Opening Session

Just got back from the opening session, and there wasn’t any real huge revelations. It was nice to hear a continued commitment to Notes/Domino as they were already referencing version 8.0 of the product. So at least you know it’s not going away. Also, in all of the demos you could really see that Lotus was very committed to making sure everything integrates. The same Notes apps will work in Notes, Portal, Workplace Web, and the new Workplace Rich Client.

The workplace rich client is actually the coolest thing in my opinion. It’s a standards based client based on the Eclipse framework. It basically takes the rich client atmosphere of something like Notes and integrates it with a web based architecture and standards based approach. You could view portlets, web based apps and even native Notes apps all from within the client. This is going to be huge. Lotus really isn’t abandoning Notes. They are extending it’s life through other means. I think it’s a win-win for all involved.

Other than that, the special speaker was actor Patrick Stewart, most notable to geeks as captain Jean Luc Picard on Star Trek the Next Generation. He even went so far as to say the cheesy line “Lotus is really going where no man has gone before.” A definite geek moment.

I haven’t posted about the Sunday night shindig yet, but rest assured I will. It was an experience alright 🙂