Mashups
Let's start with Mashups. This would appear to be an end-user oriented tool, enabling them to create on-screen mashups of pre-supplied widgets, widgets from Notes 8.0.1, widgets they've created with the RAD tool that will come with Mashups, or any widget that conforms to the new iWidgets 1.0 standard that Lotus have proposed.

Such widgets can also be developed with Domino Designer 8.5 or, indeed, WebSphere Portlet factory 6.0.1 or later, too. Mashups comes with a server that stores the mashups themselves so that they can be shared, and deals with the data provisions. Data is supplied to Mashup components by feeds.

I have to say that as this was described in the OGS, I initially though it sounded like a toy, but it soon dawned on me that it is far from that. What this is, is a set of simple tools and provisions to enable high-quality apps to be built. The Domino Designer and Portlet developer communities in their companies can make compelling widgets, and the back-end feeds from other apps that supply them with data.

This also means that we should expect to start thinking how we can enhance existing Notes and non-Notes apps with feeds to make them more valuable in this new world. The end-users then connect these together to generate new and innovative applications quickly and easily. As the components will be individually smaller and simpler than current-day apps, maintenance and change cycles will be so much smaller. Just how cool is this going to be?

WebSphere Portal
Like many in the Lotus community, I've not paid much attention to Portal in the past, because it's WebSphere. That view needs to change.

Even though Portal comes under the WebSphere banner rather than the Lotus one, portals are really a part of the whole collaboration story that characterises the Lotus name. It's now far more closely integrated to the Lotus family of products.

Portlets created with the latest versions of Portlet Factory -- 6.0.1 or later -- will run not only from WebSphere Portal but can also be surfaced as local Lotus Notes/Expeditor 8 or above applications via the Notes 8 portlet container. Notes 8 is a WebSphere Portal client, and as it is Notes, can even support offline work, if the portlets are so designed to work offline.

And conversely, you'll be able to create WebSphere Portal portlets with Domino Designer 8.5, which means that your skills in either of these developer models will extend your reach to the other. With Portal Server 6.1, now in beta, there's intention is to allow inside-out portals -- where you can insert a portal into another Web site (Domino, maybe) -- and allow that site to control and operate the portal navigation.