Mary Beth Raven: No surprises

January 9 2007

Mary Beth Raven updates on expectations for Lotusphere:

I do want to let you all know that, to my knowledge, there are no plans to distribute CDs for a public beta at Lotusphere.
I do not want folks being disappointed.
IBM hasn't said we'd have one available at Lotusphere.
You will, however, be able to see and use a recent build of Hannover  in the Meet the Developer lab, in our User experience lab, and elsewhere.
Public beta for Notes/Domino 8 is planned for later this quarter, but as Mary Beth indicates, isn't going to be ready at Lotusphere.  I agree, better that you know now...

Ed Brill | Highland Park, IL USA Category:  Lotusphere2007  Add/View Comments [15]

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  1. 1  Randy Smith  | 1/9/2007 3:24:46 PM

    So how large of a flash drive should we bring to download the "recent build of Hannover" from the Meet the Developer lab workstations? :-)

  1. 2  Dave Madison  | 1/9/2007 6:50:16 PM

    With a public beta due for "later this quarter", are you still on track for "first half" of 2007? Would seem like a rather quick turn around from beta to release, then.

    { Link }

  1. 3  Pete Wilson  | 1/9/2007 7:19:11 PM

    I'd rather wait if it would mean a better workspace design...

  1. 4  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 1/9/2007 7:53:17 PM

    @2 Dave -- we went to beta months ago. There are already thousands of IBMers running Notes 8. Design partners have had the code for months longer than beta. So yes, we are still on track for first half of 2007.

    With some of your comments of late, I could swear again that you are that Dave Madison who was on Microsoft's competitive team. But that guy went to Foldera, and I'm sure he'd acknowledge that if making comments here, since Foldera doesn't have a dog in this hunt.

  1. 5  Keith Brooks http://kbmsg.blogspot.com | 1/9/2007 9:52:14 PM

    Bummer, even if we fill in the conference review forms we can't get it?

    :-)

  1. 6  Deleted  | 1/10/2007 12:25:14 AM

    Deleted - no anonymous comments allowed, please use a valid e-mail address.

  1. 7  Henning Heinz  | 1/10/2007 4:14:15 AM

    Why is something that has been in use for quite some time at selected Partners and IBM not ready for a first Beta? I would not be surprised if what you test now already works better than the first R5 (final) release. I agree that it is better to say it now but I would really like to have an explanation about the reasons why IBM is so shy in this case.

  1. 8  Roberto Boccadoro  | 1/10/2007 5:20:43 AM

    @6 - How can you say "Has anyone seen how Hannover simplicity is turning into a mish-mash complicated mess?". Did you see Hannover some time ago and then now in order to be able to compare ? Guess no, so your comments are pretty useless. And, take it from someone who is using it since 8 months now, Notes 8 is NOT getting a mess, the opposite.

    RoB

  1. 9  Nathan T. Freeman http://www.openntf.org/nathan/escape.nsf | 1/10/2007 6:49:52 AM

    @7 - Because the nature of the undertaking (wrapping the Notes client in Eclipse) is largely untried in the industry. It's not terribly difficult to do in the abstract, but the devil, as always, is in the details, and IBM wants to make sure it gets those right.

    It's a better product than R5.0.0 right now, I'll agree, but that's not the metric by which to judge. The single major purpose for the release from an end-user perspective is a quantum leap in the user experience, and that is a very ambitious goal requiring enormous attention to detail. IBM shouldn't rush things.

    Heck, it's not like the competition is shipping innovative product at a staggering rate. :-/

  1. 10  Ben Poole http://benpoole.com | 1/10/2007 7:23:28 AM

    @6: that's an extraordinarily harsh assessment based on the information that is currently available about Notes 8.

  1. 11  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 1/10/2007 7:50:18 AM

    @10 which is presumably why they gave an invalid e-mail address. I've deleted the comment.

  1. 12  Dave Madison  | 1/10/2007 9:20:14 AM

    Thanks, Ed. I was unaware you were in private beta.

  1. 13  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 1/10/2007 9:45:43 AM

    Private beta for last two months: { Link }

  1. 14  Henning Heinz  | 1/10/2007 10:59:54 AM

    Nathan,

    I understand, but we are talking about a Beta. Nothing that I immediately install at a users desk. If the final arrives in less than 6 months there is only little time for preparation.

    By the way you already have a beta ;-)

  1. 15  Nathan T. Freeman http://www.openntf.org/nathan/escape.nsf | 1/10/2007 8:58:33 PM

    @14 - It's not like public betas are even the norm in the industry. They happen with few products, and when they do, it's unusual that they yield information that private betas don't. Microsoft had, what, a YEAR of closed-door betas before they started doing a "pay a little bit" scheme?

    Look, Notes 8 has some very cool stuff. IBM is trying to make it cooler. Let them. In 11 days, you'll get to click on a pre-release -- you just can't take it home. If they rushed it to market, you'd just complain that it was "worse than R5.0" anyway.

    Good, fast or cheap. Would you rather they tripled the price or something?