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8.5.2 unleashed with some really nice features

Darren Duke  April 19 2010 11:14:40 AM
Either I'm not on a specific mailing list, or I need to read the managed beta and/or DP forums more closely, because over the weekend the NDA for 8.5.2 was lifted for 8.5.2 CD (code drop) 4 and later.

This post is about beta software and as such there is no guarantee by IBM that these features will be in shipping code.

Anyway, with Erik Brook's post about the NDA being lifted, I toodled over to the forum, and sure enough there was a comment from Ed allowing use freedom......

So, how does 8.5.2 CD 4 look? Very nice. The client seems a whole lot snappier on my Thinkpad, with emails opening at a cracking pace. As both Stuart McIntyreand John Head have blogged about, you can now have colored icons of various types and colors. One less thing to use to bitch at the LS11 "Beat the Developers" session ;)

For XPages, see Erik post above, but the ability to tie an agent to an in memory XPage is well overdue ...

Stuart also posted about the new, multi-threaded replicator page that is pretty neat and just zooms along.

So what else? Well, my favorite new shiny ball of tin foil is local replica control by the administrator. Yes, yes, yes, local replica control by the administrator has been pretty bad, but keep reading......I had alluded to this in a comment on my use a local replica post a few weeks back. With 8.5.2 an administrator can completely control the use, and options of a local replica via policies. See the screenshot below of the new 8.5.2 additions to the Desktop Policy Settings document

Image:8.5.2 unleashed with some really nice features
As you may recall from my Remember to ODS51 local files post, it is a pain to convert local mail file users to ODS51. Well, IBM have just taken care of that for you. All the bitching and moaning that goes on around local replication of mail has been solved. Period.

Not just that, but take a close look above and you'll see a pretty cool option for triggering automatic replication when new mail has arrived. Pretty cool. And the "Silent failover" should reduce the ridiculous amount of pop up boxes a user sees when clustering faila over. Oh, and the Quickr icon has changed again:

Image:8.5.2 unleashed with some really nice features

For now that is is. Make sure to checkout Planet Lotus for other posts around 8.5.2 coming out of the closet....so to speak.
Comments

Gravatar Image  1Steve  4/19/2010 4:33:46 PM  Local Db Replicas

As for the new local replica controls:

Anything to help prevent replication of a database past the deletion stub removal timeframe. We have problems with local replicas where users don't replicate a DB for months then replicate back deleted documents.

Seems like IBM planned to address that, but I have never seen any such feature.

Gravatar Image  2Darren Duke  4/19/2010 4:34:58 PM  Local Db Replicas

Not in 8.5.2 CD4 there isn't. Funny you should ask as this was a requested feature when this new functionality was demo'd the other (still NDA'd) week. Can't remember who asked, but I'd +1 it too. I really only have have 2 real pet peeves with Notes right now, deletion stubs issues/deleted documents being "resurrected" is one of them, the other is the 64K limit. With IBMs push to free designer (both figuratively and literally) I think a whole host of newbies are going to forgo the platform when this little gem hits them....and yes, it is in XPages too.

P.S. Two pet peeves is not a real limit.....I'm sure I have more but you'll need to search IdeaJam to find the others ;)

Gravatar Image  3Quin  4/23/2010 5:19:27 PM  Importing/Exporting Into/From Views

Have they finally added import and export support for ODS files? Please tell me Lotus 1-2-3 is still not in the list of files to import from. This is crazy that I even have to ask. When was the last copy of Lotus 1-2-3 even sold? I still have to keep my old copy of Excel 2000 on my PC to create WK4 files.

Gravatar Image  4Darren Duke  4/29/2010 11:18:38 AM  Importing/Exporting Into/From Views

Nope, no ODF support. 1-2-3 is still the format in this CD.

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