Microsoft releases stand-alone Outlook with CRM built-in
BetaNews | at | by Mike
The Contacts feature in Microsoft Outlook 2007 gets a huge overhaul, with a new version released this morning that includes a Business Contact Manager. But that new feature will be an option, and for some, a costly upgrade.
Since it was introduced as part of Exchange 5.5, Microsoft Outlook has had the ability to record contacts on a simple database stored on the client's system. As time went on, that contacts list was shared with Windows...for better or worse.
But the contacts system has essentially been a flat-file database, not a relational one. So while you could group contacts according to company, you couldn't exactly use that list as a way to maintain information that pertains to those contacts.