Ed Brill moderated a panel comprised of Lotus customers and ISVs who were involved in the ND8 beta program. I learned that getting involved in the program requires more than being a loyal customer with a large installed user base. The nomination process for customers if a very rigorous process, starting with a nomination from your Lotus representative and then being approved only if your environment is different from other customers involved in the program. For ISVs, Lotus chooses those companies who will be able to bring products to market very soon after the gold code is released.

Of the comments I found insightful:

• DST Systems has a Lotus Notes user committee that were included in the beta first. I like this approach because it distributes ownership of the product to users outside of IT who can relate the challenges they face on a daily basis.
• ND8 looks and works exactly the same on a Linux desktop as a Windows desktop. This will spur an investigation of how many Windows desktops can be replaced by Linux desktops in the future.
• Everything that was compelling about Notes when it was first introduced is there. The impact of the new ND8 UI will be huge.
• R5 and V6 apps run perfectly in ND8 with no changes.
• Activities will be a great productivity tool. Each Activity is like a bubble that users can include To Dos, URLs, documents, etc. that will grow larger over time.
• Activity Explorer won't work locally in the initial release of ND8.
• ND8 can be delivered via Novell Zenworks.
• There is a basic version of ND8 that is not Eclipse based. This version is intended for users who need to be upgraded to the new release, but don't meet the hardware requirements. Naturally, not all of the ND8 client features work in this slimmed-down version of the product, which can be thought of as ND7+.
• The "Do you really want to send the attachment" prompt was a favorite feature, which should dramatically reduce the number of attachments sent in an organization.
• You can delete an entire e-mail thread in one step.
• The components you can include in ND8 can originate from any source, including proprietary applications, open source applications, etc.
• The Toolbar has been moved to underneath the tabs, and will not display all buttons every time. Instead, it will only display the buttons relevant at that moment.
• BES works fine with ND8, provided you're on the most current release of BES.
• The MS Office viewers included with the product will make it possible to reduce the number of MS Offices licenses in the organization.
• The Properties box is available within all documents opened by a viewer, just like in Smartsuite.
• You can limit the right-click options available for a message in your mail file.

In all, a very insightful session.

Lotusphere2007

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