Yes, using the name rather than the id file is what does it. I've only been on the platform since R5.0.4, but it's been there in every version I've used. A password may be set on the id (File > Tools > User ID or File > Security > User Security in Notes 6+), whereupon a login will be required to start the client (the notes.ini will point to the now-secured user id, and a missing KeyFilename= param will halt start-up), but the strength can't be set (needs a certifier ID to change, as you know).
Local encryption is possible -- the id contains the Notes-standard keys (all at 128-bit post Global R5.0.4), but "normal" public/private encryption is not because the public key isn't accessible (no PNAB). (The public key can still be copied/mailed to an external directory.)
As for the rest, I've never, ever been a fan of P2P for any purpose. Too much to go wrong, and I still have to fix it no matter who's to blame because it Notes. Perhaps if it were defeatable via domain policy, I might concede some usefulness for home/microbusiness use. It'd never be THE choice for home, though -- there's just too much overhead for most home needs.
Just one thing, here -- Notes will create a John Doe/John Doe id with a zero-strength password if it's installed stand-alone. It starts with an id, but because there's no password, there's no prompt. You can use the IMAP/POP3 client features, and can have a lot of silly good times playing with your local databases (you DID install Designer, didn't you?).
Otherwise, I agree. And I don't really see how the psychiatrist ads are helping.
I'm sure a decent developer could have done it in DHTML in R4.5. The difference is that the Notes client in Notes 6+ can accommodate nearly all of these features now (Visualizations aside).
The problem doesn't lie with Notes so much as with the mail template development team. Given a little prodding, they can do amazing work (witness the improvements apparently gleaned from the openNTF mail template incorporated in Notes 6 mail), but one of their main goals is to make version upgrades as painless as possible to the user. Putting a few usability enhancements into the mix from the Remail project wouldn't hurt at all -- and (when it comes right down to it) they can make the application "skinnable" just by calling a different frameset at database open. That can be configurable with Editor access, just as the ACL is.
It's the old rock-versus-hard place thing. Big changes might please new users, but then enterprises like PWC need to retrain 150,000 users for the upgrade. Believe it or not, there are users who can't figure it out for themselves;o)
Well, yeah, the fact that the platform is already written does take some of the drudgery out of it, alright. Notes/Domino is what it is -- the challenge lies in trying to make it do "other stuff" without crippling the application. There's much more to do in that regard in Domino web apps than in the Notes client (the client UI is not tremendously extendable). Thinking sideways is the greatest skill you can have on Domino -- looking at a Notes view and seeing a CSS file or an RSS feed is not something that immediately springs to most minds. If you've got equal parts imagination and skill, you can do some tremendously useful stuff that's SECURE (really, not in a Microsoft way) and SCALABLE (throw more hardware at it -- no recoding necessary) out of the box.
Programming Notes/Domino IS interesting. If you need to allocate/deallocate memory manually in order to feel fulfilled, though, you'll be disappointed. Creating something simple is truly simple, but there are avenues for complexity, efficiency and creativity as well. It's all up to you.
What I find to be most interesting is how very much of the Remail client UI is doable in Notes right now (Notes and Domino 6 and higher). The Visualizations would be a bit of a bugger, but most of the rest is a simple matter of minor view/folder design tweaking.
(And for the Notes critics out there, these changes would STILL allow Notes to work with databases created with release 1 of the software. An existing R4.5 mail database could be upgraded to look and feel like the Remail client simply by applying a new design template.)
I can't help thinking that Lotus subconsciously wants to shoot itself in the foot so badly that it's willing to do just about anything to accomplish that feat. It would have taken very little to show that the proposed client UI could be applied in a Workplace environment OR in Notes. Rethinking mail is NOT platform-dependant -- as long as the platform can provide the features. Notes has a future, but it always falls to the "firefighters" to remind people of that after the "wow" announcement seems to put Notes in a legacy position.
The difference being, of course, that I (or someone not unlike myself) can create the fully-functional Notes version of the application in an afternoon with time to spare for coffee and conversation and make it more secure than your web version would be.
The hardest part of programming for Notes/Domino is "getting it" -- the platform is quite unlike anything else. At the absolute beginner level, the best reference I've seen is Sam's "Teach Yourself Lotus Notes and Domino R5 Development in 24 Hours". It is really, really, basic -- but nothing more advanced will make any sense at all until you've got the basics covered.
Beyond that, the Lotus Developer Domain will give you a great place to get design/development advice:
http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/46dom.nsf
The community is great, and obvious newbies are given a lot of slack if they stay on the polite side of needy.
For the most part, the Domino Designer Help database (installs with the Designer client, can be read with only the Notes client) will get you where you want to go -- if you know where you want to go. There are reasonably good books for further info, including freely downloadable IBM Redbooks, and titles in the Que (Special Edition Using), Sam's (Unleashed) and Wiley (Bible) catalogs.
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Yes, using the name rather than the id file is what does it. I've only been on the platform since R5.0.4, but it's been there in every version I've used. A password may be set on the id (File > Tools > User ID or File > Security > User Security in Notes 6+), whereupon a login will be required to start the client (the notes.ini will point to the now-secured user id, and a missing KeyFilename= param will halt start-up), but the strength can't be set (needs a certifier ID to change, as you know).
Local encryption is possible -- the id contains the Notes-standard keys (all at 128-bit post Global R5.0.4), but "normal" public/private encryption is not because the public key isn't accessible (no PNAB). (The public key can still be copied/mailed to an external directory.)
As for the rest, I've never, ever been a fan of P2P for any purpose. Too much to go wrong, and I still have to fix it no matter who's to blame because it Notes. Perhaps if it were defeatable via domain policy, I might concede some usefulness for home/microbusiness use. It'd never be THE choice for home, though -- there's just too much overhead for most home needs.
Just one thing, here -- Notes will create a John Doe/John Doe id with a zero-strength password if it's installed stand-alone. It starts with an id, but because there's no password, there's no prompt. You can use the IMAP/POP3 client features, and can have a lot of silly good times playing with your local databases (you DID install Designer, didn't you?). Otherwise, I agree. And I don't really see how the psychiatrist ads are helping.
I'm sure a decent developer could have done it in DHTML in R4.5. The difference is that the Notes client in Notes 6+ can accommodate nearly all of these features now (Visualizations aside).
;o)
The problem doesn't lie with Notes so much as with the mail template development team. Given a little prodding, they can do amazing work (witness the improvements apparently gleaned from the openNTF mail template incorporated in Notes 6 mail), but one of their main goals is to make version upgrades as painless as possible to the user. Putting a few usability enhancements into the mix from the Remail project wouldn't hurt at all -- and (when it comes right down to it) they can make the application "skinnable" just by calling a different frameset at database open. That can be configurable with Editor access, just as the ACL is.
It's the old rock-versus-hard place thing. Big changes might please new users, but then enterprises like PWC need to retrain 150,000 users for the upgrade. Believe it or not, there are users who can't figure it out for themselves
Well, yeah, the fact that the platform is already written does take some of the drudgery out of it, alright. Notes/Domino is what it is -- the challenge lies in trying to make it do "other stuff" without crippling the application. There's much more to do in that regard in Domino web apps than in the Notes client (the client UI is not tremendously extendable). Thinking sideways is the greatest skill you can have on Domino -- looking at a Notes view and seeing a CSS file or an RSS feed is not something that immediately springs to most minds. If you've got equal parts imagination and skill, you can do some tremendously useful stuff that's SECURE (really, not in a Microsoft way) and SCALABLE (throw more hardware at it -- no recoding necessary) out of the box.
Programming Notes/Domino IS interesting. If you need to allocate/deallocate memory manually in order to feel fulfilled, though, you'll be disappointed. Creating something simple is truly simple, but there are avenues for complexity, efficiency and creativity as well. It's all up to you.
What I find to be most interesting is how very much of the Remail client UI is doable in Notes right now (Notes and Domino 6 and higher). The Visualizations would be a bit of a bugger, but most of the rest is a simple matter of minor view/folder design tweaking. (And for the Notes critics out there, these changes would STILL allow Notes to work with databases created with release 1 of the software. An existing R4.5 mail database could be upgraded to look and feel like the Remail client simply by applying a new design template.) I can't help thinking that Lotus subconsciously wants to shoot itself in the foot so badly that it's willing to do just about anything to accomplish that feat. It would have taken very little to show that the proposed client UI could be applied in a Workplace environment OR in Notes. Rethinking mail is NOT platform-dependant -- as long as the platform can provide the features. Notes has a future, but it always falls to the "firefighters" to remind people of that after the "wow" announcement seems to put Notes in a legacy position.
The difference being, of course, that I (or someone not unlike myself) can create the fully-functional Notes version of the application in an afternoon with time to spare for coffee and conversation and make it more secure than your web version would be.
The hardest part of programming for Notes/Domino is "getting it" -- the platform is quite unlike anything else. At the absolute beginner level, the best reference I've seen is Sam's "Teach Yourself Lotus Notes and Domino R5 Development in 24 Hours". It is really, really, basic -- but nothing more advanced will make any sense at all until you've got the basics covered.
Beyond that, the Lotus Developer Domain will give you a great place to get design/development advice:
http://www-10.lotus.com/ldd/46dom.nsf
The community is great, and obvious newbies are given a lot of slack if they stay on the polite side of needy.
For the most part, the Domino Designer Help database (installs with the Designer client, can be read with only the Notes client) will get you where you want to go -- if you know where you want to go. There are reasonably good books for further info, including freely downloadable IBM Redbooks, and titles in the Que (Special Edition Using), Sam's (Unleashed) and Wiley (Bible) catalogs.