To launch Notes 8 (Basic Configuration), create a shortcut on your desktop to point to nlnotes.exe in the Notes program directory. Or, simply launch nlnotes.exe. In addition, you can create a shortcut which executes notes.exe within the Notes program directory and add one of two command line switches, -sa or -basic. For example: C:\Program Files\Lotus\Notes\notes.exe -sa.
As of Notes 8.0.2 and Notes 8.5, there is a Notes.ini parameter that can be used to control launching of Basic and Standard. Adding UseBasicNotes=1 to a Notes Standard install will launch Notes Basic instead. If the ini is not present or is set to UseBasicNotes=0, the Notes Standard client will run.