18 Dec 2009

Visual Studio 2010 Launch Pushed Back

Visual Studio, Visual Studio 2010
A couple of months ago it was announced that Visual Studio 2010 would launch on March 22, 2010.  Today, Microsoft announced that, due to extensive feedback (e.g. regarding performance issues, etc.), the official launch will be pushed back a few weeks. Because of the extended beta period, Microsoft will be providing a Release Candidate, currently scheduled for February, 2010, with a broad “Go Live” license. I believe this is a great move on Microsoft’s part as it will give them a little more time to “get it right” and will also provide the public with another “Go Live” version for…
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04 Dec 2009

TFS 2010 Beta 2 Power Tools Released

TFS, Utilities, Visual Studio 2010
For anyone that’s been using Team Foundation Server for any amount of time, odds are you’ve also been making use of the Team Foundation Server Power Tools (if not, then they’re well worth a look).  If you have been taking advantage of Team Foundation Server 2010 Beta 2’s “Go Live” license then you’ve had to make due without the enhanced functionality provided by the TFS Power Tools.  That is, until now. The Team Foundation Server 2010 Beta 2 Power Tools have been released and are now available for download.  Here are the links: Team Foundation Power Tools TFS MSSCCI Provider…
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10 Nov 2009

Cross Platform Support for TFS Gets Better

Team System, TFS, Visual Studio, Visual Studio 2010
Yesterday, Microsoft announced they will be purchasing the Teamprise-related assets of SourceGear.  The Teamprise tools allows software developers to take advantage of various features of Microsoft’s Team Foundation Server (e.g. work item tracking, automated builds, and reporting features) from other environments such as Macintosh- and Linux/Unix-based systems.  There is also an Eclipse plug-in that provides functionality almost identical to that of the Team Explorer client that integrates with Visual Studio. Having this technology more accessible (e.g. via Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate) will no doubt go a long way in helping development teams that work across multiple platforms (e.g. .NET, Java,…
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03 Nov 2009

Visual Studio 2010 “Live” Sessions

Visual Studio 2010
Starting today (November 3rd, 2010), a series of Microsoft Office Live Meeting sessions will be hosted presenting on various features of Visual Studio 2010.  Whether you’ve already spent a lot of time with the Visual Studio 2010 betas or you’re new to the product, these sessions will be a great source of information. Nov 3rd 10:00-11:00AM -Getting Started with IntelliTrace (formerly the “Historical Debugger”) by Habib Heydarian and Justin Marks Nov 4th 10:00-11:00AM - Getting Started with SharePoint Development in Visual Studio 2010 by Boris Scholl Nov 5th 9:00am-10:00am - A Lap Around Visual Basic in Visual Studio 2010 by…
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20 Oct 2009

Visual Studio 2010 – Links for Getting Started

Team System, Visual Studio, Visual Studio 2010
If you are venturing to try out the latest Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 release then you may be looking for as much information regarding this release as you can.  There is too much information available to condense into a single post so here are a few links to help get you started: Links & Downloads Visual Studio Home – this is the official Visual Studio home page.  You will be able to view information specific to each SKU, as well as download the latest beta, once the site is updated (hopefully tomorrow). Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 can be…
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19 Oct 2009

Visual Studio 2010 – Beta 2 Released

Team System, TFS, Visual Studio, Visual Studio 2010
Microsoft’s Visual Studio 2010 – Beta 2 is now available for download on the MSDN subscribers download site.  This is a milestone release for Microsoft for several reasons: This release (Visual Studio 2010 – Beta 2) is generally considered to be feature complete (barring any loud feedback concerning some missing feature that just can’t be left out) It comes with a “Go-Live” license.  This means that you can use Visual Studio 2010 and/or Team Foundation Server 2010 to produce production systems and the upgrade to the RTM version will be supported. The Visual Studio 2010 SKUs have been modified to…
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04 Oct 2009

VSTS 2010 Beta 2 – Almost Here

Team System, TFS, Visual Studio 2010
According to this post by Brian Keller and another by Brian Harry, VSTS 2010 Beta 2 is “just around the corner” and will ship with a “Go Live” license which means: You can use VSTS 2010 Beta 2 for production development The upgrade path to VSTS 2010 RTM will be supported Brian Keller also provides links to a Microsoft Word document and a PowerPoint presentation that can assist you in planning for the VSTS 2010 upgrade.
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03 Oct 2009

Team Foundation Server for the Masses

Team System, TFS, Visual Studio 2010
Early last year, I posted 10 Reasons for TFS with Small Teams that listed 10 reasons for using Team Foundation Server even if you thought your team may not be big enough to get any benefit from it.  I still stand by those 10 reasons.  However, reality has a way of overturning even the best of reasons.  For example, cost of software licenses and hardware carry a lot of weight when it comes time to calculate ROI (whether real or perceived). Yesterday, Brian Harry announced some major changes coming in TFS 2010 that will go a long way in bring…
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25 Sep 2009

Microsoft Announces “WebsiteSpark”

General News, Visual Studio
Up until yesterday, Microsoft had two “Spark” programs: BizSpark – a program for startup businesses DreamSpark – a program for students Yesterday, Scott Guthrie announced on his blog the new WebsiteSpark program.  This program is geared toward independent web developers as well as web development companies.  Here is a list of what’s provided with this program: 3 licenses of Visual Studio 2008 Professional Edition 1 license of Expression Studio 3 (which includes Expression Blend, Sketchflow, and Web) 2 licenses of Expression Web 3 4 processor licenses of Windows Web Server 2008 R2 4 processor licenses of SQL Server 2008 Web…
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31 Jul 2009

VSTS: What’s in it for Me?

User Group, Visual Studio 2010
I just completed a presentation on “VSTS 2010: What’s in it for Me?” for the Omaha Team System User Group and Omaha .NET User Group (original post).  The venue was once again sponsored by Farm Credit Services of America and the food and give-aways were sponsored by QCI – thanks Jodi!  I haven’t reviewed the sign-in sheet yet to get the exact count but we had somewhere in the neighborhood of 50 to 60 attendees for tonight’s talk – a great turn out. There are so many new features in VSTS 2010 that it was a challenge keeping the presentation…
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