Lotus Quickr will ship June 29, 2007. Only 10 days from today. Here’s the release. The 4th and 5th bullet are what we at SNAPPS been working with for the last months.
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IBM Lotus Quickr 8 Expedites Team Collaboration
Open, intuitive standards-based Web 2.0 tool eases users into a more collaborative work style
with comprehensive Lotus and Microsoft integration
Armonk, NY…June 19, 2007…IBM (NYSE: IBM) today announces the June 29th availability of IBM Lotus® Quickr 8 software, an open standards-based team collaboration tool that helps teams inside and outside the company firewall easily and effectively work together across geographies, working styles and operating systems.Lotus Quickr provides a rich set of team collaboration capabilities, including blogs, wikis and team space templates supporting a variety of business processes to get a collaboration project up and running quickly. Already an enterprise-ready team collaboration offering supporting both Microsoft and Lotus software environments, Lotus Quickr interoperability will be further expanded with a connector to Microsoft Outlook software currently expected to be released in a beta program for Lotus customers this summer.
Easy to use and install with an intuitive Web 2.0 interface, Lotus Quickr software provides an easy way to share a wide range of business documents and access libraries through plug-ins called “connectors”. These connectors let end users work in their familiar desktop applications without impacting their work patterns – and access Lotus Quickr content directly from IBM Lotus Notes, IBM Lotus Sametime, Microsoft Windows Explorer and Microsoft Office software.
Through a beta testing program conducted since early 2007, IBM has taken feedback from dozens of customers and partners to improve Lotus Quickr 8 to meet the needs of the connected workplace. The result is a clean and user-friendly interface designed to ease users into a more collaborative work style and increase visibility of materials and contributors.
“IBM has developed an extremely competitive content and collaboration product with the ability to be extended and customized to meet specific business and industry needs,” said Daniel Lieber, president of Innovative Ideas Unlimited, Inc. “The Lotus Quickr interface is clean, consistent, and straight-forward. We found it to be very efficient for working with collaborative content and accomplishing tasks in a personal, workgroup, departmental, or enterprise environment.”
“Lotus Quickr integrates key Web 2.0 capabilities, such as blogs & wikis that expand the type of collaboration possible, and it provides a breadth of integration across everyday applications from Microsoft & Lotus delivering ease of access to content,” said Ken Bisconti, Lotus vice president of messaging and collaboration software. “This flexible tool bridges gaps in working styles and technical savvy — appealing both to workers embracing Web 2.0 internet content tools such as blogs and wikis along with those who are more comfortable accessing content from the familiar Microsoft Windows Explorer interface.”
Key benefits of Lotus Quickr include:
- Web 2.0 features that enhance usability: IBM has incorporated Web 2.0 technologies such as AJAX (Asynchronous JavaScript and XML) into Lotus Quickr to deliver an intuitive, integrated and high performing graphical Web-based user interface. This interface includes dynamic action menus that can be accessed through a right click, and easy drag and drop features to seamlessly move documents into team spaces. Lotus Quickr provides the ability to publish and consume Atom-based news feeds, publish team blogs, use the built-in wiki technology for creating content, and to assign tags and permalinks to content. It is easily customizable and extensible without requiring programming skills.
- Support for open standards, providing customer choice of vendor: Customers are free to mix and match products as they desire. Lotus Quickr integrates with Microsoft Office 2003 and 2007, Microsoft Windows Explorer on Windows XP and Windows Vista, IBM Lotus Notes 7 and 8 (with planned support for Lotus Notes 6.5) and Lotus Sametime 7.5. Lotus Quickr supports Microsoft Internet Explorer, Firefox, and Safari browsers, providing Web access from Windows, Linux, and Macintosh desktops. In addition, IBM currently plans to release a beta version of a Lotus Quickr connector for Microsoft Outlook this summer. IBM also currently plans to release migration and coexistence tools that will allow users to access content in existing Microsoft SharePoint and Exchange public folders via Lotus Quickr’s web 2.0-style collaborative user interface, or to migrate that content out of Microsoft repositories into Lotus Quickr, where it can be easily accessed and widely shared.
- Easy-to-use features that can be rolled out across enterprise: Many past efforts to create project spaces have been either difficult to use or were not enterprise-ready. Lotus Quickr makes it easy for any team member to get up and running with easy instructions on how to get started, a clean and simple user interface, tutorial style wizards that guide the user. Lotus Quickr also features helpful pop-ups that remind the user when they can opt to place a document inside a shared place rather than send it as an attachment to others.
- User-driven enhancements that reduce information overload and errors that come with sharing documents among team members through email: When documents are sent from a single user to a group for feedback, the process of tracking edits and changes over email can be inefficient and prone to error. Lotus Quickr allows check in and check out of documents to prevent simultaneous editing and versioning to track changes. In addition, wiki technolology provides an in-place Web editing option with history so a user can revert back to an earlier version of a page. The wiki and library views support posting comments about documents that are viewable in a pop-up screen by rolling the mouse over a document.
- Business application templates that provide immediate out-of-the-box value and support of common business processes: Lotus Quickr includes business templates, such as a meeting place, project management, image repository, dynamic surveys and more. All templates are customizable, allowing users to easily change the look and feel and add pre-built components, such as a team blog, a project calendar, or an announcement page.
- Future enhancements to Lotus Quickr include integration with IBM’s enterprise content management (ECM) systems. Customers will be able to use Lotus Quickr to collaborate on content and seamlessly leverage the world-class capabilities of IBM FileNet P8 and IBM DB2 Content Manager software to manage that content.
Lotus Quickr Pricing and availability: Prices will be announced at the time of availability on June 29. For more information, visit: ibm.com/lotus/quickrIBM, the IBM logo, DB2, Lotus, Notes, Quickr and Sametime are trademarks of IBM Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both. Microsoft and Windows are either registered trademarks or trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States and/or other countries.
FileNet is a registered trademark of FileNet Corporation, in the United States, other countries, or both.Microsoft and Windows are trademarks of Microsoft Corporation in the United States, other countries, or both.
Linux is a registered trademark of Linus Torvalds in the United States, other countries, or both.Other company product or service names may be trademarks or service marks of others.
The information above is based on IBM’s current product plans and strategy, which are subject to change by IBM without notice.