One of my readers finally asked me what I thought of CR being split into two different products and which way I recommended people go.   So I guess it is finally time to say something, although even now I am not sure what to say.  When CR 2011 was released there was a parallel product released called “SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise”.  This is a version of CR that is tailored to work within the Enterprise environment.

No customers have called asking me to work or teach in this environment, so I am not ready to invest any time in it.  Also, things seem a bit fluid so I am not really sure where the chips will fall.  For a while it sounded like CR 2011 was the end of the line for ‘stand-alone’ Crystal Reports, based on statements like this from the product wiki:

“SAP Crystal Reports for Enterprise is the foundation for all future releases of Crystal Reports.”

But this has lots of wiggle room.  I have a hard time believing that they will stop producing a stand-alone product.  Additional wording that has been added more recently seems to indicate that standalone CR will be around for a while:

“Even when we have closed the major gaps between Crystal Reports for Enterprise and Crystal Reports 2008, we will continue to deliver and support minor enhancements to the Crystal Reports 2008 / Crystal Reports 2011 line of products. This will be required as not every feature from the designer and associated SDKs will be moved into the Crystal Reports for Enterprise product line.”

So it sounds to me like there will be parallel products indefinitely. That is good because Crystal Reports for Enterprise only available to users in an in Enterprise  environment.  If that ever becomes the only way to use CR then I will start looking for another tool.  I am sure that I won’t be alone.