We've now released the final version of TSWA 2008 SP1, which had previously been released as a community technology preview (CTP).  There are some fantastic new features in this release, including the ability for users without CALs to create work items.

Also, this release includes 10 languages: Japanese, Korean, Spanish, German, French, English, Chinese (Simplified and Traditional), Russian, and Italian.  All 10 languages are included in the download.

Since the installation package includes all ten languages, you may wonder why you can choose the language on the download web page.  It turns out that the installer itself can only support one language for the installation wizard.  So, when you choose the language on the download web page, you are choosing to download the installer in that language.  The actual product that gets installed is the same for all languages and includes all languages.

Download Team System Web Access 2008 SP1

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=3ECD00BA-972B-4120-A8D5-3D38311893DE

New features in TSWA 2008 SP1 (compared to TSWA 2008)

• Work item only view (accessed at http://tswa-server:8090/wiwa) provides access for users within your company that don't have a TFS client access license (CAL), which was made possible by a licensing change in TFS for the 2008 release.  It allows you to create new work items and edit work items you have created.  Users of the full TSWA features must have CALs. The feature was previously available as a separate download called Work Item Web Access (WIWA) in the CTP.  We've consolidated it into the TSWA installation process for the final release.
• This release supports running a single instance with multiple languages.
• Work item template URLs allow you to easily create an URL to include in emails, for example, so that users file bugs with particular fields pre-filled according to your needs.  I wrote a post about this very useful feature in TSWA tip: How to use the new TSWA template URL feature (initial value URL).
• Share ad-hoc work item queries by including WIQL in the URL.  Normally, queries can only be shared by saving them as Team Queries in Team Explorer.  Using this feature, you can embed the query in the URL by using the work item tracking query language directly.
• Find and view Shelvesets from within TSWA.  For example, you can use this feature to perform code reviews using only your browser.
• Improved work item search syntax (e.g., Title:"Bug Bash") provides greater flexibility in searching for work items, greatly expanding the original search feature.  The search syntax follows Outlook and web search engine syntax.  You can find some more examples of using it in my post about the release of the CTP (second half of that post).

Additionally, I've posted periodically about the great features in TSWA in posts tagged TSWA Tip.

Charles Sterling announced a new interactive forum called MVP TV earlier this month.  The first event was Automation with MSBuild 3.5 and Team Build 2008.  Now the recording for this event is available.

The debut of MVP TV

Attendance: 92 attendees

Thursday, August 21^st, 2008 | 9:00am – 10:00am (PDT, Redmond time)

Public: This Product Group Interaction is public and open to All MVPs and all World Wide public audiences.

All the Interaction of the MSDN Chats but with the richer experience of Live meeting and hosted by the recognized world technology leaders –the Visual Studio Team System Microsoft MVP’s. In this opening session of MVP TV, please join one of the most celebrated and recent Team System MVP Steve Andrews covering off Automation with MSBuild 3.5 and Team Build 2008. Did you know that .csproj and .vbproj files are really MSBuild files?  More than build processes though, MSBuild is a full-featured automation language. It includes structured control flow, variables, refactorability, error handling, logging, and powerful extensibility. You can easily integrate MSBuild into your own enterprise processes and start adding value right away.  We’ll also look at how Team Foundation Build extends on MSBuild and adds robust integration with Team Foundation Server. This is one show you will not want to miss!

About Steve Andrews: Steve Andrews has been working as a developer for more than 9 years. During this time, he has designed and developed applications in such widely varying areas as trust accounting, medical information management, supply chain management, and retail systems. He is currently employed at RDA Corporation in Philadelphia, PA, as a Software Engineer and a team member in their Architectural Guidance evangelism team. Steve is also an MCP, ICSOO, Speaker Liaison for the Philly .NET User Group, and all around .NET fanatic.

View Recording