Lotus Notes 8.5 to fully support Ubuntu Linux 7.0 in mid-'08

The Open Collaboration Client software includes advanced e-mail and calendar capabilities, unified communication and collaboration functions and general word processing, spreadsheet and presentation capabilities with Open Document Format (ODF) support. The Open Collaboration Client is built on Lotus Expeditor, which is based on the open source Eclipse Rich Client Platform.

Mark Murphy, vice president of alliances for Canonical Ltd., the commercial sponsor of Ubuntu Linux, said in a statement that the availability of Notes and Symphony for use with Ubuntu will be a "win for customers everywhere. Canonical is committed to bringing the best available productivity tools to its users on an open platform. Ubuntu users will now have an outstanding choice with Lotus Notes, while businesses will have a great choice with Lotus Domino. From a technical viewpoint, we are impressed how Lotus leverages the Eclipse platform to build and deliver rich client applications. This is an exciting development for Ubuntu users, too."