Originally 9.0.2 was scheduled for release in late 2015.

Then February 2016 (this would have been 28 months since 9.0.1 shipped)

Then 2H 2016.

Then 2017.

Now, well,  never (if the scuttlebutt at MWLUG is to be believed, and I do believe it).

It was pushed for many reasons, notably to get Verse out of the door. As I mentioned in this post (9.0.2 where for art thou?) and this one (my customers don't want mail next) I've ranted and raved about this before.

To no avail.

Well, it seems some genius (<---sarcasm alert) at IBM has decided to not release 9.0.2 but to roll some (most?) of those features into the upcoming FP7 (and FP8?) release(s). At least we'll (allegedly) get Java 8 and AES port encryption at some point . I guess there is that.

So why would IBM kill a release that is all but ready to ship? I can only fathom one reasonable answer to this.....to forgo the need to support Notes/Domino for a further 5-7 years. I believe a fix pack is only supported as long as IBM want to support it (unless someone can guide me to an IBM document saying otherwise....a quick Google yielded no real answer to this), which is a whole metric shit ton less than 5-7 years. I also think that IBM is going to change the "fix pack" nomenclature, and this was alluded to in several IBM presentations at MWLUG, mainly, I believe as Domino is required for Verse On-Prem (VOP). Still it does look like this is the end of the line for the Notes client (not really a shock) and any semblance of a Domino app-dev strategy (kind of a shock).

Yet again, IBM is causing itself a decent dose of customer hate and migrations with their lack of communication, messaging and approach. You'd think both they and I would learn from this, alas I keep hoping for better for IBM. More fool me, right?

If I'm wrong about 9.0.2, I'm sure an IBM executive will post here. If I'm correct, no doubt I'll get a threatening phone call or two.
Darren Duke   |   August 24 2016 01:42:42 PM   |    902  domino  notes    |  
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Comments (15)

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1 - Tom Duff       08/24/2016 2:32:32 PM

<crickets...>

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2 - Nicki    http://www.nickifaulk.com/    08/24/2016 3:18:21 PM

On July 19th, I opened a PMR asking about this and the response I got from Ruth was "I am truly sorry for the inconvenience that this has caused you, but unfortunately, we still don't have an ETA for 9.0.2. Based from the Fix Central, the next version that will be released is 9.0.1 FP7 which is due on September, but we still don't have any information regarding the release date of 9.0.2."

On July 25th, I got a follow-up from Linor who added "Additionally, an official announcement by IBM is coming in September 2016 with an update to the life cycle policy for IBM Notes and Domino 9.0.x."

To date I have received nothing further from IBM Support except to ask if they could please close the PMR. (to which I keep refusing of course)

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3 - Michael       08/25/2016 1:39:52 AM

So did you get a phonecall ?

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4 - Ralf M Petter    http://www.everythingaboutit.eu    08/25/2016 1:48:06 AM

My employeer is a heavy user of the Notes clients. We have extended the Notes client with many plugins which provides CTI, Unified Communications and great analytics capabilities. If IBM will kill the client our company will loos many 20 years of development and i am sure our CIO will never ever base the IT of our company on an IBM solution. So IBM if you want that we will be a customer in the future, provide support for the Notes client for the next 10 years. And with support do i mean that the frameworks like Java, Eclipse... used in the client will be upgraded to recent versions.

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5 - Darren Duke    https://blog.darrenduke.net    08/25/2016 5:43:31 AM

@3, no call yet. But also no response here.

@4, the real issue is that IBM couldn't stick to one "way" to accomplish client-side extensions. To me, it looks like it's at the whim of the general manager as to which was the "extension point du jour". "Use Eclipse", "Stop, use composite apps", "No, now use Xpages", "No, use Connections and surface it with Social Edition". There are a lot of basic management (the MBA type management) mistakes in these decisions and unfortunately (and not for the first time) it is the customer who will pay the immediate price. IBM seems to have migrated from a "build it and they will come", to a "destroy it and they will stay" philosophy. This is a pretty obvious management mistake, if for no other reason than their "don't say ANYTHING, and stick your head in the sand" is affecting their message that they wish to convey (I'm presuming IBM have a message).

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6 - Adam Osborne       08/25/2016 6:17:52 AM

Darren,

When OS/2 slid into the abyss, they decided to release "convenience packs", { http://www.os2voice.org/VNL/past_issues/VNL0401H/vnewsf2.htm I bet this is what the brains trust comes up with.... } I bet this is what the brains trust comes up with....

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7 - Ed Brill       08/25/2016 8:29:21 AM

To comment on the support point specifically, in the next few weeks we will announce formally that support for 9.0.x will be extended to 2021. It doesn't depend on a version update. And as you note, things originally expected in 9.0.2 are going to come in what are currently called fixpacks. I haven't decided what to call the update with Verse on Premises yet.

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8 - Stuart McIntyre    http://stuart-mcintyre.com    08/25/2016 10:11:38 AM

Thanks Ed, so the natural follow on question would be...

Why not call the next update 9.0.2?

If it's not for support reasons, then what is the rationale? Seems weird to make this call and thus raise more concern in the community if there's nothing in it for IBM?

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9 - John Ryan    http://www.docova.com    08/25/2016 10:38:29 AM

The Notes client is gone. It doesn't matter if IBM supports it at all at this point. The ball has been dropped. The fat lady has sung. Darren is correct...dead...canceled...killed.

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10 - Gary Walsh    http://www.docova.com    08/25/2016 10:47:53 AM

My guess is the reason a Fix Pack is coming out with new functionality vs calling it 9.02 is that it avoids all the costs related to an official point release. If that is correct, and IBM extends the support for 9.0x to 2021, it sends a pretty clear message that the Notes client is done. Darren has captured in his blog post what everyone at MWLUG was saying.

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11 - Darren Duke    htps://blog.darrenduke.net    08/25/2016 11:48:48 AM

@ 7, Ed, I've always admired the Salesforce naming convention, 'Summer '16" for instance. This make it very obvious that if you are in Winter of 2017 then you are *way* behind in features, etc. With fix packs it's always a crap shoot as to knowing if what you are on is the latest or the latest -1, latest -n, etc.

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12 - Greg Walrath       08/26/2016 9:34:18 AM

This reminds me of recently getting back in to WebSphere Commerce Server. When I was last involved with it several years ago, WCS 7.0 had just come out (11/09). Now that I'm a little more involved again, I thought surely there's been a new, major release in the last 7 years.

Nope, still on 7.0. Granted, lots of updates and feature packs, but no new point version, not even 7.1.

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13 - Bernd Webster    http://www.lotus-expert.com    08/29/2016 1:07:54 AM

Maybe they will do exactly the same Microsoft is doing with Windows 10. There will be no other version and they will then release inplace upgrades. This isn´t that bad ...

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14 - Luis Guirigay       09/01/2016 1:42:23 PM

I know I work for IBM now, but putting my consultant hat on (which I wore for 15+ years) I think moving into a "continuous delivery model" where new features are added in a way where customers can decide if they want to implement or not based on their own needs is pretty smart. I remember doing major upgrades every 3-4 years for large customers where they asked to disable/enable specific features, vs with "continuous delivery", customers can decide what they want and just do minor updates when needed.

This strategy is not IBM only, or Notes/Domino only... other vendors and products are following the same strategy. In fact, this model allows OnPrem customers to experience new features faster, with less risk and work and of course be more in parity with what Cloud customers are experiencing.

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15 - Darren Duke       09/01/2016 2:41:12 PM

@14, Luis, thank you for taking to the time to explain this. I have no issue with continuous delivery model, in fact I applaud it. Where I have an issue is with the lack of message on IBM's part that this was the plan. If a tree falls in the woods kind of metaphor, how the hell are IBM partners and, more importantly, IBM customers supposed to find out about this type of change? 9.0.2 has been almost ready (in various forms) for quite a while now (at least that's the perception I have), so why, at 1000+ days since 9.0.1 was released are we just finding about this change? I've said this before and I'll say it again, either you (IBM) control the message, or the message controls you.