Lotus Preaches 'Rich Client' Religion, Continuity For Domino Apps

The goal for Domino 7 and 8 over the next few years is to provide full "rich" client access to applications whether the user is connected or disconnected from the Web, Lotus Software General Manager Ambuj Goyal told CRN Wednesday afternoon. This rich client will be based on open-source Eclipse code and will offer users and developers great flexibility, said Larry Bowden, vice president of portals and Lotus products for IBM Software.

Domino 7.0 is due in the fourth quarter of 2004 and promises DB2 support, enhanced portlet support, and integration with Lotus' other Workplace offerings. A key design goal is to provide support for disconnected mail. That means users can manage their mail, folders etc. offline, and ensure rapid synchronization when they're reconnected. That builds on Notes/Domino's heritage. Domino 8.0 will bring the same disconnected support for applications.

The continued existence of Domino, even as its underpinnings shift from proprietary code to a standards-based J2EE foundation, is no small matter. Lotus estimates there are more than 100 million Domino/Notes customers, many with custom applications running atop the venerable Notes Storage Facility (NSF). The company's plan to eventually swap that out for a relational mail store and J2EE foundations caused a firestorm at Lotusphere two years ago. (See story.) Since that time the company has scrambled to reassure partners and customers that their investments will be preserved.

Key to the strategy is Lotus' planned and as-yet-unnamed rich client platform (RCP) that would enable browser-like ease of navigation plus the ability to run plug-ins to provide specific functionality as needed, Goyal said. With Notes/Domino 8.0 developers can plug in a new features while continuing to run older custom applications "in context," according to Bowden.

id
unit-1659132512259
type
Sponsored post

Lotus/IBM isn't alone in this newfound "rich client" religion. A big part of Microsoft's Longhorn thrust is to persuade ISVs to develop full and rich front-end applications as opposed to thin-client browser front ends. In some ways, Microsoft's move is back to the future. Before the Internet boom and it's own well publicized Web about-face, Microsoft was pushing Office as the user's de facto window on all relevant data. One could argue that no client is fatter than Microsoft Office, then or now.

Shorter term for Lotus, the company plans a Domino 6.5.1 update in the second quarter of next year that will integrate instant messaging, Team Workplace and Domino document management, the company said. WebSphere Portal 5.1 is due in the third quarter and Workplace 2.5 with better support for disconnected clients and more mobile devices is due in the fourth quarter.

Earlier Wednesday, Lotus execs treated a few hundred customers and reporters to a glimpse of the roadmap and previewed updated Workplace Messaging features that will be available Nov. 24. Where there had been one Workplace 1.0 SKU, for messaging, there are now four, including Workplace Messaging 1.1, with new personal calendaring capabilities; Workplace Team Collaboration 1.1 including instant messaging and team workrooms; and Workplace Collaborative Learning 1.1. The fourth offering, Workplace Web Content Management 1.1, lets users easily create, publish and manage web-based content. The technology builds on IBM's acquisition earlier this year of Aptrix.

Some IBM partners were bullish on the overall Domino/Workplace amalgam. "These offerings bring together a number of features and functions atop the DB2 and WebSphere foundation," said Blair Hankins, CTO of Ascendent Technologies, an Austin, Texas, IBM ISV partner.

Others were taken aback to hear these long-range plans. "I was surprised about how far out they're talking. We're on [Domino] 5.0.4 now and debating whether to go to 6 or 6.5," said Pablo Martinez, a Domino application developer for Tufts Health Plan, Waltham, Mass. Maybe it makes more sense to keep waiting, he noted.

Martinez' colleague, Notes administrator Jason Trabucco, liked the workplace scenario that would enable incremental feature additions over time. Right now, many users think Domino with mail, collaboration, and applications, "is too much for them," he said. This strategy would let people pick and choose what functions they implement.