Lotus Notes 8 due for Friday release

IBM plans to release the next version of its Lotus Notes platform and Domino applications on Friday.

The release will be by electronic means only, with the physical distribution and documentation slated for September 21.

The release, Lotus Notes and Domino 8, is based on the Eclipse open-source software framework and is built around a new platform called Expeditor. Expeditor enables developers to create Eclipse-based code for use within the client that can function on Linux, Mac OS X and Windows.

In its prerelease notes, IBM says version 8 will "offer a modern Web-like look and feel," with a sidebar that displays contacts, the day at a glance, RSS and Atom feeds. Other features include the ability to export documents to PDF, multidirectory integration enhancements, mail recall and new cluster replication technology.

The standard word-processing, spreadsheet and presentation applications are included, which all support the OpenDocument format plus IBM's SmartSuite. Within the applications, there will be in-line spell-checking and numerous changes to mail, calendar and contact management, according to IBM.