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Lotus Development Lotus iNotes R5 (R5.03, beta)
With release 5.03, Lotus iNotes ups the ante for other Web mail providers with its Domino Offline Services (DOLS) 1.0. We reviewed a beta release of 5.03, which is now shipping. Its sleek, functional user interface accesses three main framesets: mail, calendar and to-do lists. DOLS enables Web browsers and other applications, called subscriptions, for offline use and provides the ideal environment for Web mail users: anytime, anywhere.

DOLS requires configuration on both the server and the client. We installed an API extension on the server and set appropriate user rights to enable DOLS. We then created a new database using a DOLS Sample Mail template and set it for action as an "offline subscription." When our browser viewed the new database file, the mail frameset included an "offline" button in the lower left-hand corner. Right-clicking on the button installed a "subscription" to the Web site (16 MB) with a driver that runs Domino applications offline, within a Web browser. ActiveX controls and Netscape plug-ins install DOLS and initiate offline services. Once installed, the browser--together with a new Sync Manager--let us make offline, local changes to mail, calendar, contacts and so on. Those changes were synchronized with the database on the server to account for newly received mail or appointment requests, for example.

Lotus iNotes' search functions also raise the bar, with two options to help find messages: The first, "use word variants," expands searches to include variations. For example, searching for "error" will include "errors." Fuzzy searches, the second option, allow for misspellings. Either search requires a full-text index to the database. Note that this must be done by an administrator, and it can take up to approximately 20 percent of the database size. Also note that documents in excess of 6 MB (including attachments) are not indexed.

The calendar frameset is loaded with options and can be viewed in a variety of formats: one or two days, one week, two weeks or one month. Clients can schedule a meeting and create a new appointment, anniversary, reminder or event. As with Novell GroupWise 5.5e WebAccess, the iNotes calendar tracks to-do items or tasks. When you create a new calendar entry, you are prompted with the basics: subject, beginning and ending dates, and entry type. Unlike WebAccess, however, iNotes doesn't include a handy pull-down menu to select day, date and time; users have to enter this information.

You can send invitations from your personal address book or the domain address book, using the scheduler to check invitees' calendars for conflicts and identify a convenient date and time. As in WebAccess, iNotes users can also schedule rooms or resources for events. But unlike WebAccess, there is no "Busy Search" to view other calendars without assigning the appropriate rights to users. This must be done outside the browser, limiting iNotes' ability to share calendar functions among Web clients without Notes on the desktop.

Sending the memo notifies invitees, who can easily view other invitees as well as see recurring dates and times. WebAccess simply sends invitees separate messages for recurring events. Delivery options for meetings let the sender receive delivery reports, set priorities and request return receipts. Senders can also mark the message to prevent counter-proposals and delegation.

Lotus iNotes users have a plethora of preferences in the browser interface to set for mail and calendar functions. Unlike WebAccess, which requires a 32-bit Windows client to set most preferences, iNotes users can set formatted replies with an offset character (> or >>), automatically append their signatures to the bottom of outgoing messages and configure default-time availability Sunday through Saturday, all through a browser window. Users can also set calendar preferences to process all meeting invitations automatically or to restrict the autoprocess to individual users. Like WebAccess, iNotes users can delegate or proxy another user or group to read, send and edit any document in a mail file and read and edit calendar entries.

Lotus iNotes surpasses WebAccess in functionality. It can save memos as drafts and categorize to-do lists or tasks into hierarchical schemes. In WebAccess, drafts must be trashed and there are no task categories, only priorities.

Although iNotes lacks the autoresponse feature available in Ipswitch Imail Server, Microsoft Exchange 2000 Server Outlook Web Access (OWA), Critical Path's InScribe Internet Messaging Server Web Mail and Novell Internet Messaging System (NIMS), it provides rules for users to specify conditions and exceptions to processing incoming mail. Depending on the conditions set, mail can be moved or copied to a folder, or deleted. Conditions can apply to all parts of a mail message, including the sender, subject, body, and even Internet domain and message size in bytes. We successfully set up a rule to process mail and moved it into a new folder with ease. Note that it's just as easy to set up a filter for a domain or server and move potentially offensive mail to the trash.

The iNotes address book appears as a folder in the mail frameset. Highlighting it provides access to personal contacts, similar to the way OWA works. Like the other products, iNotes lets users edit and maintain their own contacts and personal address books, while having read-only access to a systemwide address book.

Lotus iNotes R5 (R5.03), $50 per user, Lotus Development Corp., (800) 343-5414, (617) 577-8500; fax (800) 859-8369, www.lotus.com.