This series outlines my experience with the Lotus Notes 8.5 software and includes an analysis of the email market evolution and strategies, based on 15+ years of Lotus Notes usage and the same time spent as software designer.

My goal is clearly not to list and test all new features but to comment and analyze this product on a high level in order to position it, highlight problems and propose some improvements. In a time when many IT managers are reconsidering their choices with regards to their internal messaging system, I feel it's important to provide an independent, high level analysis of the leading messaging products and the strategy behind them.

First impressions
As part of the N&D Beta team, I have tested several beta versions but it would have been unfair to comment before the Gold version was out. That day came, and I upgraded my Notes client from V7.0.3 to V8.5. I had quickly dropped the idea of upgrading to 8.0 when it was released after testing it and finding it not as mature as I would have liked.

The upgrade process went very smoothly. It took quite some time to go through the whole process but nothing unexpected, considering the size of the application, including Symphony. The interface is neat but I noticed -- once again -- the lack of explanation with regards to the options that can be selected during the install.

This is even worse in the Domino setup program with a slow interface and no explanations at all. I'd strongly recommend providing meaningful and user-friendly descriptions of available modules. This is especially true for first time Notes users, getting here a disconcerting feeling about the product before even starting using it.

First launch ... and then I really crossed fingers. For information, I kept upgrading and moving the same Notes environment to new machines since Notes 4. However, after the usual database design upgrades, again the whole process went smoothly. I'm impressed.