Lotus Notes 8 Public Beta (Hanover) is out and about

This is the first public beta, here on the IBM Notes 8 page, is usable and very stable if a tiny bit slow and hungry. A few items caught my interest :

• available in 2 versions a “classic C++ version and a Eclipse version (java). The Eclipse version is where the long term interest is, in part because it is multi platform: Linx, OS x and Windows. And I understand that some fureture things will be easier to implement in java.
• The New UI of course! (see some Notes 8 Eye Candy ) A more polished and update look, which also allows for building better looking applications.
• Replicate on shutdown is possible with no prompt.
• New default locations – online, offline and home.
• Composite applications (using service-oriented architecture (SOA) components) see Building Composite Applications for IBM Notes 8.
• we can now create Right mouse click menus for our Actions
• Web Service Consumer in Notes 8 (Notes 6 & 7 can produce a Web Service).
• Bytes column type in views (also for Mb, GB and Tb)
• JavaScript Object Notation (JSON) as an output format to let you more quickly create AJAX Web applications
• “On server start” agents

and much more. For more details download the Guide (ftp PDF)

also Nathan T Freeman has some comments and screenshots about designer features on his Escape Velocity blog. IBM’er Jeff Eisen has his The Road to Hannover Notes 8 blog with lots of tips.

The semi-unofficial blog tag for the Notes 8 beta is notes8beta.

CompterWorld has this brief notice of the beta release Collaboration preview: Lotus Notes 8, Domino 8 betas available for testing and now : Notes fans hope upgrade ends e-mail client’s ugly-duckling status, , and even PC world has something: “This is not your father’s Notes”.

Updated Aug 17 2007:  Now Shipping!!