Comparison between Crystal Reports and Microsoft Reporting Services

Here is a question in this forum that gives a good discussion MS RS.

http://www.experts-exchange.com/Databases/Reporting_Tools/Q_21084841.html

I know little to nothing on MS RS but have extensive knowledge of Crystal.  We probably would have chosen MS RS instead of Crystal (cost main reason) but it wasn't available at the time.  We have MS SQL 7 and 2000 so the cost of MS RS would have been 0.

Crystal
-security; how is the access to reports handled and how is the security aspect handled?
  Crystal Reports itself doesn't address security.  You can buy Crystal Enterprise or use Crystal RAS to help with security but depending on your requirements Active Directory or a front-end application should be able to handle all your needs.

-development environment; need info on how reports are developed.
Crystal has its own integrated development environment.  I found it to be relatively easy to learn especially if you are familiar with other tools like MS Access reporting.
Crystal does give you the option to build the views and stored procedures in the database or the latest version has a Command feature which allows SQL to built for the report.

--Does any of these product make it easy for an end user to develop a report himself?
  Crystal really doesn't lend itself to users building their own reports mainly because each user would require his/her own license.  Also users would need knowledge of the database and the relationships which generally they don't have.

-integration on windows platform; is it possible to integrate Crystal Reports as a web part into Sharepoint?
Crystal can be integrated into a webb environment.  I don't use it in that way and am not familiar with what a sharepoint is.

-client Side; what products are required on the client to be able to view the reports?
Crystal requires you to have the Developer or Advanced version depending on hw you plan to display the reports.  If you opt for Crystal Enterprise then the Professional editiion is suffucient.

-rendering; can both products render the reports to multiple file formats?
If by render you mean export, then yes Crystal can export to numerous formats including HTML, Excel, Word (RTF), PDF,text and several others.

-scheduling; is it possible to schedule reports with Crystal Reports?
Scheduling is done either through Crystal enterpirse of your own applications.  Crystal Reports doesn't include any method of scheduling.

-delivery; may both products deliver reports as e-mail or to a file share?
Crystal Reports can be exported as a mail attachment or to a diskfile on the network.

Hope that helps

mlmcc