Tech Update: Now that Release 5 [of the Notes client and Domino Server] have been out for a while, what percentage of your customers who have developed custom applications have gone with Java instead of LotusScript? That was a really important part of opening up your whole architecture. How successful has that been?
Zollar: I would say that about half our customer base is doing unique applications around the Domino Notes Environment. And, of those probably 80 percent are using LotusScript. But, there's been a great deal of interest in Java. We have seen, across IBM--and certainly Lotus has been a part of that--a great interest in Java, especially J2EE and also the rest of the Java technologies. And we're seeing a growing use of that. That's part of what we'll talk about when we discuss the roadmap for our next generation technologies [at Lotusphere].
Tech Update: Are you going to provide tools to help people migrate from LotusScript to Java, or any other programming environment for that matter?
Zollar: Our view of migration is that we want to give customers the opportunity to use new things, while protecting the old things that they've used. Protecting customers' investments is a critical part of what we do. So, it is not as much a migration as it is "co-existence." How do you allow customers to do what they need to do, in the new environments, while they can continue to get productive use out of the existing environments that they've invested in?
Tech Update: Does that mean yes? Will there be something that will help them move onto Java?
Zollar: That means yes. But we see migration as being more of a co-existence. As customers build new applications, they'll be building them with new languages. Migrating from one language to another has always been something that's rather tricky in computer science. It doesn't matter whether you're going from Cobol to C or from C to Java: Language migration tools have always been problematic. So, the issue really has been--how do I protect the existing code that I write? [How do I] make it useful, and work in the environments that I use while I build the new code and the new languages?
Tech Update: The next upgrade for Notes and Domino--Rnext--is now in beta. When do you expect the code to freeze? Will it be called Release 6? And when will it ship to customers?
Zollar: Those are things that you'll have to come to Lotusphere to hear. Those are things that we want to be more specific about at Lotusphere. But to address the question--at least partially--[Rnext] is more into beta use (as opposed to testing). We've already got the quality and deployment criteria from those close customers and partners that are involved in the beta program (including, of course, IBM) that will drive its readiness. That being said, I assume that Rnext is undergoing serious evaluation, too, and it will be ready for customers in the second half of this year. Deployment activity will, I'm sure, begin occurring in 2003--probably even a little before.
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