I’m willing to bet that Simon Hutson wins the most popular Microsoft CRM blogger contest today.  He posted a summary of the latest and greatest regarding the next installment of Microsoft CRM, and it looks pretty!

Dynamics CRM 5.0's gonna purrrrr...

Microsoft CRM 5.0 screenshots look modern and Office 2007-ish, with the Ribbon interface.  I’ve posted some of Simon’s screenshots (below), but be sure to check out his article here for the full scoop.

Highlights of what’s new in Microsoft Dynamics CRM 5.0 (due sometime in 2010):

• Presentation
  • Enhanced user experience with the Ribbon interface.
  • Single page forms – no more tabs!  Pages are links on the left nav bar.
  • In-line Reports – allows charts to be embedded where the Form Assistant in v4 typically pops out.
• Functionality
  • Data Filtering available on the List View of records.
  • Team Ownership security model.
  • Native SharePoint integration.
  • Unstructured Relationships – allows definition of ad-hoc relationships.
• Administration
  • More customizable form layout options.
  • More options with filtered lookups in form customization.
  • Customize Headers and Footers to display record information.
  • Solution Management – enhanced ability to manage customizations to your CRM build.
  • Multiple Option Sets, also known as global picklists across multiple entities.
  • Drag-and-Drop Form Editor
  • Data Audit capability
• Developers
  • Custom Code Sandbox
  • Plug-in Transaction Support
  • Automatic Plug-in Profiling

CRM 5.0 Account record - Ribbon interface

CRM 5.0 Opportunity record - Inline charts

CRM 5.0 Campaign - Event management

Tags: CRM 5.0, Microsoft, Microsoft Dynamics CRM