the company?" That was the day I became a Notes developer. Two months later I had a Lotus Notes server running on NLM with 8 modems and 250 excited road warrior business developers eager to dial in and replicate the latest leads. For the next year I was kept busy reworking the simple databases they kept pushing at me. It was like I had an army of developers converted from Lotus 1-2-3 power users, overnight.

    The next question is: How can *I* leverage this rebirth? hmm...

  1. 61  Gavin Bollard http://dominogavin.blogspot.com | 10/7/2009 9:42:39 PM

    So... it's been a day of thinking and now I'm back with Questions.

    Obviously we're not going to roll designer out to all our clients. That's one of the main reasons why we don't allow MS ACCESS as part of our SOE.

    What does it really mean?

    Does it mean FREE? Can I tell the average person on the street that they can download Lotus Notes and have their own local databases on it? For instance, I've got my DVD Library in Notes. I don't necessarily need a server for it. Is it legal for someone who doesn't have a Notes licence to take Designer, Build an App and store data in it?

  1. 62  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 10/7/2009 9:51:02 PM

    The license is for Designer, not for Notes as a client. Obviously the Designer includes the Notes client as an engine and a (local) test environment, along with "preview in browser". But it's really setup for a developer to have the ability to do what they need to do without needing to buy a license until they connect to a server and/or want to get access to tech support.

  1. 63  Gavin Bollard http://dominogavin.blogspot.com | 10/7/2009 10:04:32 PM

    Surely that's akin to providing MS Word for free to help people learn VBA and then saying that they can't write documents in it.

    I agree that the best value with the notes client is derived from connecting it to a server (for which you have server licences) but my question is really - Is the average Joe permitted to use it as a local data store?

    For example: If someone leaves our employment but wants to retain a copy of their mail file for archive purposes, are we now permitted to provide them with both the NSF and a Notes+Designer install?

  1. 64  Graham Dodge  | 10/8/2009 4:37:21 AM

    @63 Gavin, see Eds earlier response in @42"

    "... the Designer software obviously is as it is today -- for testing, it includes the Notes client capability and the preview in browser capability. You need the Enterprise CAL to connect to a server. We are looking at some other options for "sandbox" testing of the server."

    Personally I don't think IBM is going to get upset at ex-employees running a home copy of Notes because it helps keep the Lotus technology alive in that person's IT skill set. It might come down to the unofficial response of "We don't mind you doing that but don't ask for formal permission or we will have to say no."

  1. 65  John Head http://www.johndavidhead.com | 10/8/2009 5:53:29 AM

    @59 the OpenNTF.org announcement of our direction to do a cloud model for development servers was based off the support of IBM around OpenNTF.org and the Designer being free announcement. The issue now is the legal stuff and making it happen in terms of hardware and licensing. Give us some time - should have some news on this before Lotusphere

  1. 66  Frans VandeWetering  | 10/8/2009 7:41:54 AM

    Saw in official IBM note that XP SP2 is supported

    { Link }

  1. 67  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 10/8/2009 10:58:07 AM

    @66 thanks for that, because I have been chasing and you got there first :-)

  1. 68  Venugopal Reddy http:\\certifiedlotusprofessional.tech.officelive.com | 10/8/2009 12:38:47 PM

    Really awesome. We need to give good competition to MS.

  1. 69  Venugopal Reddy http://certifiedlotusprofessional.tech.officelive.com | 10/8/2009 12:39:33 PM

    Really awesome. We need to give good competition to MS.

  1. 70  Brian  | 10/9/2009 10:25:30 AM

    Good news. Now if they could web 2.0-ify the designer client and make it able to create well-designed apps without a series of workarounds, we'd really have something.

  1. 71  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 10/9/2009 10:49:20 AM

    Brian, surely, a clever comment, especially from your employer's IP address.

  1. 72  Steve  | 1/7/2010 4:25:40 AM

    When you say:

    "The license is for Designer, not for Notes as a client. Obviously the Designer includes the Notes client as an engine and a (local) test environment, along with "preview in browser". But it's really setup for a developer to have the ability to do what they need to do without needing to buy a license until they connect to a server and/or want to get access to tech support."

    Does this mean that I won't actually be able to connect to a server that is running 8.5.1 or that I am not allowed to connect to it?

  1. 73  Charles Robinson http://www.cubert.net | 1/7/2010 8:44:56 AM

    @72 - The license says you can't, but there is no technical limiter. It will work, it's just not legal without a Notes Enterprise CAL.

  1. 74  Steve  | 1/7/2010 10:37:22 AM

    @73 - Thanks for the info. It was so hard to find this out from the IBM website.