Its been about 10 days since I moved to IBM Notes 9 Beta. Before going in to the details of what I like, here are the details about the specific version I am running.

IBM Notes 9
Social Edition
Release 9.0
Revision 20121208.0805 (Build V90_CD6_12072012)
Standard Configuration
L-GHUS-8X8JDJ  

The Installation process

The install process took a little time for me since I did not uninstall the 8.5.3 version I was running (I know – my bad).  Once I figured it out, it was smooth sailing. Couple of interesting things there – the fact that we can install the browser plugin as an option in the install itself and the OpenSocial Components.
There were couple of options in the install screen I wondered about –

Why would we have Exchange Migration tools available as part of the standard install? Can’t this be hidden / optional in any other way? I can foresee atleast a few customers/admins ask unwanted questions about these options if they are going to be part of the IBM Notes 9 install as well.

Using IBM Notes 9

1. The release has been very stable so far with no issues in my normal functioning. It does seem a tad slower compared to my 8.5.3. For a fair comparison, I have turned on XPagesPreLoad = 1 and HTTPJVMMaxSize to 1/4 my memory. However, I have not done a “action to action” comparison.
2. The looks of it is great. I really love the blue colors and the calendar is a visual treat (this is with default settings).

Features I really like

1. Backward compatibility – I know I have been spoiled by IBM in this aspect because I don’t even wonder whether my older applications will work in the new version. They do, including a complex XPInC application with a lot of calculations.
2. Search in Email – this new search throws up better results than I have seen before.  It would have been awesome to have “click on column header to sort” for the results but this is good.
3. The fact that the original mail closes when I have completed forward / reply process – really smooth and makes it easier to keep the mind on the current task and my workspace does not get cluttered.

Features I am looking forward to trying out

• The notes browser plug-in
• OpenSocial component