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Will Windows Vista impact future upgrades to Microsoft CRM?

Our company is not intending to install Windows Vista anytime soon. Will this eventually impact our ability to run future versions and upgrades to Microsoft Dynamics CRM?

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Microsoft has traditionally been very reasonable about providing support for their platforms for years after new releases come to market. Even as Windows Vista is released, there are a number of organizations that are still successfully running Windows 2000 and XP. Over time these organizations may move to Vista, but the business community traditionally has been less eager to migrate platforms than the home user community.

This being said, Microsoft Dynamics CRM users can take advantage of two key features in Windows Vista. The first, Vista Gadgets, are mini-applications that display weather, time, news, traffic, and other data on the desktop. Dynamics CRM activities, reports, and alerts can also be displayed as gadgets. The second, BitLocker Drive Encryption, ensures that all data, including CRM data, is encrypted on the user's laptop, should the laptop be compromised or stolen.

At the end of the day, you likely do not need to worry about immediately upgrading to Windows Vista in order to take advantage of Dynamics CRM. You may, however, want to evaluate Office 2007, and specifically the new reporting and analytics capabilities of Excel 2007, especially when integrated with Dynamics CRM.

This was first published in March 2007

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