1) What exactly is Lotus Notes? Notes is basically client/server software which helps company employees send each other e-mail and information, store and find that information. Notes uses a graphical interface. Items such as text files, movie clips, graphics or short programs can be dragged and dropped into documents or applications. 2) How does Notes differ from networking or messaging software? Networking software like Novell Netware or Microsoft Windows NT Server only hooks up computers via a Local Area Network (LAN) to message each other and share files and devices like a printer or modem in a primitive fashion. Messages are restricted to plain text which can't be saved or have files attached to them.
Messaging software like Lotus' cc:Mail and Microsoft MS Mail is more advanced. Users can send true electronic mail - unlike simple messages, e-mail can have attached files, be sent to large workgroups, and be manipulated many more ways. 3) Is Notes different from Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise ? Lotus officials claim that their software is the only true groupware. Microsoft Exchange, which will be finally released late this month after more than a year's delay, won't be viable competition. 4) Won't the Internet supplant the abilities of Notes? Many critics had charged that while Notes was king of the Intranet - private, secure networks - the trend towards open systems meant Notes' imminent obsolescence.
Not so, according to Lotus officials, who said that Notes can be profitably used to harness the Internet, especially the World Wide Web. For instance, version 4.0 includes Web browsing and publishing software, and electronic agents to automatically search desired information handled by the InterNotes Web server.
Notes 4.0 is also network independent, meaning it can communicate across a variety of protocols, including TCP - the protocol used by the Internet and about half of all networked computers - SPX, NetBIOS, Vines, etc. 5) What about the lack of security on the Internet? Notes 4.0 offers security features and encryption widely unavailable on the Net.
Messages sent through Notes will feature 40 or 64-bit level of encryption - US export laws classify encryption standards as munitions and thus limit their international release. The 40-bit standard is much less secure than the 64-bit encryption. An 'over-worked PC' could break a certain message's code in less than a week. 6) Does Notes version 4 mean goodbye to cc:Mail? Not in the short run. Lotus still has nine million users for its cc:Mail (a LAN-based e-mail product), more than the 4.5 million users it claims for Lotus Notes. The company released another beta version of Release six of cc:Mail at its annual conference in January. Version 6.0 for Windows is scheduled to ship in May; DOS, Macintosh and OS/2 will follow.
cc:Mail lacks many of the groupware features so crucial to Notes, like workflow, which can send a document along in a pre-set order. In the long run, Lotus would love to migrate its cc:Mail users over to Notes. 7) How is Release 4 different from previous versions? Most important, a complete redesign of the user interface. Previous versions had a lot of power inside but users couldn't easily access it.