A technical collaboration between Microsoft and SugarCRM should enhance how SugarCRM’s product works on Windows Server platforms.
Attendees of the Open Source Business Conference at San Francisco’s Argent Hotel probably saw a couple of ironies at work. First would be the $1,495 conference fee for attending the event, which commenters observed would be paid to a conference on open and free business solutions.
The other irony would involve SugarCRM John Roberts discussing his firm’s new technical collaborator, Microsoft, which also competes with SugarCRM in the customer relationship management market with its Dynamics CRM solution.
Microsoft presented part of Roberts’ comments in a statement from the conference:
“We are excited about our collaboration with Microsoft, as it will allow our customers to capitalize on their existing Windows infrastructure by helping to speed deployment times and lowering overall costs,” said John Roberts, chairman and chief executive officer of SugarCRM. “In addition to this technical collaboration, the simplified language contained within the Microsoft Community License also provides a straightforward licensing option that meets the needs of our mutual customers.”
A new Sugar Suite 4.5 distribution will be released under those licensing terms. The Microsoft Community License offers two significant rights granted under those terms: a copyright grant and a patent grant.
Part of the collaboration focuses on the technical side of the software. It is recognized that a lot of customers run SugarCRM on Windows platforms. Microsoft described the areas for improvement:
Initially, the key areas for technical collaboration and architectural guidance are expected to focus on improved SugarCRM support for Internet Information Services (IIS) as well as optimization for Active Directory and Microsoft SQL Server, including SQL Express, SQL Server Workgroup and SQL Server Enterprise.
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David Utter is a staff writer for Murdok covering technology and business.
