CNET has a very good interview with Bernard Liautaud who is Chief Executive of Business Objects. His vision for Business Intelligence has enabled BO to grow at an impressive rate. Whilst we can criticise the technical support problems which have occurred in the Crystal product range since they acquired Crystal Decisions, we have been mightily impressed by how smoothly the product integration has gone.

The points regarding competition from Microsoft are not particularly well made by the interviewer. The new features in Reporting Services for SQL Server 2005 look like they could have a mjor impact on the BO bottom line in Microsoft-only accounts. The near-zero price of Reporting Services is something BO can have no answer to, without doing something extreme like OpenSourcing Crystal. Obviously, BO will continue to thrive in heterogeneous and non-MS environments but I know we cannot be the only ones looking at MS Reporting Services as a potential replacement for Crystal moving into 2006 for some engagements.