IBM backs OpenDocument in Lotus Notes

IBM has announced an upgrade to Lotus Notes that will include access to office productivity applications and support for the OpenDocument format.

The new version of Lotus Notes, codenamed "Hannover," will feature IBM Workplace applications for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations and numeric data analysis. These "office productivity editors," as IBM refers to them, all support OpenDocument Format (ODF) files.

ODF is an XML-based file format that is independent from the particular software application in which it is created and used. ODF files can be imported and exported between any applications that support it, allowing entities using different software applications to work on the same document.

Lotus Notes users will be able to natively create, open, edit and save in ODF.

A public beta version of the Lotus Notes upgrade could be available this fall. IBM is also creating new interfaces for the e-mail and contacts applications. The new version will support earlier content, an IBM representative said.

IBM made the announcement this morning at the Deutsche Notes User Group conference in Karlsruhe, Germany.

"With the Hannover release, we are incorporating the Workplace client technology," Arthur Fontaine, senior product manager for Workplace, told CNET News.com. "(Lotus Notes) will inherit the server management cross-platform capability of the Eclipse-rich client platform, which allows users to run Linux, as well as Windows, and Mac to follow shortly."

In other words, the Lotus Notes upgrade also includes a change in the way it can be run on servers. Workplace currently allows desktop clients to be managed from the server through a browser, and its productivity editors to be deployed on-demand, or based on a customized hierarchy of users. The Hannover version of Lotus Notes will also be able to be operated in this way.

IBM had previously supported ODF in its Workplace software, joining a growing movement to support an integrated file format that frees companies from having to use Microsoft Office documents.

In early May, the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) approved ODF as an international standard.

Microsoft has said it will not include support for ODF in Office 2007, citing an insufficient demand and limited capability compared to its own format.

However, a group of programmers recently announced that they had designed an ODF plug-in that would allows MS Office users to use ODF files as if they were native to Office.

According to IBM, there are more than 125 million users of Lotus Notes.

[Captain_Spock]

This Is Quite An Interesting....

... news article as it states; "The new version of Lotus Notes, codenamed "Hannover," will feature IBM Workplace applications for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations and numeric data analysis. These "office productivity editors," as IBM refers to them, all support OpenDocument Format (ODF) files.

ODF is an XML-based file format that is independent from the particular software application in which it is created and used. ODF files can be imported and exported between any applications that support it, allowing entities using different software applications to work on the same document.

Lotus Notes users will be able to natively create, open, edit and save in ODF (without being locked in)......."; also, "According to IBM, there are over 125 million users of Lotus Notes (and counting) some company operating out of "REDMOND" (which is reported to be in control of 90% plus world market share must be starting to look into its "rear view mirror" which in times gone by was not characteristic of this company in the Productivity Office Suite market place having previously shown its "competitors" the better parts of its exhaust systems from great distances!

[Captain_Spock]

Has History Repeated Itself!

In announcing "an upgrade to Lotus Notes that will include access to office productivity applications and support for the OpenDocument format" it appears that IBM has in essence taken a step "forward" in history in that it was already in the forefront of "OpenDoc" Applications Development when it was involved in the development of "OpenDoc in Warp 4.0" as it states in below attached article that "In the past, applications such as WordPerfect and Lotus 1-2-3 tried to be do-all be-all monoliths of immense size and complexity. WordPerfect had its own spreadsheet features, 1-2-3 had its own word-processing features, both tried to be desktop publishers and databases too. Each had their own spellchecking modules, drawing modules, add-ons, plug-ins and so on.

But if you wanted the spreadsheet power of 1-2-3 in your WordPerfect documents, or the word processing power of WordPerfect in your 1-2-3 documents, you either had to make do without or mess around with a lot of cutting and pasting, importing and other awkward methods that never actually gave you the results you wanted. Plus, when switching from one application to another you had to relearn a whole new set of commands just to do the same thing. The keystrokes for moving back and forth through text were different in both programs, not to mention the rest of the user interface.

OpenDoc was invented to solve this and quite a few other problems. OpenDoc is a way of building compound documents with collections of small, portable components called Parts. These parts reside in Containers, and you can put any type of part into any kind of container. Learn only one text-editing part and you can put it into any document container you please. The same goes for spreadsheet parts, or graphics parts, spellchecking parts and so on...."; thus, it can be seen that the concepts of building compound documents with collections of small, portable components called Parts and that These parts reside in Containers are nothing new; if there is anything, it will be even more interesting and sxciting if a group of folks around the world would undertake to port (natively perhaps) the new version of Lotus Notes, codenamed "Hannover," along with "IBM Workplace applications for word processing, spreadsheets, presentations and numeric data analysis" to the IBM's OS/2 WARP Operating Systems... this might certainly give "Windows" and "Linux" users a run for their money!
ATMs yesterday and today - the Desktops, Servers (re-captured) and the "WEB" tomorrow (the future) for/by OS/2 Warp!

[Captain_Spock]

OpenDoc in Warp 4.0!

Wow!

Read this!

"OS/2 Warp 4.0 (codename "Merlin") was released in August, 1996. It's new features included a "beautified" GUI; the new graphical icons and "widgets" were designed by an ex-Apple programmer. The beauty was much more than skin deep, however. Also included were OpenGL support, OpenDoc support, and a full Java Development Kit, which included a Java Virtual Machine, which allows Java applications to be run independent of a browser. For high-end systems, the included VoiceType Dictation system allowed users to navigate their computer and dictate text to their computer without ever touching a keyboard or mouse. Microsoft is just now planning to follow in this path.

<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.os2bbs.com/os2news/OS2Warp.html" target="_newWindow">http://www.os2bbs.com/os2news/OS2Warp.html</a>

OpenDoc in Warp 4.0!

<a class="jive-link-external" href="http://www.os2ezine.com/v1n13/opendoc.htm" target="_newWindow">http://www.os2ezine.com/v1n13/opendoc.htm</a>