Yellerdog

I''ve been using Lotus Notes on the Mac for some time now, starting wtih Release 7 and moving on to the 8.5 beta. With the release of 8.5 gold, I've been using a full version on my 2Gb Macbook for some time now.

All in all, things are good. Performance is acceptable, and just about all of the features I need are there. It looks great, and once it's open (which takes a bit), I tend to leave it open all day. Also, the preferences file is now a text file editable with TextEdit rather than a .plist file, which makes my life a lot easier. Plus the OS recognizes it as my default e-mail client. Replication is smooth and seamless as expected.

There are some hiccups that I would like to see addressed, however.

• Not all mail-enabled apps can take advantage of Notes as the default mail client.
• When I use some apps or the OS to "send a document" via E-mail, the file is often not attached. Sometimes a draft e-mail does not even appear.
• Performance is only adequate. My CPU is an Intel Core Duo, not a Duo 2, and I have just 2GB of RAM. Still, that's a pretty good machine, and Notes is my slowest app by far.
• The keyboard shortcuts, which I live by, are inconsistently applied. Alt-Enter opens up the properties box, but no combination of keys with F9 refreshes a view.

I am pretty far along in making the Mac my "home" platform, and Notes 8.5 was a critical step.

Now all I need is a Designer and Admin client in 8.5, and we'll be asll set.