IBM plans to include office productivity editors in the next version of Lotus Notes, which is scheduled for a public beta this fall. These productivity editors support the XML-based OpenDocument Format (ODF) standard recently approved by the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and serves as an alternative to Lotus Notes integration with proprietary document formats, such as Microsoft Office. According to IBM, the office productivity editors will include word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation capabilities. Lotus Notes users will be able to create, edit, and save documents natively in the ODF. The editors will also import/export to Microsoft Office file formats and those supported in previous versions of OpenOffice.

Michael Rhodin, general manager, IBM Workplace, Portal and Collaboration Products, stated: "The code that we are showing today demonstrates our ability to deliver on the Workplace vision that makes customers more productive in the context of what they do every day. We plan to have this code in the hands of design partners and beta testers this fall bringing us closer to the most open and real collaborative innovation platform ever available."

The next version of Lotus Notes leverages IBM Workplace Client Technology, which is server-deployed, server-managed desktop software. With it, customers will be able to configure/reconfigure the client interface without touching the desktop. This integration of Workplace-based functionality into the Lotus Notes client promises new capabilities while preserving investments in Lotus Notes. By integrating server-managed client capabilities into Lotus Notes, IBM is providing a new model for composite applications, so customers can combine their desktop applications into reusable services. IBM expects it will be faster and easier for its customers to work with composite applications because they require sending less data across the network, and users will be able to work with composite applications when not connected to the server.

Activity-based computing is another new concept in the next version of Lotus Notes. With it, you can associate content you create in various forms -- such as e-mail messages, meetings, documents, chats, and notes -- with specific projects or processes. By pulling together all the content related to an activity into a shared repository, team members will have the same, current view of all aspects of an activity, helping to increase productivity and finish the activity faster.

IBM plans to have the next version of Lotus Notes ready for public beta this fall.