Lotus Notes tuned for Linux

IBM plans to unveil on Monday a version of its Lotus Notes desktop collaboration software for Linux.

Lotus Notes on Linux 7.0.1, which will be generally available July 24, is based on the Eclipse open-source framework. That technology will also be used in the next update to Lotus Notes, code-named Hannover, which is expected to ship next year.

"Lotus Notes on Linux was going to come out at the same time as Hannover, but we decided to roll it out earlier. There is a lot of market demand now from our customers, especially in Germany, India, China and Brazil," said Ed Brill, head of IBM's worldwide Lotus Notes sales.

The new desktop software, tailored to the Linux open-source operating system, is designed to help corporations that choose not to use proprietary operating systems such as Microsoft Windows or Mac OS. And once the Hannover version is released, the software will be able to function as a soup-to-nuts productivity tool, IBM said.

Lotus Notes users who use a Windows or Macintosh system will be allowed to swap to a Linux version free of charge, Brill noted. New Lotus Notes licensees will pay the same rate as Windows or Macintosh customers, he added.

[rklrkl]

OK, why did this take so long to get ported?

IBM put their weight behind the Linux platform several years ago, which begs the question why their most well-known software product (apparently has 125m users if the previous C|Net article linked to is to be believed) took so long to get ported to Linux!

Yes, they could claim that they needed the Eclipse platform first, but the fact that they have had a Mac version out for years nullifies that. At least it's one less major software product that's missing from Linux - isn't it time for Adobe to step up to the plate now and offer its tools natively for Linux? Apart from the obvious exception of Microsoft, it seems that Adobe is the the last major hold-out that refuses to release native Linux versions of its software (heck, even something small like Flash Player is now lagging two major releases behind!).

[ikenna4u]

frustrating

Frustrating: You go to click the video and get the reply: "You need flash 8 installed to view this". Why oh, why, will Adobe not release flash 8 or 9 for Linux? How many years will it take them?

[rklrkl]

OK, why did this take so long to get ported?

IBM put their weight behind the Linux platform several years ago, which begs the question why their most well-known software product (apparently has 125m users if the previous C|Net article linked to is to be believed) took so long to get ported to Linux!

Yes, they could claim that they needed the Eclipse platform first, but the fact that they have had a Mac version out for years nullifies that. At least it's one less major software product that's missing from Linux - isn't it time for Adobe to step up to the plate now and offer its tools natively for Linux? Apart from the obvious exception of Microsoft, it seems that Adobe is the the last major hold-out that refuses to release native Linux versions of its software (heck, even something small like Flash Player is now lagging two major releases behind!).

[ikenna4u]

frustrating

Frustrating: You go to click the video and get the reply: "You need flash 8 installed to view this". Why oh, why, will Adobe not release flash 8 or 9 for Linux? How many years will it take them?

[facerw]

It's been done

The server version of Notes was done way back in 2000. I know because I was one of those who deployed it due to delays when it had a native Win2000 server version.

I do ask why did it take over six years to get a client version? I know that in the past they had a version which was done with the WINE emulator but that wasn't good.

It's about time IBM gets Notes in the game on Linux desktop. Now I have a challenge for IBM. Release Lotus 1-2-3 into open source.

[facerw]

It's been done

The server version of Notes was done way back in 2000. I know because I was one of those who deployed it due to delays when it had a native Win2000 server version.

I do ask why did it take over six years to get a client version? I know that in the past they had a version which was done with the WINE emulator but that wasn't good.

It's about time IBM gets Notes in the game on Linux desktop. Now I have a challenge for IBM. Release Lotus 1-2-3 into open source.

[RavingEniac]

Why don't searches turn up my posts?

I posted something about a week ago and went looking for it to see if there had been any follow-up remarks, and couldn't find that post or others that I've made. So I wrote to an editor and asked a couple of days ago, and still haven't learned why a search doesn't turn up my posts.

So I'm putting this criticism on here in the hope that a junior editor will see it and ask why my posts using the "Spazzman" nickname aren't showing up in site searches.

You might want to see if your posts show up when you do a search for your nickname too.

[RavingEniac]

Why don't searches turn up my posts?

I posted something about a week ago and went looking for it to see if there had been any follow-up remarks, and couldn't find that post or others that I've made. So I wrote to an editor and asked a couple of days ago, and still haven't learned why a search doesn't turn up my posts.

So I'm putting this criticism on here in the hope that a junior editor will see it and ask why my posts using the "Spazzman" nickname aren't showing up in site searches.

You might want to see if your posts show up when you do a search for your nickname too.