Microsoft's Convergence conference for its Dynamics CRM and ERP customers and partners is a little over a week away. That means it's time for revised roadmaps,
Windows 7 Discount, more mashups and maybe even a new product or two on the business-app side of the Microsoft house. In the "possible new product" category,
Purchase Office 2007, I'm starting to hear rumblings about an "Office Client for Dynamics." I bet this is the front-end piece of what essentially would be the Microsoft competitor to "Duet." Duet is a product jointly developed and sold by Microsoft and SAP that integrates Microsoft Office with back-end SAP CRM and supply-chain business processes. Some on Microsoft's Dynamics team have wondered privately (and sometimes publicly) why Microsoft never touted the fact that Office also makes a great front end for Dynamics CRM and ERP products. In fact,
Office 2007 Professional Plus Key, newer versions of Microsoft's back-end business software is designed with Outlook and other elements of the Office family as the intended user interface. That customizable Office front-end is key to the Dynamics team's role-based computing strategy. If Microsoft finally is gearing up to pitch Office + Dynamics as the equivalent of Duet,
Office 2010 Product Key, someone needs to think about branding. "Office Client for Dynamics" doesn't have quite the same ring to it as Duet…What about "Trio"? "######tet"?