Lotus Notes 8 Basic is a viable upgrade option for those who are stalling because of machine requirements!

Please read Ed Brill's blog about this option. In short, many who are concerned with the resources to run a Notes 8 client in standard configuration should look at deploying the notes client but run the Notes Basic configuration on those machines which will requires waaaaay less resources than even Notes 7 required. Here are some details:

"Added the ability to install the 8.0.2 Notes Standard client, but launch the Basic client based on a Notes.ini parameter UseBasicNotes=1. This notes.ini parameter will allow external programs that launch Notes, such as a MailTo: URL, or launching an NSF file directly, to launch Notes in Basic mode if UseBasicNotes=1 is set in the Notes.ini. This will allow customers to rollout a single package, but define which users will launch Basic vs Standard via this Notes.ini parameter. For example, if a machine does not meet the hardware requirements of 8.0.2 Standard, but does for Basic, this will allow the client to launch in Basic mode until hardware has been upgraded. By default, this parameter is not in the Notes.ini and will launch the Standard client if it is omitted or set to 0. Notes.ini parameters can be pushed out via administrative policy, which make it easier for customers to centrally control this feature."