Nicest looking Java App : Hannover

I must say that the next version of the Notes desktop client (code named: “Hannover”) is one of the nicest looking java applications I’ve ever seen.

Screenshots are available here.

What’s “Hannover” you ask?

• “Hannover” is the next feature release of Notes after 7.0. A ship date isn’t being announced today. Technical previews of this release are targeted for early 2006. Notes/Domino updates have been shipping on a 12-18 month cycle since 6.0, and the intent is to continue that.
• “Hannover” is targeted for Windows, Macintosh, and Linux client platforms.
• “Hannover” is Notes, based on the IBM Workplace client technology. We’ve been discussing this conceptually since Lotusphere 2005. It will do everything that Notes has always done, but leverage the new client architecture. This inevitably leads to questions about how customers will upgrade to that client environment. It’s too soon to lay that out in detail, but the intention is to make that transition seamless, using tools like the existing SmartUpgrade process.
• *A lot of what you are seeing in “Hannover” is evolution of the soon-to-be-shipping Notes plug-in for the Workplace client technology — already part of Notes 7.0. So even “today” (next quarter), you’ll be able to integrate Notes with other Workplace client apps, including Activity Explorer, Workplace Documents, etc. *
• I’ll add that “Hannover” is based on Eclipse. Pretty cool eh?

You can read Ed Brill’s blog post for more information.

Quick post on RoR

I played around with Ruby on Rails tonight for a couple of hours. I guess I’ve joined the masses now.

It’s pretty cool. Enuf said. Cool enough to push XUL onto the back burner for the next short whle.

A pretty slick little framework. Simplier than but similar to what I’m used to in Struts, without the need to maintain an ever changing configuration file. Quite amazing how simple it was to prototype something when the web framework handled the initial pass at form construction. I don’t have any particularily complicated database relationships (ie. avoiding many-to-many join tables) so scaffolding has worked well so far.

I admit that I’m just getting into it but I’ve thought up with a little project involving Flickr and RoR that should force me a little bit deeper into the framework’s functionality. I should also mention that I was impressed with Scott Raymond’s insanely easy to use Ruby wrapper around the Flickr API.

That’s enough excitement for tonight.

Are you down with Flickr hacks?

If you live this side of Mars, you’ve heard of Flickr.

If you have a dog, you’ve probably already published a Flickr hack and have it listed here.

Jeff Atwood has written a short piece on flickr hacks and includes a brief summary of some pretty cool extensions to the Flickr API.

I must admit, many of them are pretty slick.