IBM targets Microsoft .NET developers

IBM is drawing on some Web 2.0 weaponry to push developers into dumping Microsoft as a collaboration and messaging platfrom and adopting Java and Lotus.

The company has announced Lotus Expeditor, an Eclipse-based environment for building what IBM has called a "universal" client spanning current Lotus products and the planned "Hanover" release of its Domino email and collaboration server.

According to IBM, Lotus Expeditor lets WebSphere Portal, Lotus Forms and Lotus Sametime users "extend their current applications world beyond the desktop."

Lotus Expeditor is the latest shot in IBM's effort to tempt developers away from Microsoft. The platform lets developers migrate Viusal Basic .NET code to Java 2 Enterprise Edition (J2EE) through work with partner Mainsoft.

Lotus Expeditor features wizards, templates and a portal enabling developers to build mashups, such as a Voice over IP plug-ins to instant messaging for display via a browser on mobile devices. Also launched is Lotus Mobile Connect to manage centrally connections to applications by users, something missing with .NET and Visual Basic, according to IBM.®