Lotusphere 2012: Lotus Notes/Domino Social Edition

January 17 2012

Yesterday at Lotusphere 2012, IBM announced Lotus Notes and Domino Social Edition, the next feature release of Notes & Domino. This new release will enter beta this quarter and is expected to ship in 2012.

Today's announcement features elements that have been publicly discussed for some time -- such as embedded experiences in Notes and iNotes -- and new components, e.g. the product name and some of the new capabilities. Some of the loudest applause during the Lotusphere opening general session came when a key component of this release -- the Notes Application Player Plug-in -- was demonstrated.

Though we've occasionally hinted and once demonstrated the plug-in before, today is the first time we've formally announced it and done a public demo. The plug-in runs in Windows browsers -- Firefox and we'll probably do one other -- and allows Notes applications to run unmodified in the browser. The plug-in is a one-time download, much like the Adobe Acrobat model, where once installed, the browser can access Notes applications directly.

Our intent in building the plug-in is to provide an approach to a common strategic direction we hear from customers today -- the desire to utilize a browser for all custom business applications. While the installed Notes client will always provide the richest, most-integrated mail and applications experience for Domino, increasingly we are asked for help in getting away from desktop deployments. Desktop clients are, for any software -- Notes, Microsoft Office, SAP -- one of the more expensive cost-of-ownership components for IT organizations today.

The vision for Notes/Domino Social Edition is to establish web and mobile as first-class experiences, not secondary efforts done after we've perfected a Notes client capability. For example, the Notes Traveler client for Android will be substantially improved on tablet devices, with better calendar views and presence awareness. The Application Player plug-in completes the picture for browser-based Domino users, making their application experience as rich as possible.

Now, some applications need more than the plug-in. It isn't going to do anything for appearance and usability -- the applications will look and act the same as they do in the Notes client today. Many companies will continue to explore application modernization to XPages, through in-house or partner work, or tools such as the GBS Transformer. For the basic, typical Notes application, though, the plug-in will run your Notes application - it is, after all, just Notes.

Notes/Domino Social Edition has several additional enhancements and components. The big one in Notes and iNotes is embedded experiences, sort of a modern approach to "store form in document" Notes applications. Embedded experiences are applications designed using the Open Social 2.0 standard and the Apache Shindig container. They will provide a more seamless user experience by keeping the end-user in context of where they are already working. Surveys, YouTube videos, workflow approvals can all be acted upon without having to open up a new window/container/browser. In the Notes client, there will also be incremental feature updates, especially in mail and calendar, designed to improve usability. iNotes will have an updated implementation of calendar, faster and more dynamic. The Domino Server will have new features such as SAML support. In the coming weeks, I'll get more specific in blog entries about the new features of Notes/Domino Social Edition.

Lotus Notes Social Edition - Home Page

What version number is Notes/Domino Social Edition? Answer: It isn't. It's a feature version, but it is built atop the simultaneously-forthcoming planned Notes/Domino 8.5.4 release. Our belief from countless customer feedback sessions was that the more we could deliver new features atop the 8.5.x codestream, the easier it would be for our customers and partners to adopt the new features. Movement to a version "9" requires so many IT organizations to consider a "rollout plan" differently than an 8.5.x kind of upgrade. If you want, you can just deploy 8.5.4 with no new features, or you can add the Social Edition upgrade atop 8.5.4 and expose these new capabilities.

I anticipate a zillion questions about the Notes Application Player Plug-in. A few FAQs I can get out of the way now: It will run on Windows only, doesn't support the use of email through the plug-in, is less than 100 MB to download and install, and will run apps that are built to be self-contained typical NSFs. It won't support composite applications or other componentry built to take advantage of the full Notes 8 / Eclipse framework. We haven't decided which browser besides Firefox to build for; Chrome would be more approachable. If you have others, help us assemble the FAQ now.

Ed Brill | Lake Buena Vista, FL USA Category: Add/View Comments [44]

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  1. 1  Julian Woodward http://Http://blog.woowar.com | 1/17/2012 12:52:49 PM

    If the primary use case for this is inside the firewall, which it is, then it seems clear to me - much as I don't like it - that Internet Explorer needs to be supported. Like it or not, and despite the continued drop-off in IE use overall, my experience is that it is still massively dominant in corporate desktop builds. If it makes the pill less bitter, IE8 and upwards would be okay, I believe, although others may well say that IE7 needs to be seriously considered.

    Stepping back, I think this is a fantastic move, and could be the catalyst for a wider uptake of xpages application development, as the ROI in terms of not having to maintain Notes on the desktop comes quickly, and (in theory at least) opens the way for budget to be spent on redeveloping the most mission-critical apps as xpages while leaving the rest running in the browser using the plug-in. Applause from me, definitely.

  1. 2  jfranchetti  | 1/17/2012 1:05:03 PM

    @1 Agreed. IE stills has 40% market share, and that number is muh larger inside corporate walls. My guess is that they are shooting for something that will work in IE if you install the Chrome Frame add-in for IE.

  1. 3  Steve Medure  | 1/17/2012 1:18:46 PM

    Ed, any details on how to get involved in the beta this quarter?

  1. 4  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 1/17/2012 2:30:05 PM

    @1/2 this is useful input. We will definitely do two browsers initially, and IE is more likely than Chrome, but I want to make sure we do the right two first.

  1. 5  Andy Stewart  | 1/17/2012 3:58:07 PM

    Ed,

    Although I'm not at Lotusphere I am loving the information I have gained so far. I watched your roadmap session (and OGS 1) without having to attend - technology is good (although I'd love to attend one day).

    My comments / questions about the plug-in (I was a bit gob-smacked when I saw it demoed day 1 if I understood it correctly):

    a) Yes IE (Corporate).

    b) Why won't mail render in it - after all it is just another ND app.

    c) What will be the licensing (see d) below).

    d) isn't there a possibility that the plug-in will be used to maintain ND apps as legacy whilst mail is migrated?

    e) If you want it to be really cool make it work on Safari - just a thought.

    f) You've stated that it doesn't support Eclipse add-ins etc but does that mean that full xPages functionality will be available. Apologies if this sounds like a stupid question but I am admin not dev :)

    g) Beta - you have my email and I would be very interested for several customers.

    Andy.

  1. 6  Roy Rumaner  | 1/17/2012 4:34:44 PM

    Ed,

    I am currently working at a client that has over 50K installed Notes seats. Their corporate standard is IE and that is not going to change any time soon.

    They are currently in the process of merging with another larger corporation that is an MS house so the Notes / SP dance is going on right now.

    I am working with them to convert their high visibility applications to XPages so they can get the C-level to understand the reasons behind keeping Notes and not migrating to SP.

    Having the ability to run their current suite of over 2,000 plus applications on a browser and reduce the cost by removing the client would go a long way towards keeping them as a customer.

    Also, they are currently opening up iNotes to the corporation so it would be a smooth transition if they were able to serve up the rest of their applications on the same browser.

  1. 7  Mike Brown http://www.browniesblog.com | 1/17/2012 5:11:10 PM

    @Ed,

    What platforms does this run on?

    Joke!!!

    Windows only, I got it! You said it twice, just to be sure. And I'm guessing no plans for it to run on Mac etc either? Not ever, ever, ever?

    Sadly, I have to agree with the other comments about IE. However crap IE might be, it *is* the corporate standard. Too many corporates are chained to it by the idiotic decisions that they made 10 to 15 years ago (ActiveX etc.) and now it's too much time and effort to change to a better browser. Hell, even upgrading to a later version of IE is a major project!

    So I think that IE's going to have be your second browser if you want any traction with this. I wouldn't waste effort supporting any version before IE8 either.

  1. 8  David Hablewitz http://thenotesguyinseattle.com | 1/17/2012 6:10:17 PM

    This is big. The Acrobat analogy really has merit.

    @5 Andy, your point d. isn't really a concern. No one is going to do avoid doing a mail migration because they can use a plugin to reach their apps. That is not what drives migrations. It is becoming very clear how Notes is not email. In fact, I think Notes and Domino would be even more successful if we didn't try to attach it to email.

    A few years ago a Microsoft person explained to me that MS doesn't care if you have Notes or not. They just want to be there too. If you look at the latest position of IBM Lotus software, mail is irrelevant to the strategy. Connections, Quickr and Sametime integrate into whatever email client you use. Then there's the XWork server. The customer can buy a turnkey solution and not know or care that it runs on Domino. So now you have many ways of introducing IBM solutions into brand new customers without having to sell them on the idea of a mail migration. It's much easier now to acquire and grow a new customer if you don't have to convince them to migrate their email to buy into your solutions. This plugin just adds to the array of solutions you can provide to customers to give them a competitive advantage, painlessly I might add.

    Ed, of course, in my area IE would be next on the list. The stats { Link } for visitors to w3schools.com website is always nice to review, but know that their visitors are generally developers and power users.

  1. 9  Jens Brunt http://www.jens.bruntt.dk | 1/18/2012 12:50:10 AM

    Interesting news. The Notes Application Player-plugin could open up new ways for us to sell out Lotus Notes applications.

    IE would definately need to be the second supported browser for the plugin. Our existing and customers-to be are all standardized on IE.

    A handful of questions regarding the plugin:

    You mention the self-contained NSF... Will our code inside an NSF that runs in the player be able to execute @DBlookups to a different NSF on the same Domino server?

    Where does the actual code-execution happen. On the server or on the workstation?

  1. 10  Lukas Malina  | 1/18/2012 1:21:24 AM

    The most common Browser in the companies is definitively the IE.

    I think the Plugin is a fantastic new feauture. Also the proper integration of Connections into the Notes Client is a great step forward.

    Could you upload more pics of the Notes Social Edition Client?

  1. 11  GarryL  | 1/18/2012 2:42:01 AM

    Will the plug-in be supported in a TS enviroment? This would make a big difference to us (SME company)

  1. 12  Richard Shergold  | 1/18/2012 2:45:40 AM

    This plug-in sounds great - can't wait to see it. Have to echo what everyone else has said about IE. I never use it myself (Chrome user) but its embedded in large corporates and won't move.

  1. 13  Mike McP  | 1/18/2012 7:27:58 AM

    Ed, this plug-in is officially my favorite thing of LS12. I'll be anxiously checking in on it as it matures!

  1. 14  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 1/18/2012 8:10:24 AM

    OK so several questions, sorry, I should have answered them last night.

    @5

    b) It might work, but we aren't going to test or support it. There already is a full-featured mail experience in the browser, iNotes, so why do the work to make another equivalent thing? It would just lead to more questions and confusion, "when do I run my email in the plug-in and when do I use iNotes" kinds of questions.

    c) Too soon do announce specifics of licensing

    d) Great question and one we have discussed internally for months. I can't entirely answer it without answering c) and I can't answer c) yet. @8 David Halbewitz is on the right path here though.

    Here at Lotusphere, I am also mainly hearing Internet Exploder, and the development team tells me that that actually might make more sense initially (along with Firefox) as well. So thanks for that feedback.

    @11 don't know yet

    @9 I'm going to ask one of the team to answer just so I don't screw up here, but this is not a server "thing" - it is essentially a Notes client, embedded in a browser, so I think the execution etc. is wherever it normally would be...

  1. 15  LongLiveLotus  | 1/18/2012 9:28:37 AM

    this is potentially massive!

    The biggest winge I hear is about supporting (Notes) client s/w on pc's in a corporate environment. This gives a whole new strategic option for Notes apps that have given years of proven business benefit. Btw, I agree that IExploder is prevalent in corporates.

    Obviously, Notes apps will be useable in an extranet/intranet context without the cost/hassles of a html/web rework or installing Notes clients. Really useful in corporate merger scenarios as a previous poster mentions and a real quantifiable TCO benefit.

    I'd like to claim a tiny bit of glory for this, I've been asking for it since the infamous 2 way highway including at previous spheres on the final day "ask the..." sessions.

    ;-)

    Big kudos to IBM and Ed for making this happen, more questions to follow. Is there anywhere for none attendees to see this demo?

  1. 16  Henning Heinz  | 1/18/2012 11:53:35 AM

    True, Notes Apps will be usable in a browser but they will have the (meanwhile rather limited) classic Notes look and functionality and there is little to enhance the out of the box experience.

    I know the Desktop does not get much press nowadays with all the cool stuff in tablets and mobile. Still I see 90% of all SAP deployments using a Rich Client Interface. If somebody migrated Notes Mail in 80%+ (even when moving cloud on the server side) they are going to deploy the Outlook client.

    It is true that companies want to deploy less apps on the client but from my experience they still do for their strategic/key products. Especially when they think Internet Explorer 7 is a nice browser that works well. Given all the power the Notes client once had and the tremendous value it could provide I find it a bit sad that IBM is betting everything on the browser.

    The Notes Application Browser in many ways will be a good thing for companies who want to do less with Notes (not more) and keep some of their "legacy" stuff around. Without a way for making those applications work better and look nicer it will, in many cases, only be another argument for the Notes sux people.

    True I hear complaints about the heavy Notes client too but it was IBM who grew this into a gigabytes install monster. And the Upgrades nowadays are often much more painful than they were during the "classic" days. No surprise so many companies have deployed a current release. You often have to to keep this stuff running. And once you are using XPages everything that comes out of IBM requires the most current release .

    IBM for sure has a strategy and they act accordingly. You are successful and so have the best arguments. For me working at the front I have to deal with simple questions like "Will there ever be a 64Bit version of Sametime for Domino?"

    But your session really was great (both presentation and content).

  1. 17  Jay  | 1/18/2012 1:14:16 PM

    I was very excited when I heard the plug-in release, which can potentially save us lots of money and time to convert the current databases to be browser-based.

    My questions for Ed: will the plug-in/add-on support CreateObjects and GetObjects methods so we can open and control other applications like Word, Excel? Also can the plug-in objects in the browser can be accessed by other applications, like the Notes Client's session and UIWorkspace objects? Can it access the computer's APIs, folders, file system etc?

    Just like many here said, IE support is a must. I can't see Firefox to be widely adopted in the corporation environments.

    Many thanks!

    Mac / Safari support will be a plus in the near future if this works well.

  1. 18  Julian Woodward http://Http://blog.woowar.com | 1/18/2012 1:25:33 PM

    Another few questions

    1. Will the plug-in still have access to Windows API calls from LotusScript as the normal client would?

    2. Will the printing capabilities of Notes be the same as the full client?

    3. Will roaming users be supported?

    4. Will Citrix be officially supported?

  1. 19  Andrew Brew  | 1/18/2012 5:44:06 PM

    Hi, Ed.

    Yet another question (I'm sure I won't be the last)

    Does the plugin support local nsf files? If so, does it support replication?

    And, just in case you are still wondering, IE has to be one of the first two browsers supported. Nobody uses it by choice, but in a corporate environment a lot of people use it : )

  1. 20  Ric Catania  | 1/19/2012 1:37:54 PM

    Does anyone have a link to the notes browser plugin demo video?

    It sounds promising. I would love to see it in action.

  1. 21  Ed Brill http://Www.edbrill.com | 1/19/2012 1:39:11 PM

    Just ack'ing 17-19, will have to get back to you....

  1. 22  Adrian Reason http://www.sunandson.com | 1/19/2012 6:39:15 PM

    The Business made Social Message is spot on - and the adoption rate through the Domino 8.5.3 entitlement should be RAPID (if not something is wrong in the messaging. The TD Bank Group reference is excellent for why Connections is needed by Companies now - It's pain driven - and the IBM solution works credibly on top of Sharepoint as well. For a clear message on what Connections is (and entitlements) this home page is excellent { Link } Connections should drive customers to finally clearly see Domino as a Collaborative platform - and should put Microsoft and Google on the back foot. Sun & Son will be extending the work we have been doing with the CIO office on the Notes data Modeler and Relational Data Bridge so that Social and Collaborative Xpage/Domino processes can be added to structured relational apps simply and easily - with absolute transparency at the Data Management level - so there are no barriers to what should be a New dawn for Notes developers - as part of this work we will integrate a New Notes JDBC driver that handles multi value fields on the fly.... Notes developers can get a Free developer copy of the Data Modeler by emailing RHS@sunandson.com

  1. 23  jfranchetti  | 1/20/2012 12:19:47 PM

    Besides IE support, it would be great if this integrated well with iNotes.

    Of course they both work through the browser, so in theory they do -- but providing an easy way for users to get to and consume apps through the iNotes interface would be a great gateway to the apps.

  1. 24  Paul Withers http://www.intec.co.uk/blog | 1/21/2012 9:01:06 AM

    The browser plugin is great news and, like many others, I think IE has to be used. Alas, Domino doesn't have a loud enough voice to make IT departments move off IE.

    I'm convinced Social Edition is going to be a game-changer. From the Show and Tell I went to, it's a little convoluted at the moment, but leverages many of the skills traditional Notes developers will be learning for XPages - HTML, JavaScript, CSS. I am convinced that when end users get their first experience of them, the benefits will make Notes mail cool and drive requests for developers to add them to existing and new applications.

  1. 25  John Head http://www.johndavidhead.com | 1/23/2012 2:18:39 PM

    for @17 and @18 - I asked IBM specifically about all of my LotusScript and COM code and would it work. The answer was "of course it will!" It looks like they are still registering notes and all of that stuff with the Windows Registry so that Notes can still be a Windows server; meaning it can consume COM and automate other applications. What they were not sure about was would you be able to call Notes via COM in Word, especially if both the plug-in and the Notes client were installed at the same time. So they are thinking about it and working to see what works.

  1. 26  Jay  | 1/23/2012 3:59:56 PM

    John@25. Thanks for the info. I asked a developer in the lab and he told me that everything will work like it is in the client, but I just want to have a firm confirmation. He said the beta will be available around March. I think if the add-on object can be grabbed from a COM, this thing will be HUGE. I don't think it conflicts with the LN client because they should be different objects (Notes.session, Notes.UIWorkspace, IENotes.something, FireFox.Notes.Something, etc).

  1. 27  Julian Woodward http://blog.woowar.com | 1/24/2012 10:23:15 AM

    Thanks John@25.

    Another set of question, which it may be too early to answer:

    (i) where will the local Notes data directory go?

    (ii) what control, if any, can be had over that?

    (iii) will the version of Notes that's installed under the covers be subject to all the same Policies as a normal client installation?

    Very much looking forward to the beta of this!

  1. 28  Patrick Kwinten  | 1/25/2012 2:35:40 AM

    Hello Ed, thank you and your collegues for the great #ls12! From the last 4 years I attended LS, this one was the most outstanding and inspiring.

    After reading some reviews on LS12 and on the forthcoming Notes Social Edition there is some confusion around it. I summarized it in this post:

    { Link }

    Will Connections be a requirement to run Notes Social Edition or not? If so, when will be clear what the pricing/licensing will be.

    I noticed you did not mention this in this post, maybe it has been cleared out in the commenting...

    KR Patrick

  1. 29  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 1/25/2012 3:58:44 PM

    @28 Connections is not a requirement to run Notes/Domino Social Edition. it's a feature release of Notes/Domino. Embedded experiences, OAuth, new Notes client features, etc -- all of that is just the new feature release.

    The one exception: To get Activity Stream in the home page, a Connections server is required for the technology. We haven't announced pricing/packaging.

  1. 30  Zoltan Szabo  | 1/26/2012 12:06:57 AM

    Hi,

    Great!

    But I think, IBM should have stop the development of new features for a while. Until some "minor" problems are fixed and improved. eg: clipboard issues, word processing features.....etc

    Microsoft attack us with these problems. Outlook is more integrated, pasted Ms Word texts are corrects, undo, format painter, Outlook is faster, etc. I can send You a documents with customers claims after a migration from Outlook to Notes. (for 4 months they are using Notes)

  1. 31  Wolfgang Fey  | 1/26/2012 2:00:28 AM

    Are there any Plans to Support DECS ?

  1. 32  Andreas Hiller  | 1/26/2012 5:30:04 AM

    Which Network Protocol is used by the Browser Plug-in?

    HTTP?

  1. 33  Jo Willems  | 1/27/2012 3:53:50 AM

    We certainly would also be interested in the plugin's beta.

    We have a Notes application framework that we would like to test, and we have at least on big client that would be interested.

    Any chance of getting a heads up when a possible beta takes off?

    TIA

    Jo.

  1. 34  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 1/27/2012 8:33:31 AM

    @32 NRPC. It's the Notes client.

    The beta will be part of the Social Edition beta... so if you are already a design partner or beta partner you'll get access to it. At this stage we do not plan an "open" beta but we'll take in more beta partners at the right time.

  1. 35  Pete  | 1/27/2012 9:00:08 AM

    Ed,

    Notes Application plugin in a browser will be great to see and all domino environments will benefit from its introduction. To think soon you we will have an extra way (more options) to access Notes Applications and be less reliant on full Notes client. It will be interesting to compare the look and feel of it to the Basic Notes Client

    Supporting IE and Firefox browsers is smart way to go as these are the 2 most common browsers used within Corporate world.

    Hoping this will be demonstrated and discussed at AUSLUG in March 2012 as well as Domino 8.5.4

    Keep up the great work

    Pete

  1. 36  Anil G  | 1/28/2012 10:08:00 PM

    Ed,

    This is great post but i do have a question over Notes/domino roadmap. Currently, IBM is pushing for IBM connections than Notes/domino so want to check if IBM has roadmap over Notes/domino or its going to connections way?

  1. 37  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 1/29/2012 7:28:36 AM

    The two products are quite separate though integrated. The Notes/Domino Social Edition is the next release. View my presentation for information on our roadmap and plans for subsequent feature releases for Notes/Domino.

  1. 38  Bernd Gewehr http://www.voessing.de | 2/1/2012 5:33:09 AM

    Glad to see our IBM Lotus strategy proofed for UC and social enterprise.

    Will there be any considerations/small business packs/help for companies below 1000 employees?

    We always managed to handle domino well and with high availability and convenience for 500+ users.

    We actually try to get sametime to work for one year but we can hardly handle the server side complexity. Now scale this by 5 for all other server side installations and we are out of the game due to work capacity budget limits.

    Any hits on that?

    btw: how to become beta tester - can't wait to get hand on!

  1. 39  Sharon Bellamy  http://www.applicable.com | 2/8/2012 3:40:59 AM

    So many customers interested in this - would love to be on the beta, especially as these customers are also interested in the other aspects of social now (connections entitlements) - what do we need to do to register interest in the beta ?

  1. 40  Arjan Vermeulen http://arjanvermeulen.nl | 4/23/2012 7:21:46 AM

    Hi Ed,

    I installed CD3 but cannot find the new homepage anywhere. Am I looking in the wrong place or is the homepage not available yest in this CD?

    Best regards,

    Arjan Vermeulen

  1. 41  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 4/26/2012 10:11:53 AM

    It would be best to post your feedback in the beta or design partner forum.

  1. 42  Ranjit  | 11/6/2012 8:13:42 AM

    Hi Ed,

    Brilliant move by IBM to take LN to browser based stuff. Microsoft was capitalizing on this by selling SharePoint as the replacement to LN. But we all know, its not what it seems. If everything done to work on LN client works exactly the same way in a browser without even changing a line of code, I believe, IBM LN is back in business.

  1. 43  Sz.Zoltan  | 11/14/2012 4:59:11 AM

    Hi Ed,

    Regarding to LN platforms: not only enterprise platforms should be considerd, but You have to analyze what kind of devices are used by !!!decision makers!!! (CEO, CIO, CFO...). My experiences shows, that sometimes thos people forcing IT to give them the latest gadgets: mac, ipad, android tablets, phones, Win8, IE10+...etc. So, if we say we are not supporting your cool new gadgets, we will be in handycap. Also admins and developers like Linux platform, and they are also part of decision making.

    Good Luck!

    Z

  1. 44  Betcha  | 11/20/2012 2:19:36 PM

    Hi Ed,

    I am proud to say I was one of the 2000 people who attended the webcast given on November 13 2012 where IBM announced a plan for a public beta of IBM Notes/Domino 9.0 Social Edition or as I call it - souped up version of 8.5.4).

    Version clarification posted here:

    { Link }

    Question on the Notes browser plug-in. I understand it will be offered as a separate package. Will that package cost anything or will it be downloadable and installed at no cost?

  1. 45  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 11/20/2012 7:30:55 PM

    Hi Eric,

    It will be installable separately from a Notes client, but it isn't a separate product. We plan to include the right to use the browser plug-in in the Domino Enterprise Client Access license and the Domino Collaboration Express license.