A common requirement within Domino environments is a need to restrict users' ability to send and receive Internet mail. This required a fair amount of customization in the R4 environment. In R5, this functionality is built directly into the server. Add to this increased anti-spam support and more control over how email is routed through a Domino infrastructure, and you begin to see why R5 is so exciting.

The down side
As with everything there is a down side. In the case of R5, Lotus has taken some steps to ensure that the biggest potential downside, stability, will not be a problem.

Anyone taking shots at Lotus for the delays in the R5 client might do well to remember Ashton-Tate's dBase IV product (it was a product of the 80's). dBase IV received early rave reviews, but upon its release, the product was an abysmal failure. Taking a PR pounding because of the lateness, Ashton-Tate decided that the world would be able to withstand an unreliable product. They were wrong. dBase IV's failure as a product caused not only the destruction of Ashton-Tate, but (arguably) the decline and fall of the xBase standard from prominence.

Lotus delayed R5 to ensure stability and it looks like they did a good job.

Since stability doesn't appear to be a problem, the biggest downside of R5 is its huge change from R4. It's your classic double-edged sword. R5 will more easily be accepted by those who are novices than those who have a great deal of experience in previous versions of Domino and Notes. Not only will the client represent an enormous change for end users, it'll require many of you to re-examine your company's practices and procedures. Coming from someone who has spent a few years on the infrastructure side of Notes, there is no doubt that this will be met with some resistance.

Conclusion
Notes as an email client had always suffered in comparison to Microsoft's Outlook interface. With the release of R5, this is no longer the case. R5's client interface is vastly superior to R4.6 and will be much more acceptable to new users.

If I were to pick one single improvement in R5 that stands out above all others, it's the ease of use and improvement in the Notes R5 client. The increased functionality is to be expected, but the fact that the new client can be used by novices without the necessity of an exorbitant amount of training can't be overemphasized.

Overall, this is a substantial and valuable improvement to the product line.

John Roling is an avid digital photographer, blogger and all-around techno-geek. He can be found online at http://greyhawk68.dominohosting.biz or emailed at jroling@gmail.com.