Whether it is an improvement depends what you were using the exported report for.

There are many ways to get an account listing into Excel, including the ExcelDirect button on the various Grids, Drill down in the Financial Reporter, and File | Export | Transactions. Each of these methods may prove better for the task at hand (whatever it happens to be) than exporting the report, although that may be the method people are accustomed to using.
The move to SAP Crystal Reports 2013 was a requirement for the ongoing development of Adagio.