Lotus Pledges Mac OS X Support In rNext

The beta software of the Notes client will be available within a month, said Ed Brill, senior manager of enterprise messaging for Lotus Software, Cambridge, Mass. The news was disclosed at Macworld Expo here.

The rNext client "will support OSX natively with a fully 'carbonized' version," he noted. Carbonized is the term Apple Computer uses to characterize applications that take full advantage of the OS X operating system.

Lotus will offer client support for Windows 98, 2000, NT and XP as well as Mac OSX and perhaps Mac OS 9, he noted.

Lotus surveyed its customers and found strong interest in Mac OS X, Brill noted.

"We support [Mac OS 8 and 9 but in classic or emulation mode," he noted.

Rnext, which focuses on performance and total cost of ownership, is in its fourth major public beta release and is expected to ship this year.