Here’s an interesting development: IBM made a Notes-related acquisition, buying PureEdge. PureEdge makes a set of XML-based forms tools– not too dissimilar from another familiar XML tool, InfoPath. Could it be that IBM is feeling the pain of having a relatively poor XML story in Notes and Domino? Are they trying to play catch-up? Maybe.
Microsoft is widely reported to be preparing a server-based version of InfoPath, which would give them a pretty complete story for form management on the client, the server, and the back-end (via WSS, SPS, and BizTalk). Looks like form-based application development will become another front in the IBM-MS platform battle. I’ll be interested to see how (or if) IBM integrates the new solutions into its products; clearly it’s too late for Domino 7.x, so I’d expect these to be part of a future Workplace technology release in some form.
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