Google Desktop vs. Microsoft CRM: Part 1

The world's worst kept secret: Google and Microsoft don't like each other.

What does that have to do with Microsoft CRM? Well, I probably shouldn't admit this but I like using Google's products such as their Desktop Search and Google Toolbar. Unfortunately, the Google Desktop software doesn't get along too well with Microsoft CRM...just like the companies that create these products. There is one minor documented issue regarding running Google Desktop on the same computer as Microsoft CRM. In addition we recently discovered a second (yet to be officially documented) issue caused by running Google Desktop with Microsoft CRM.

First, let's review the known Google Desktop issue per Microsoft Knowledge Base Article #906863 dated November 7th, 2005. When you launch the Microsoft CRM Web client on a computer running Google Desktop, the header background color disappears when the window finishes loading. This isn't a big deal because if you hit Refresh (F5) the color returns, but admittedly it is a little annoying.

We first noticed this issue last summer when we were testing the TAP1 builds of Microsoft CRM 3.0 (known as V.Next then). We assumed it was a bug in the code and that subsequent builds would fix it. However, when we got the TAP2 build the issue was still there. Eventually the light bulb went on and we realized this wasn't a Microsoft CRM problem...but one that Google Desktop causes!

Tomorrow we'll review a new undocumentated issue caused by Google Desktop that we recently discovered.