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ORLANDO, Fla. -- IBM Lotus kicked off its 15th annual Lotusphere conference here today, and while the announcements were not quite as unexpected as last year's introduction of Quickr and Connections, you got to witness the evolution of the Lotus product line, along with announcements that will directly benefit the small to medium-size business (SMB) market.

Notes 8 Evolves

The Notes 8.0.1 client was announced and should be available in early February. One of the biggest additions is a widgets sidebar integrated into the client. This sidebar allows a user to add Google gadgets, or create widgets from Lotus Notes data with a simple wizard-based interface.

For example, if you follow a sales number view in a customer management database, you can use the wizard to "widgetize" the view. The view then shows up in your sidebar for viewing without having to go the database itself. It should allow for the user to customize their experience even more. The widget capability is even controllable via administration policies on the back-end. You can add widgets or lock down certain capabilities to match your company's culture.

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Notes 8.0.1 now supports what Lotus is calling Live Text. Live Text is basically what Smart Tag technology is to Microsoft Office. You can set Live Text to scan your documents and email and make certain words hyperlinks that take you to more information. For example, you could have your company's part numbers automatically become hyperlinks to the product database, or you could have addresses automatically link to Google Maps.

Lotus also announced the availability of Domino Web Access Lite mode. Lite mode is a web email client optimized for low bandwidth communications. It's highly AJAX driven, includes features like in-line spell check, rich editing, Google Maps integration and will be an alternative to the Full version available currently. For those users who need the extra speed, this will be a wonderful addition.

Domino gets its turn

Also announced was the future version 8.5 of Lotus Domino, the back-end server component of Lotus Notes. Updated items will include better ID management, compression technologies that can retrieve up to 35% of your disk space used for Domino databases, and Attachment Storage Reduction which can reduce space up to an additional 35% on top of the compression technologies.

Updated templates will be included to refresh long-in-the-tooth applications such as Discussion databases and document libraries. They will get a very Web 2.0 feel with AJAX components and design.

In order to make those apps act more like their Web 2.0 brethren, IBM also announced Domino Designer 8.5 which will be the first Designer client based on the Eclipse and Expeditor Lotus frameworks. Lotus will focus on the new technologies with a full palette of AJAX-based controls that you will be able to drag-and-drop directly into your Notes and Domino applications.

The assault on Office continues

Lotus Symphony got some love as well with Beta 4 announced for a February release. Beta 4 will include a fully programable API in which developers can create applications and plug-ins that will have full functionality in the stand-alone Symphony and Lotus Notes versions. IBM also touted an updated user interface, and built-in language translation. Lotus is aggressively pushing Symphony as the free-alternative to Microsoft Office. It was announced that Symphony had already been downloaded over 400,000 times.

Social Computing Marches On

Quickr 8.1 will be arriving in March and will be sporting a newly updated interface based on user feedback from 8.0. Additions include breadcrumb navigation to get around easier, a drop-zone for easily uploading files and sidebar integration with Notes 8.0.1. "Future" enhancements slated for the team room software include tagging, ratings, integration with enterprise back-end file and compliance systems, and a media library that can manage audio and video.

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