Notes client on Snow Leopard and Windows 7

November 13 2009

There have been many questions since the release of Notes 8.5.1 about plans to support Notes on Apple's Snow Leopard operating system as well as Windows 7.  We've had a technote published on the topic but it was non-specific until yesterday.  Technote 1385293 now says:

Windows 7, Snow Leopard (on Mac OS X 10.6.2), and Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5.4 Desktop certification testing is currently underway targeting support for Notes 8.5.1 Fix Pack 1 in January 2010. As part of this release, Notes 32-bit will be supported on Windows 7 64-bit.
The reality is that, from reports from our public forums, design partners, and beta testers, all of these OSs seem to work just fine with Notes 8.5.1 now.  There was an issue with Snow Leopard and some graphical rendering, but Apple fixed those issues in the 10.6.2 update that appeared earlier this week.  Now all appears to be running along well.

The technote refers to official testing and thus, support of these operating systems.  That full-pass testing cycle is underway now.  Honestly, we don't know at this point whether the fixpack will be needed for support for these operating systems, but we want to set expectations this way in case one is in fact needed.  

I have also been asked a few times whether earlier releases of Notes will be supported on these new operating systems, especially Windows 7.  It has been our very-long-standing policy to support new operating systems with the latest versions of the Notes client.  Thus, no plans to go back and support Notes 7 on Windows 7 or Notes 8.0.x on Windows 7 (remember that 8.5.1 is the next maintenance release for both 8.0.2 and 8.5 customers, so it makes sense that 8.5.1 would be the supported version).

One cool bonus is that we are testing Notes 8.5.1 on the 64-bit version of Windows 7 -- marking the first time we will support a 64-bit version of Windows.  The Notes client itself is still 32-bit, but runs on the 64-bit or 32-bit versions of the OS.

I don't have a dog in this hunt, but it seems apropos to include the latest ad for the Mac as a conclusion on this post...this one is really fun...


Ed Brill Highland Park, IL USA Category:  notesdomino lotusnotes 8.5 lotus  Add/View Comments [36]

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  1. 1  Aaron Cohen  | 11/13/2009 4:16:30 PM

    I have been running Lotus 8.5.1 on Snow Leopard and Windows 7 without any problems

  1. 2  Peter Meuser  | 11/13/2009 4:19:03 PM

    Now, after the basic questions about Notes 8.5.1 on Windows 7 and Snow Leopard are "solved", maybe IBM is moving forward to the more serious question: How well does it run on 64-Bit Windows Server 2008 and Citrix XenApp 5?

    Although this should be a supported (and for enterprises willing to introduce the standard client important) environment, a lot of reports and unresolved PMRs point to stability problems which exclude an deployment in production right now.

    By the way: There are still a lot of limitations of the MacOS client in typical Notes shops with a lot of Notes based applications. Of course the basic applications like mail and scheduling provided by IBM look now ok, but this does not apply to most of third party and inhouse build applications: Windows as home of Domino Designer is still the source of shabby page layouts and lotusscript errors on the MacOS side (caused by missing LSXs and file system path differences). It will still take some time until there will be really a free platform choice for Notes. VMWare Fusion and co should only be a temporary solution ...

  1. 3  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 11/13/2009 4:20:21 PM

    @2 I have my team looking into your PMR question about Windows 2008 / Citrix XenApp.

  1. 4  Scott Vrusho  | 11/13/2009 4:24:13 PM

    @1 Apple's 10.6.2 update fixes most of the issues you would see with Notes 8.5.1. We have a handful that need code fixes from our end that will be in 8.5.1 Fix Pack 1. Minor default alignment weirdness in calendar date entries at the document level as an example of one we are correcting.

  1. 5  Peter Meuser  | 11/13/2009 5:12:27 PM

    Ed, what I would like to know: So far I get to know only others who run into exactly the same Citrix issues. Is there already a customer who runs 8.5.1/XenApp5 successfully? Maybe it's too early after only one month of availability?

  1. 6  Peter Meuser  | 11/13/2009 5:28:38 PM

    Hopefully you mean "the 64-bit version of Windows 7 [Windows Server 2003 64-Bit and Windows Server 2008 64-Bit] -- marking the first time we will support a 64-bit version[s] of Windows" or did I understand something wrong in your support statements? ;-)

  1. 7  Greg Zygadlo http://www.schange.com | 11/13/2009 6:16:54 PM

    The only issue I have run into with 8.5.1 and Windows 7 is with the integrated sametime client that if I try to paste or type in a hyperlink it crashes my notes client. I'm running it on a Windows 7 X64 platform.

  1. 8  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 11/13/2009 6:51:20 PM

    @6 of the client on a 64-bit client operating system. Please don't parse me so literally!

  1. 9  Nathan T. Freeman http://nathan.lotus911.com | 11/13/2009 7:38:38 PM

    "I don't have a dog in this hunt..."

    Really? What do you use for your personal laptop, then? ;-)

  1. 10  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 11/13/2009 7:52:57 PM

    @10 in my home are three computers -- two IBM-owned machines (a ThinkPad and a MacBook Pro) and an iMac. Oh and we have an iPhone and an iPod. But I'm not a fanboy :-)

  1. 11  Peter Meuser  | 11/14/2009 1:22:55 AM

    @8 Of course, I know what you mean, but where is technically the exact difference? Windows Server 2003/2008 64-Bit are officially supported as base of Notes in a terminal services situation since it first availability. Accordingly Notes 8.5.1 should also run on Windows XP 64-Bit and Vista 64-Bit.

    Why do I insist on this detail so much? I suppose, that the observed crash patterns with Windows Server 2008x64 may also disturb your work on "64-bit client operating systems". Further investigation will show ... (I start the download of Windows 7 64-Bit this weekend :-)

  1. 12  Felix Binsack http://TIMETOACT.DE | 11/14/2009 7:30:47 AM

    Ther is a minor problem with 8.51 on Windows 7 32 Bit: Windows is not able to combine the Lotus Notes icons in the taskbar. You always have two Lotus Notes icons, when Notes is running.

  1. 13  Henning Heinz  | 11/14/2009 10:58:57 AM

    Great to read that my several daily crashes (most with Lotusscript libraries in Designer) have nothing to do with running Windows 7 64 Bit. Well unsupported platform so my problem for now. The Mac spot is very funny.

  1. 14  Darren Duke http://blog.darrenduke.net | 11/14/2009 11:45:54 AM

    So what about Ubuntu 9.10? Yes there are work arounds { Link } , but there are still issues with radio buttons, etc.

    Also is the 64 bit "support" being back ported to Vista and XP-x64 too? We have clients asking for this at regular intervals. We wouldn't want IBM to tell a customer to "upgrade" to Win7 in order to run it would we? That would be feeding the beast, right? ;)

  1. 15  Tripp Black http://www.mindwatering.com | 11/14/2009 12:07:53 PM

    @14, Execellent point on the forced beast feeding.

    Also Ubuntu server certified for Domino server would be beneficial, too. Since Canonical doesn't charge for the O/S and the security updates, just support, it makes a great cheap (free) O/S for the small biz Domino customer.

    The Ubuntu and Notes client "combo" is a great example of how that can work!

  1. 16  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 11/14/2009 4:00:11 PM

    @14 No, we're not going to go back. It would be very expensive to do and MS's support for those operating systems (esp. XP) is not long for this world. I understand the point about forced upgrade; thing is, those OSs have been around a while and aren't really part of brand-new deployments in 2010. I think it's the right call given that I don't want to invest too much resource looking backwards.

  1. 17  Andrew Tjecklowsky  | 11/14/2009 4:53:34 PM

    @14, @16 Yes we certainly need support for the latest versions of already supported OS'es. Notes 8.5.1 works pretty good on Ubuntu 9.10.

    To people wanting a free server OS that Domino can run on, I can highly recommend OpenSUSE 11.x (Go for Novell SUSE Enterprise Server if you want support from IBM) for Domino 8.5.1. Only caveat is that when you have gone through the entire install process (specifying server type, username, group, options etc.) and accepts the final 'Install' it will say something like "Unsupported OS" just before it starts the installation of files. I can't figure out why the developers decided to make the OS check just before the file copying instead of having it at the beginning.

    We have been running Domino on Linux and Solaris on the server side for more than 10 years and have never had any problems, crashes or the like. It is highly recommended!

  1. 18  Peter Meuser  | 11/15/2009 3:08:32 AM

    Please, is there somebody out there, who may explain me the deciding differences between the following platforms for Notes 8.5.1:

    1.)

    Windows XP x64 (not supported)

    and Windows 2003 R2 Server x64 + Terminal Services (not supported)

    and Windows 2003 R2 Server x64 + Terminal Services + Citrix XenApp 4.2 (supported!)

    2.)

    Windows Vista x64 (not supported)

    and Windows 2008 Server x64 + Terminal Services (not supported)

    and Windows 2008 Server x64 + Terminal Services + Citrix XenApp 5.0 (supported!)

    Is this matrix just a question of IBM's testing focus or is there an explainable technical background?

  1. 19  John Dalsgaard  | 11/15/2009 5:18:18 AM

    The only problem I have had on 64 bit Win 7 is that the Notes Single Signon service does not work. It installs all right and runs - it just does not work :-(

    On Win 7 32 bit I am running: 8.5.1, 8.0.2 (basic), 7.0.3, 6.5.4, and 5.0.12 without problems.

  1. 20  Chad Scott  | 11/15/2009 8:14:20 AM

    @19 Notes Shared Login replaces the old Notes Single Login in 8.5.1. I assume you are talking about the latter since it runs as a system service, unlike Shared Login. Try the newer feature to see if it meets your needs.

  1. 21  Peter LaComb  | 11/15/2009 5:13:33 PM

    Been running 8.5.1 on win7x64 on my primary workstation for a while now and I'd have to say I'm impressed with both. I've not yet seen a full system crash, and Notes behaves as expected (though I admin I'm not the heavy calendar user that some are). The new bits in designer are much needed and very nice.

    Windows doesn't join up the admin icon with the rest (client and designer), but that's hardly a huge issue.

  1. 22  Carsten  | 11/16/2009 6:42:35 AM

    @19, Single login does not work on any 64 bit OS :-(

  1. 23  Craig Wiseman http://www.Wiseman.La/cpw | 11/16/2009 7:43:24 AM

    First of all, I think most people are very happy with 8.5.1, there are always issues to fix, but it is by FAR the best 8.x release.

    The three most noticed issues we've had with Windows 7 are the that

    +1 (like @12) "Windows is not able to combine the Lotus Notes icons in the taskbar. You always have two Lotus Notes icons, when Notes is running" NOTE: This also shows up the Win7 64bit.

    +2 Notes is not an option you can select when choosing a "Default Program" in Windows 7 64bit (haven't tried it in 32bit Win7).

    +3 Single sign on doesn't work on 64bit Win7. (as noted @19) But then it doesn't work on 64bit anything.

    Screenshot of both issues here: { Link }

    Everyone has different things that set them off, but apparetnly issue 1 is very disconcerting for some folks (I never would have guessed that).

  1. 24  Jeff Eisen  | 11/16/2009 11:25:57 AM

    @18 -- Strictly testing focus.

    Prior to Windows 7, we haven't supported a 64-bit Windows operating system for the client because we weren't hearing enough demand to cause us to refocus our testing. The exception was for Citrix where you really need 64-bit to get reasonable scalability.

    With Windows 7, 64-bit seems to be hitting prime time for client deployments, so we are including it in our test and support matrix.

    Jeff Eisen

    Lotus Notes Chief Architect

  1. 25  David H  | 11/16/2009 4:08:03 PM

    I saw that Mac ad when it first came out and my first thoughts were: "So why can't IBM make clever ads like this?"

    You know, like showing how the latest virus exploited a user's Outlook contacts or how the person had to use post-it notes to remind him of a meeting that had a custom repeat cycle (Lotus Knows not all meetings follow simple repeat cycles) Or my favorite: A businessman walks into the store and asks the salesman for software to run his email, intranet, extranet, collaboration, IM chat, web conferencing, sales force management, recruiting, help desk and other corporate database applications and the salesman offers an MS solution as a pile of servers and software including Windows, MS Office with Outlook, C#, Sharepoint, OCS, SQL Server, IIS, and a crew of IT guys (who look like the PC guy in the Mac commercials) to administer it. The businessman asks "do you have anything a bit simpler?" and the salesman hands him a small box with one IT guy (who looks like the Mac guy in the Mac commercials) and he says "You could use Lotus."

  1. 26  Peter Meuser  | 11/16/2009 4:31:10 PM

    @24 That means: It's not officially supported by IBM, but chances are not bad that Notes 8.5.1 will run with Windows XP x64 and Vista x64 because:

    1. Server and client OS share the same kernel

    2. If you want to run Notes under Citrix XenApp, you have to install it first on the "barebone" server OS (and it should also run atop Terminal Services, because that's the base of Citrix XenApp)

    In reverse: If there are problems with the clients OS, chances are bad, that it will run with Citrix either. Or is that too far fetched?

  1. 27  Josef  | 11/23/2009 3:04:36 PM

    So, what about a designer client for Linux/Mac? I am sort of tired starting Virtualbox just to fix some minor glitch...

  1. 28  Josef  | 11/23/2009 3:06:26 PM

    ..just to clarify - I am pretty happy with 8.5.1. It rung just great on my Kubuntu 9.10. I would just be much happier if there was a designer available....

  1. 29  Henning Heinz  | 11/25/2009 3:21:30 AM

    @28, Josef

    Rumors are that you will hear something about Designer on Mac and/or Linux at Lotusphere 2010 (in January).

  1. 30  Mitsuru  | 12/3/2009 2:29:10 AM

    This is obviously good news in terms of Windows 7 support. But what about 7.0.x, and 8.0.x support? Will those versions also be supported with next maintenance release? Because the fact is Windows 7 now starts spreading out in the market, but no information available at the moment regarding two versions...

  1. 31  Dan Smith  | 2/17/2010 10:38:38 AM

    In reference to posts 19, 20 and 23:

    I'd like to add that Notes Shared Logon is not an option in our production environment due to security concerns. Since most of our developers require a 64-bit platform, having the original Single Sign On feature working on Windows 7 x64 is a must for them. I posted on the Lotus Notes-Domino 8.5 forum about this but didn't get any response. Will this issue be addressed in 8.5.1 FP2 or in 8.5.2? Thanks for any information! :)

  1. 32  steelie  | 3/2/2010 11:29:43 AM

    A few of us just upgraded our Macs and they came with Snow Leopard pre-installed. We’ve upgraded to Notes 8.5.1 and installed the fix pack but are having attachment issues. We all work off a shared server instead of our desktops and every time we try to attach a file we get the same message: “File does not exist.” However, when we drag the files to our desktop first THEN try to attach them it works perfectly.

    Any thoughts?

    Thanks.

    [steelie]

  1. 33  Lewis Newmark  | 3/22/2010 3:05:34 PM

    I have had no luck procuring a copy of Notes 8.5.1 and cannot upgrade my main MacBookPro to Snow Leopard until I get this version. Every time I try to purchase on the IBM website, there is no option for this version. I am not a developer and there is no trial version available for download.

    Can someone please provide me with a reseller or contact at IBM that can assist me?

  1. 34  Lewis Newmark  | 3/23/2010 8:15:59 AM

    BTW - why in the world is there NO TRIAL version for download of Lotus Notes v8.5.1 for any of the supported platforms?

    Since this is version is required for ANYONE who purchases a new Mac (Snow Leopard has been shipping on all new models since September 2009) or Windows machine these days, you would think that IBM would be most anxious to get this into the hands of as many folks as possible!

  1. 35  Ed Brill http://www.edbrill.com | 3/23/2010 2:26:01 PM

    You need to buy a Domino client access license and then you will be able to download any current version of Notes. I sent you mail.

  1. 36  Wojciech Misiara  | 5/13/2010 8:51:55 PM

    We are having the same issue as Dan with the Single Sign On feature on Windows xp x64. Users have to type in their password every time they start the notes client. The password is the same as the os login password.