Microsoft Dynamics CRM UR12 and Polaris: Clarifying the Differences for the Community

Early on in its public discussion of the Polaris release for Microsoft Dynamics CRM Online, Microsoft officials stated that some of the coolest features would not be released to the CRM on premise product until a later release.  In October 2012, we reported on this point:

The previously delayed semi-annual release cadence will begin again with Polaris later in 2012.  Polaris will be released only to Dynamics CRM Online, with Dynamics CRM On-Premise receiving only yearly release, starting with Orion and then, presumably, Vega in 2014. Polaris will include the new Flow user experience, cross-browser, Office 2013 compatibility, integration to Microsoft products including Skype, Yammer, and Bing Maps, as well as new pre-defined sales and service processes enabled in the Flow interface. 

The cross browser capabilities of Polaris will also be made available to on-premise Dynamics CRM customers through Update Rollup 12, planned for near the end of 2012, the panel told users.  But the Flow user interface will not be available to on-premise users until the Orion release in the spring of 2013.

These plans don't seem to have changed substantially, other than the fact the Polaris release pushed the iPad interface and Yammer integration out to February. But all corners of the CRM community apparently did not get the message.  Even late last week, after UR12 was fully re-released, CRM professionals told us that there was quite a bit of misunderstanding about what was and wasn't in UR12 compared to Polaris.

Sean McNellis, writing on the Dynamics CRM in the Field blog provides a more granular comparison of the components that are ...