Microsoft CRM + Windows 7 + Internet Explorer 8?

March 6, 2009 by JFerguson 

if you’re one of the brave who have upgraded to Windows 7 Beta, or are still planning too, this post has some great news for you!

 

he first thing you’ll notice in Windows 7 is the cleaned up desktop (no sidebar!) and the new taskbar at the bottom. I even kinda like the new default wallpaper too. :)

7desktop

Firing up Internet Explorer 8 and browsing to a Microsoft CRM website appears pretty much the same as usual.

7-signin

After you sign in, the activities page and the other pages appear to behave the same as Internet Explorer 7. I clicked around to a few different records but didn’t notice anything different. However after opening a few windows, I did notice that the taskbar is quite different. Instead of adding "rectangles" (for lack of a better word) in the taskbar, Windows 7 simply updates the IE icon. After you add multiple windows, you might notice that Windows 7 adds vertical lines to the right of the IE icon to indicate the multiple windows are open. If you hover over the IE icon, you’ll see a preview of the open browser windows (complete with page titles)! This guy from Wired was really excited about that.

7-multiplewindows2

I found that the text on the preview records was too small to read. However it is nice to be able to close individual records through this preview without having to open the browser window (simply click the red X in the upper-right corner of the preview). Also, if you hover your mouse over a preview window it brings that record to the top so that you can read it. I have only played with this new taskbar for a little bit but I think I will actually use it (unlike the Flip 3D feature in Vista which looks great but never gets used).

Right-clicking the IE icon in the taskbar presents you with a Jump List that includes your browsing history which is nice and convenient. You can select previous Web pages and back up from there.

7-multiplewindows3

Overall, I was pleasantly surprised that Windows 7 and Internet Explorer 8 seemed to handle Microsoft CRM just fine! The only time I was able to get it to act funky was by playing with the compatibility view setting (the button to the right of lock icon in the address bar) and toggling it off and on repeatedly. By doing so, I noticed that the left navigation got screwed up a little, but a quick F5 refresh cleared up the issue immediately.

7-compatmode

We have staff internally here running Windows 7 as their day to day operating system, and so far have been very impressed with the speed and stability of the system - so if you’d like to see this in action – drop me an email and we can organise a demonstration.

 

‘til next time!

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