Microsoft commits to Dynamics NAV yearly upgrades, promotes a free trial

(Editor's note: This article was updated to correct the following point: Microsoft did not commit to a price change for Dynamics NAV, they commited to lowering the cost of upgrade via technical innovation.)

In a Convergence 2014 presentation on Microsoft Dynamics NAV 2013 R2, the NAV team's big emphasis was on simplicity, multi-tenancy, and multi-platform capabilities.

To drive home the positioning, the NAV team announced a seven-week free trial of the latest release of NAV on Windows Azure and with Office 365. The limited-time offer is available at http://www.trydynamicsnav2013.com, and ends April 25. Though the offer came from Dynamics NAV representatives on stage, this freebie is actually a promotion  from Microsoft partner 1ClickFactory, which also sells self-provisioning for Microsoft Dynamics NAV on Windows Azure and in Office 365.

NAV General Manager Erik Tiden committed to shipping yearly releases, beginning with NAV "Crete", also known as NAV 2015, later this year. It will be run on multiple devices, with an emphasis on Power BI, document reporting, and the theme of "One Microsoft" (i.e., working with Office 365).

"[Crete] will create a uniform experience across different platforms," Tiden said.

To emphasize the point, Jesper Raebild, manager of Dynamics NAV product marketing, demonstrated how Crete will operate on a tablet, and adjust as the tablet is tilted by showing up sideways.

He also committed to lowering costs. "We will make it less expensive to upgrade," he explained by committing to continued technical innovation.

After NAV 2015, the emphasis will be to "get a lot done with applications....Next year will be more about the applications." He demurred on offering details. "I cannot tell you in ...