And there will be the much waited for, proper, LotusScript class browser/editor too, shown off to much acclaim. Other work for XPages and Domino Designer, not necessarily all going to appear in 8.5.1, include moving all the properties boxes for the "traditional" design elements such as forms and views from the Notes type InfoBox to Eclipse property panes.

And no, I don't know if that change is planned for the client, and yes, I did ask the question.

There are also plans for a design element that wraps an XPage and makes a widget out of it. More platforms for designer - Linux first, and then the Mac - and the Admin client will also move to the Eclipse RCP platform.

Yet more
There's also some smaller but no less important updates going on. You'll be able to accept meetings from the preview pane. You'll be able to right-click and empty the trash.

There will be a LinkedIn sidebar panel. I'll mention LinkedIn again a bit later on. Finally, work on defining the "next" release has started, and that will focus significant work on Task Management, drastically improving the ToDo facilities and providing a whole new way of managing tasks.

More next week
At dinner with Editor Dave at Shula's on Tuesday, I promised him that this year's post-Lotusphere notes wouldn't be the 5,000 behemoth it was last year. Nope. This year it's more than 5,500 words. We've broken that out into a bunch of articles that you'll be getting over the next few weeks.

Let's pause for now and next week, I'll be back talking about SAP integration, some open source stuff, mobile, and lots, lots more.

Heather McDaniel is unique because she has experience in three important fields--real estate, handheld computing, and personal success coaching. She holds a real estate license in both Hawaii and New Jersey. Prior to starting her own personal success coaching business dedicated to helping people reach their goals, Heather is the news editor and former sales manager for ZATZ, publishers of this magazine. She's widely acknowledged as a leading expert on the handheld industry. For a free coaching session, contact Heather at heather@coachheather.com or visit http://www.coachheather.com.