Both RAS and BOE are for big companies with big budgets. You are basically putting all your reports on a central server so that they are easier to manage and distribute to employees. You can also store custom report objects in teh repository so that they can be shared among a team of report writers.

What you are doing is running Crystal Reports on your desktop computer which lets you preview them or export them to a common format (PDF, Word, etc) and email them to people. The desktop version doesn't give you the ability to do HTML preview.

Since you're new to Crystal Reports, you might benefit from getting a copy of my Crystal Reports Encyclopedia book. You can find out more about my books at Amazon.com or reading the Crystal Reports eBooks online.