Apr 19 2017 19. April 2017 25. May 2021 by Nele Zymek

IBM Notes alias Lotus Notes

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Die vielen Namen von Notes Übersicht auf Papierberg

There is some confusion around the name of the known database system. In everyday language, the abbreviation “Notes” has partially become established, although it is often also called Lotus Notes, as it was still called that until 2013. From March 2013 Notes was officially renamed to IBM Notes.

IBM Notes was also called Lotus Domino on the server side, which led to the fact that in addition also the name Lotus Domino, short “Domino” was established.

In summary, one can say that currently IBM Notes has established itself as the term for users (which many users abbreviate to “Notes” in everyday language) and for software developers and administrators, Lotus Domino or “Domino” will also be used on the server side. In addition, the terms Notes and Domino database are still used in everyday life.

Small history of names of IBM Notes

  1. In the 70’s, an application was developed at the University of Illinois, which was supposed to work similar to a pinboard for messages – this is how this application was called “Notes”, in reference to classical notepads.
  2. In 1984 graduates of the CERL founded the company “Iris Associates”, which oriented itself close to the former company “Lotus”, so in 1985 a first Windows capable version, called “Lotus Notes” came on the market. Until 1991 one could not buy Lotus Notes officially, however, it was used only in the context of projects.
  3. In 1988 Iris was taken over by Lotus
  4. 1989 / 1991 / 1993: Release of versions 1.0, 2.0, 3.0 (at this time called “Lotus Notes”)
  5. In 1996 IBM bought Lotus after version 4.0 had been completed. The new user interface and the LotusScript programming language were introduced at Lotusphere.
  6. 1996 Lotus changes the brand name on the server side to “Domino 4.5” with the release of Notes 4.5.
  7. 1999 with the release of the version 5.0 a platform independence of the Notes databases is reached and a complete Internet integration is made possible. Almost all Notes functionalities can now be used via common Internet browsers.
  8. 2002: Lotus Notes 6 and Lotus Domino 6 are introduced.
  9. 2005: Lotus Notes and Domino 8 are presented at the IBM Lotus Technical Forum in Hannover and were released in 2007. The Lotus Notes 8 client is now based on the Eclipse framework. Until 2015 improvements and upgrades to the current version 9.0.1 FP4 followed again and again.
  10. 2013 version 9 was renamed to IBM Notes.

Here you can find a nice overview with screenshots