To make the most of this book, you need to have a virtualization environment with a 32-bit Windows 2008 R2 installed. I am using VMware workstation in the screencasts. The installation of the operating system is not covered by the book, which starts with the setup of a local SQL Server.

Adobe Flash is used in some examples and a PDF reader is needed to use the product documentation.

The use of a modern browser with support for HTML5 is mandatory during Chapter 13, MicroStrategy Express.