If you launch NLNOTES.exe you won't get a splash screen.

The main reason the splash screen exists is not for self promotion, but to let the user know something is going on. On slower machines, without the splash screen, users tend to repeatedly click on the notes icon, causes notes to attempt to load multiple times.

Agree with Carl. You have the option to bypass it now. However, why not have a command-line parameter too on notes.exe enabling you to avoid the splashscreen?

@Carl: you don't need that huge splash screen to tell the user something's going on. A little notification would be sufficient.

In Notes 7 and 8 basic you can click on it and it disappears. I think that's the best solution. I wish this would be able for 8 standard, too.

If it shaved several seconds off the load time of R8 my vote could be bought :)

I can understand that the user may need to know that something is happening, but does the screen have to be on top of everything. It's rude that you can't do anything else while Notes is loading just because of their silly splash screen.

You can just delete or replace C:\Program Files\IBM\Lotus\Notes\framework\shared\eclipse\ plugins\com.ibm.notes.branding_8.0.1.20080214-1630\splash.bmp with your own picture.

@3, clicking on the splash dismisses it in ND6.x too. In fact I think it does in R5. It would be less intrusive if it was not Always On Top; most users don't think/know to click on it to get rid of it, but try clicking on another window they are working with to carry on with another task.

In general splash screens are a good idea. Unless you can start in under a couple of seconds it's the best way for a user to know that the app is starting. To many users would miss a more subtle notification like in the toolbar.

As a test, I just launched Notes (8.0.1) and clicked the window behind and the splash screen disappeared (i.e., the window, a browser, got focus.)

What's the problem, again?

Maybe you could make it look more like Outlook?

I have been training end users in Lotus Notes for 11 years, I have heard many, many complaints but never one about the splash screen.