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Lotus also wants to help you with your ID and user management. ID Vault is a new feature that you can turn on to help you and your users recover passwords and ID files. It works by storing all ID files in a secure Lotus Notes database and allowing users to recover ID files that may have been lost. It will also allow administrators the ability to reset users Lotus Notes passwords.

Some remaining additions include improved CPU and I/O usage, support for several 64-bit operating systems, mail routing optimizations and better roaming support for end users.

For Developers and Designers

All of these improvements that we've discussed are great for this release, but what 8.5 will really be remembered for is changing Lotus Domino web application development forever. This will be done with a new development element called XPages.

XPages truly brings Domino development into the vaunted Web 2.0 world. XPages have new controls that make everything behave more in line what you expect from web applications these days with AJAX. Also, you can simply drop controls on an XPage to accomplish things that you never really could with Domino before.

You'll get better views, better searching capabilities, and better controls with better UI for all of your different types of form fields (listboxes, calendar time/date controls, etc. etc.) XPages will be the feature of a future article, but when I tell you that this will change how every Lotus developer creates web applications on Domino, trust me, this may be the biggest boost to web development that Domino has ever seen.

DDE with all the controls in the right panels

All of these improvements required a new piece of software, so Domino Designer on Eclipse (or DDE) was born. DDE is built on top of the Eclipse framework just like Notes 8 is today. This allows for new features like built-in advanced editors for HTML, CSS and XML, a better script editor and better debugging. This is also what allowed IBM to include XPages. As the Eclipse framework grows, the feature-set of DDE should grow as well.

Bottom line is that if you are a developer, you'll have much better tools available to you across the board. It's the next leap in development capabilities for Lotus Domino, and is another huge reason to upgrade.

So Should I upgrade?

Now, I'm a Notes junkie, and have been a Notes and Domino administrator for over a decade, so I tend to be an early adopter and install new releases immediately when they happen. I know in most industries, there is a much more cautious approach to releases, and in many cases it can take years before a company makes a move.

That would be a mistake.

This 8.5 release adds many things for the administrators that can give you an immediate return on investment and the new development features will simply change the way your intranet is created and maintained. And if you are a shop that's on Notes 7 or earlier, all of the past year's Notes 8 goodness gets added to the mix.

So as soon as 8.5 is released, get it into your labs for testing. The quicker you do so, the quicker you can get it in your environment for real. It will be interesting to see where Domino-based intranets go from here!

The code for IBM Lotus Notes and Domino 8.5 is complete and should be out before Lotusphere begins on January 17th, 2009.

About this Series

This series of articles on intranet solutions with IBM Lotus Notes/Domino and it'scompanion products is intended to help readers understand the fundamental methodologyand capabilities of the product and how to utilize it to deliver a feature-rich, secure, andfunctional corporate intranet solution. It will include implementation strategies, casestudies, industry-tested tips and tricks, and, with your input, true value to theadministrator or developer who wants to utilize IBM Lotus technologies to deliverwinning intranet solutions.

If you have any questions on the series, Lotus Notes/Domino, or if there's somethingyou'd like to see addressed, visit the Intranet Journal Discussion Forum.

About the Author

John Roling is the Senior Groupware Administrator for a North American trade-showexhibit company and a certified Lotus Notes Administrator, Developer and all-aroundgeek. You can keep up with him at his blog or drop him an e-mail at jroling@gmail.com.

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