Leading developers share their thoughts
So much of what has made the Notes, Domino, and overall Lotus experience great has been the wealth of additional software and hardware products that expand on the original offerings by IBM. The developer community has been enthusiastic and highly innovative ever since the first releases of Notes came out and we expect even more from them in 2005.

We asked some of the Domino community's leading developers to share their thoughts and to give us an insight into their plans for 2005. We also asked them if they've got anything special to tell us about their activities at this year's Lotusphere. We'll have links to each of these developers at the end of the article, so you can learn more about their offerings.

David Jakelic of SWING Software looks forward:

I expect that in 2005, Lotus shops will be increasingly migrating existing Notes applications to Web, and then portalize them. Also, this is a year in which developers will spend some time learning more about Lotus Workplace, but still earning their bread-and-butter with existing Notes/Domino applications. That is the reason why IBM should clearly point out that Domino Designer is a first class citizen in their portfolio. The new Notes/Domino 7 with new Domino Designer is certainly a way to go.

In addition, the new IBM message is: the Notes client will not be replaced. Instead, it will evolve into Notes 8, powered by Workplace Client Technology. This message -- in spite of big technological changes taking place under the cover -- reaffirm Lotus' Notes brand. I believe this will have a great impact on customers' confidence in Lotus platforms.

SWING Software will continue to improve our integration tools for Microsoft Office. In addition, we will be focusing on specific areas of content management, such as publishing corporate documentation online with Lotus Domino.

Sarah Baumann of Esker tells us:

Esker is looking forward to sharing our newly expanded solutions for the Lotus Notes/Domino community, which include a new option for Esker Fax for Notes -- a workflow interface that allows users to validate, change, approve or reject inbound and outbound faxes.

Equally exciting is our new Esker Fax and Mail on Demand hosted services which will give our customers greater flexibility in how they use fax in their organizations.

Lance Spellman of WorkFlow Studios had these thoughts:

The two big features in Domino 7 that I'm looking forward to are the DB2 integration and the exposure of Lotuscript code as Web services. These features open the doors for lots of innovation.

One of the common Notes applications in many companies is CRM or contact management. When a Web service is added, it becomes available to a wide array of application uses and devices. As for Lotusphere 2005, I want to learn more about the Eclipse-based client that will be rolling out in R8.

Efren Yero of Logic Springs Technologies shares his thoughts:

Domino 7 seems to provide a vast number of new server related enhancements, but fewer client enhancements. I'd find three things particularly useful to add: