Lotus increases Windows support
In hopes of attracting more Windows developers, Lotus says it will soon support Microsoft's programming model in its Domino and Notes products.
At its Lotus DevCon99 developers' conference today, Lotus said it will support Microsoft's Component Object Model (COM) in its Domino Application Server and Notes R5 Client, software that combines Internet email, calendaring and scheduling, document management, and HTML authoring.
Lotus executives said the COM support--available later this year--will allow Windows developers to build software that accesses Domino services and information on Windows technology, including the Windows 2000 operating system and Microsoft Office 2000.
In other announcements, Macromedia and Microsoft said they will add Domino support to their Web development tools--Macromedia Dreamweaver 2.0 and Microsoft FrontPage 2000 this fourth quarter. The move will allow developers to create sites and publish them on Domino technology.
New technology, code-named Domino Runtime Services, allows mobile workers to run Domino-based applications on a Web browser while they're disconnected from the Internet, company executives said. Lotus is also coming out with Domino Workflow 2.0, a design tool for creating workflow management software. The product, which features a drag-and-drop graphical user interface, will ship in July.