Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Suite

Hi All,

I was told by my manager to check after the options of different tools for maintaining source control and i found this new version of source control by Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Suite. I starter exploring the options of this particular tool and i have few basic questions and so i am posting them in this Getting Started forum expecting for a reply.


1.What is this package Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Suite?

2. Does this contains Visual Studio .net 2008 and framework 3.5 and any other softwares??

3. Can some one list down all the items/softwares that are included in this package???

4. I just want to use the version control part of this product, do i have a seperate package where i can purchase from Microsoft which helps me to maintain my version control for all the legacy applications that i use/develop??

5. Does this tool supports only Micrsoft developed applications in source control???

I have many more such questions on the tool and would like to understand this more clarly and learn something new in this.. Can anyone direct me for a right place where i can proceed further after getting answers to my above questions.



Thanks

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A.Rajesh Khanna

Hi Rajesh,

Team Suite is a collection of many role based edition of Visual Studio 2008:

VSTS 2008 Architect
VSTS 2008 Development
VSTS 2008 Test
VSTS 2008 Database

The above listed editions will have the features of Visual Studio 2008 Professional edition plus more role specific features.

In addition to the above, Team Suite also offers a copy of Team Foundation Server(TFS). TFS is the collaboration server and offers enterprise class version control and many other features including project management. I would strongly recommend you to go through the products page at:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vsts.../bb933734.aspx

Please note, TFS is a server and requires license to access the same. When you buy Team Suite, you get 5 licenses pre configured which cannot be increased at all. So it is ideal for a team of 5 or below members. For a team of more than 5 members, you should buy individual pieces on need basis(eg: one TFS, 10 Development Edition, 2 Database/Architect/Test editions)

And yes, .NET Framework 3.5 comes with any editions of Visual Studio 2008.

For your last point about version control of non-microsoft source file, any version control system mainly provides check-in/check-out features maintaining the version history of files. So ideally any files can be kept under version control. What you need consider here is the IDE integration.