Plugging Notes into Workplace
Today I had the opportunity to see how it feels to use Lotus Notes from
within IBM Workplace. I was surprised at how seamless the integration was
and how familiar it felt. Using Notes inside of Workplace is achieved with
a Notes plug-in. and is specifically designed to work with Notes 7.
When using the Lotus Notes plug-in for Workplace, Notes is activated by
clicking the Notes icon on the Workplace application navigator. It then
opens in the Workplace application area to what ever you have set as your
Notes home page. This could be the workspace, a database view or a welcome
page of your own design. To the left of the Notes application you will
see a Windows like folder tree that takes the place of your current Notes
bookmark bar. You then go about working with Notes applications as you
would if you were using it outside of Workplace. The Notes application's
action bar is there and usable, as is the application navigator. The Lotus
Notes menus are integrated in with the Workplace menus. In the Workplace/Notes
setup I looked at, the Notes menus were not as tightly integrated as they
will be when the products ship but I was able to see that all the functionality
does come through.
Although Workplace was originally introduced to the market as messaging
lite, using workplace does not necessarily mean giving up Notes email,
or using it as a separate application on your desktop. Because Notes mail
is simply a specialized Lotus Notes application, it too can be used inside
of the Workplace rich client. This makes it possible to deploy Workplace
across an organization and use Notes mail or Workplace messaging wherever
appropriate.
Currently using the Notes 7 plug-in for Workplace requires Lotus Notes
to be installed on the desktop. When a Notes application is first opened
in Workplace the Notes client is launched, but not visible, on the user's
desktop. For those who find Workplace appealing because of the way it is
pushed down to the desktop from the server, this is less than ideal. However
IBM recognizes this shortcoming and is looking at ways to get the necessary
Notes files to the desktop without requiring a separate install.
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