Web calendar software

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. ***

update E-mail software company Zimbra on Sunday released an early version of Zimbra Desktop, Web e-mail software that will run online and offline. The company has built an open-source, Web-based alternative to existing mail servers and clients such as Microsoft Exchange and Outlook. Zimbra uses Ajax, a Web development technique that runs across browsers and operating systems. ***

update A flaw in IBM's Lotus Domino Server could be used to crash systems, a security company has warned, but Big Blue is disagreeing that a vulnerability exists. The denial-of-service flaw appears in versions 6.5.1 and 6.0.3 of the e-mail and calendar server software, security company iDefense said in an advisory released Wednesday. "Exploitation of this vulnerability allows unauthenticated remote attackers to crash the Web service, thereby preventing legitimate usage," iDefense said in the advisory. "This attack requires minimal resources to launch and can be repeated to ensure that an unpatched computer is unable to recover." IBM, however, rebuffed the report. In a ***