Lotus Knows there will be a lot of press and blog coverage of the Notes/Domino 8.5.1 announcement on Tuesday, October 6... this blog entry will track it all.
USA Today, Technology Live: IBM makes iPhone more attractive to businesses:
Tech industry analyst Michael Osterman, president of Osterman Research, says the folks at Apple should be popping champagne. "This could be a major boon for Apple by making the iPhone that much more attractive to corporate IT departments," he says.
Conversely, Microsoft is probably less than charmed. The software giant would like nothing better than for all of its corporate customers to exclusively use Windows Mobile smartphones securely hooked into Windows, Office and Outlook Exchange. "This could definitely hurt the Windows Mobile strategy," says Osterman.
Network World: Lotus simplifies client licensing; makes Designer free:
IBM officials say giving away Designer was a major step toward expanding development on the Domino platform. The tool was originally built into the Notes client in its very earliest releases. The tool eventually became a separate offering that carried a price tag of $864.
"When we started to sell to IT more, when Lotus was bought by IBM, we put the Designer into a separate product and it took it out of the hands of the power users, the people who are in the line-of-business and really sort of isolated Notes application development to this specialized universe," says Ed Brill, director of product management for Lotus Software. "What we are really trying to do by giving it away free is democratizing it again and getting it out into the hands of everybody."
InternetNews: IBM brings collaborative Notes to iPhone:
IBM on Tuesday announced the release of a new version of its flagship Lotus Notes collaboration software that supports the iPhone's built-in e-mail client software and lets users incorporate their Notes contacts and calendar with other iPhone applications.
IBM (NYSE: IBM) already provides support for the full spectrum of mobile devices including RIM's BlackBerry, Nokia's Symbian and a variety of Windows mobile devices. It said Lotus Domino 8.5.1 is the first version of the software to natively support the iPhone via Lotus Notes Traveler software. ... IBM officials point out that thousands of companies worldwide rely on the 10 million Lotus Notes and Domino applications used for sales projections, compliance, project management and travel approvals.
To ensure enterprise customers continue to renew their e-mail, productivity and collaboration licenses, Big Blue said Tuesday it will now begin giving away its Domino Designer software tools for free.
Network World: Native iPhone support ready for Lotus Domino:
"It has rich email, attachment support and calendaring capability and is the same user experience a user would get using the iPhone against Exchange or Google," said Ed Brill, director of product management for Lotus Software. "Clearly the iPhone is increasingly a component of an enterprise strategy. We want to support all the devices out there and this is the next one we have added."
MacNewsWorld: How High - or Long - Can AAPL Fly?
Big Blue's support could be a major boost for the iPhone. It further legitimizes the use of the device for enterprise mobile communications -- previously, iPhones have often been sneaked in through the back door when high-level executives insisted on using them as their corporate communications devices.
PC World: Lotus Domino Adds Native IPhone Support:
With the addition of native support for the iPhone, Domino and Notes are supported on the vast majority of the world's smartphones, IBM said. The software already works with the Microsoft Windows Mobile, Research In Motion BlackBerry, and Nokia Symbian platforms. On Tuesday, IBM also added features for Symbian, including the ability to lock a device, wipe data remotely, manage passwords and integrate with external calendars. Those features are already available for Windows Mobile, the company said.
With Domino 8.5.1, IBM also is making Domino Designer application development software available free of charge. Software developers will be able to download Domino Designer free from IBM's developerWorks site to build and extend Notes and Domino applications.
The Register: IBM adds iPhone support to Lotus Domino:
IBM hopes adding support for the very popular iPhone will make its Lotus suite more appealing to enterprises. And to that tune, the company has also decided to cut away its client licensing options from 11 to just two based on function rather than client type.
As part of 8.5.1, IBM will offer two client options; the messaging server license, which allows access to Domino email calendar and scheduling for $100 per user; and the enterprise server license, which adds support for custom intranet and web applications for $160 per user.
IBM's Domino Designer development tool will also now be offered gratis to spur more development on the platform.
(Updated: 6:55 PM / 6 October 2009)
Post a Comment
- 2
John Foldager http://www.izone.dk | 10/6/2009 2:04:43 AM
@1 As of the newly created thread { Link } it goes eGA on 12th October :o)
@Ed... This is truly great news. Now we just need a 'community edition server' (free server, no limit in registered users etc.) to compete with all the free alternatives around. Domino server and licenses are still too highly priced for web applications.
- 3
Henning Heinz | 10/6/2009 3:03:18 AM
I am always a bit sceptical when a software product is free (as in beer) because the developers who build the software are not. But I see the positive side that free also means a lower entry barrier for new developers, buzz in the media and one license to care about less for companies and at least the ability to install Designer on every desktop again. I second John's comment about the server side although I would be satisfied if it is positioned against Windows Web Edition.
Now that I have said what could be better (imho) This can be a boost for Domino application development.
- 4
Olivier Franchet http://www.dominux.net | 10/6/2009 5:30:42 AM
@2 I agree ... just need a 'community edition server'. Maybe annonced lately today ;-)
- 6
Denny Russell http://www.lotusdr.com | 10/6/2009 6:45:26 AM
Ed, Congrats to you and the team. Can't wait to get this live and rolled out to my users.
- 7
Tripp Black http://www.mindwatering.com | 10/6/2009 6:57:52 AM
@2, @4, @5, Express users already have a "free community server". They don't pay for a server license, just the user CALs.
Most small biz' don't partition. A few would like to cluster. The limitation for a small biz running on Express is that the licensing doesn't allow DA. Even small businesses want to do DA for a second (or third) directory for their internal AD (for authentication) or customers (CRM - for addressing only).
Personally, with the exception above, I think this is more a problem of awareness.
Having the Designer free is a great thing! It will open up the space for new developers as it will cause a bunch of people to download it just to try it.
The Designer on more workstations may cause some implementation issues. The Designer and Admin don't support the Documents & Settings folder in 8.5. It limits SSO and Roaming w/Windows particularly if you have to switch IDs -- most of us do to use our developer/test IDs. I personally see more crashing on workstations with the 8.5.0 (er 1.0) Designer. With the large number of fixes/improvements in 8.5.1, it will be interesting to see.
As a shop with iPhone users, we are happy to see this client supported the rest-of-the-way. Will the new 8.5.1 Traveler software allow/support installation on Linux rather than just Windows?
Thanks!
- 9
Jen | 10/6/2009 7:59:41 AM
Ed, The requirements state Windows XP SP3 for 8.5.1. Is that true or an oversight?
I know that that was listed as a requirement for earlier 8.x versions and then later changed to allow for XP SP2.
I dont want to have to wait on the desktop guys to roll out a Service Pack to deploy 8.5.1 so Im crossing fingers here....
- 10
John Foldager http://www.izone.dk | 10/6/2009 8:07:52 AM
@7 I agree that the Express offerings could be used in some cases.
However, if a small (I'm talking 1-25 employees) company want's to have Domino as their infrastructure and have their employees registered in the Domino Directory, then they can't create a website where other people can register (username and password) without either buy a single license for each user comming in or buying a seperate Utility Server where the external users are registered directly in the Domino Directory as they are not allowed (as I'm told today) to put these users in a Directory Assistance database.
It's hard to sell the concept to small businesses because the initial investment is too big, meaning that they tend to buy fx. an external webshop which have no integration to their infrastructure. They might see that Domino would have been the way to go at first, when the show is running... but then they don't wan't to use money and resources to get it all back into Domino.
- 11
John Foldager http://www.izone.dk | 10/6/2009 8:09:35 AM
@8 Sounds great... hoping Linux will be prioritized A LOT more in the future as it's easier to sell to IBM "i" customers etc.
- 12
Henning Heinz | 10/6/2009 10:35:00 AM
@7 Express users already have a "free community server". They don't pay for a server license, just the user CALs.
Well, I often read this and I am always sad to report that this from my point of view this is not the whole story.
Anonymous access for Domino Collaboration Express is NOT allowed without a Domino Utility Express Server license. You get a free community server as long as you buy an Express license for EVERY community member (that makes it a good fit for Intranet use) or buy an additional Utility Server Express license. Of course this does not only provide anonymous but also authenticated access. To make it even more complicated there is a general assumption that a Foundations license DOES include Anonymous HTTP access. In theory a Collaboration Express license with the free Designer should at least provide you with everything that is needed for internal development. If I would be allowed to make a suggestion. There should be an option for anonymous http access for Express. It does not need to be free but the ability to make a companies homepage with Domino would be nice. If you need authenticated access then Utility Server Express is a good option.
Licensing is a complicated issue.
- 13
Tripp Black http://www.mindwatering.com | 10/6/2009 2:47:15 PM
@10 & @12
Exactly, it's the additional user authentication needed via a second directory that hurts. Otherwise, it would be a killer option. I had forgotten about the stupid Anonymous rule.
I get hit with the secondary Directory issue before the anonymous one, so it's the "other" authenticated users that usually bites first.
It's not that IBM Lotus doesn't have the available "community server", it's just too limited.
- 14
Henning Heinz | 10/6/2009 3:59:23 PM
Well I am not sure in this case but I think the Utility Server allows you to use Directory Assistance for Authentication. But I could be totally wrong.
Have I mentioned that Licensing is a complicated issue?
But hey. It seems I am not that bad in this area.
Great stuff!
Any news on the date this will be available for download on PartnerWorld, or is it 12th Oct too?
Also, detail question: Does the final version support meeting invites on the iPhone through Traveler?