13 Nov 2009

Team Foundation Sidekicks Updated (v2.4)

Add-ins & Extensions, Team System, TFS, Utilities
First of all, if you are using Team Foundation Server and don’t currently make use of the Team Foundation Sidekicks (from Attrice Corporation), you should.  That said, Attrice has released an update (v2.4) to their current set of Team Foundation Sidekicks. This update resolves a few issues with the previous release as well as one new feature - “Users View Sidekick”, which offers the following features: Display all users in Valid Users group on TFS server Search users list by user name or display name This is the last planned release that will support TFS 2005/2008.  All future enhancements will…
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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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17 Oct 2009

Heartland Developer’s Conference – Day 2

Conferences
Today was the second and final day of the 2009 Heartland Developers Conference.  I was able to stick around through all the sessions today so I was able to take in a lot more content than yesterday.  Much like yesterday, I found the non-technical sessions the most interesting – which seems to be a little counter-intuitive for a developers conference. Here’s a quick run down on some of the sessions I attended today: Smithying in the 21st Century - Neal Ford – This keynote was a discussion about predicting the future and how to ensure you don’t go the way…
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16 Oct 2009

Heartland Developers Conference – Day 1

Conferences
This year marks the sixth year for the Heartland Developers Conference.  This is a great technology conference that has only gotten better with each year (Joe always does a great job!).  In previous years, the HDC has been primarily focused on Microsoft-related technologies.  This year, that focus is gone in favor of a more platform-neutral event.  For example, this year’s conference includes not only .NET-based technologies, but also topics covering Adobe, Ruby, Apple (e.g. iPhone), etc.  As always, the event is backed up with a great representation of top-quality speakers from all across the country. Although I had to leave…
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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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02 Oct 2009

TFS Work Item Manager/Dashboard

Team System, TFS, Utilities
A few days ago, Telerik announced the availability of two new free products built to provide an informational view into your Team Foundation Server projects.  These products are TFS Work Item Manager and TFS Project Dashboard. TFS Work Item Manager highlights: Work Item grid filtering, grouping, and aggregation Area and Iteration filtering using single and multi select modes Filter query results using a tree of areas or iterations *Unique Task board view of work items independent from any process template Print work item cards for the board in your room Iteration schedule Paste clipboard contents into a work item "New…
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