Dynamics CRM 2011 R9 update

By now most of us with knowledge of the roadmap know the details of the R8 update coming in Q2 2012. The key new capabilities are under the following basic categories: Mobility, Browser flexibility, Enhanced Social capabilities, Industry Solution Templates, SQL Server 2012 and Certifications.

For more details, you can read the Release Preview Guide from the Microsoft Dynamics CRM website below:
http://crmpublish.blob.core.windows.net/docs/ReleasePreviewGuide.pdf


I was reading this interesting article in zdnet that goes a bit further than R8 and actually starts speculating on what might be available in the R9 release later this year.

Here is the link to the article:
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/microsoft/whats-on-tap-for-microsofts-dynamics-crm-r9-update-later-this-year/11975

Two main areas are addressed in the above article.

1. Integration of Dynamics CRM with  Microsoft’s "Project Vancouver", which provides social analytics capability
2. Tight integration (especially with data) available in the Windows Azure Marketplace.

A couple of lines on Microsoft’s "Project Vancouver":

For those who are interested, we the users can provide feedback on Microsoft's social analytics capability codenamed "Social Analytics". The following link will walk you through getting setup and accessing the social media data using the web-based client and the API.
https://connect.microsoft.com/BusinessPlatform/socialanalytics

Here is a screen shot of a Social Analytics UI.