Mac users will be able to ring in the New Year knowing that IBM's Lotus Notes 7.0.2 client is now available for Mac OS X, offering enterprise users instant messaging, presence awareness, and Web 2.0 tools such as RSS technology and a blogging template. These Notes functions are already available for users of Linux and Windows operating systems.
Although Lotus Notes is primarily an enterprise tool, and Apple's Mac is mostly used by businesses in the limited sphere of art and publishing departments, the move will likely help consolidate the overlap many Mac diehards face.
"I've talked with Mac users, some of whom deployed two computers to their constituents' desktops -- a Mac for design and graphics and all the other things they use their Mac for, and a PC for Lotus Notes," Mike Mottola, IBM Lotus Notes and Domino Market manager, said in a statement.
The IBM release is also expected to help Apple garner more of the corporate desktop installed base, as the Cupertino, Calif.-based Apple tries to slug it out with Microsoft for more enterprise accounts.
