Well I’ve done the download and got it up and running. It’s a large download as you need a WCS server available so that you can have credentials for logging in and also for deploying any applications you develop. The WCS install is the longest part but it’s a fully copy of WCS so you get to see what that’s like as part of the preview. As it’s a full WCS server you can also integrate it with your Domino LDAP server if you want.
I Haven’t done any development in it yet but I’ve had a quick look at the demo applications that come with it. The concepts from the Domino Designer are there in their basics with forms and views ( which are actually forms that list data so in a way you have a bit more control over the layout ), scripts and image resourses.
It’s a pity the provisioning server isn’t available so that we can have a look at the WorkPlace Rich Client on which it’s based. Having said that after I’ve finished reading the instructions and picking the sample apps apart I’d say that this should be of interest to current Domino developers, I appreciate it’s a beta and that it currently only runs on windows but I’m sure that theres a linux and mac version in the works as the rich client will be working on them also.