The first beta, due out this fall, will include an ODF-compatible version of OpenOffice embedded in the Notes e-mail application. It will include word processing, spreadsheet, and presentation applications (or editors, as they are called), giving users the ability to create, edit, and save documents natively in ODF.

Amy Wohl, president of Wohl Associates, called the news significant on a number of levels.

"This is the way of getting the ODF standard out to a large number of users in a very short time and, since standards live or die on how many people use them, this gives it a jumpstart," Wohl said.

Code-named Hannover, the new Notes version will be available with the productivity editors included to all Notes users who are current on software maintenance contacts. IBM estimates that number at 125 million users.

ODF recently received strong support from the ISO standards body, which voted to approve the OpenDocument format as a specification.