Sajee's WebLog

Big changes are afoot in Visual Studio land.  The “Team System” moniker goes into retirement and we simplify the lineup with Professional, Premium and Ultimate.  And just for testers, there’s the Test Elements product.

Visual Studio 2010 Beta 2 and .NET 4 Beta 2 are available to MSDN subscribers today and will be available to the general public on Wednesday.  Best of all, the will have a “Go Live” license. Read about the products here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd831853(VS.100).aspx

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd409230(VS.100).aspx

Here’s a video  on how to download and install VS 2010 and TFS 2010 Beta 2.

Here are a list of event to help you understand and make sense of all the exciting changes occurring to VS 2010 and MSDN.

Virtual Events

• VS 2010 Overview Webcasts
  • October 21st, 1 PM-3:30 PM CST [Register Here]
  • October 27th, 9 AM-11:30 AM CST [Register Here]
  • November 5th, 3 PM-5:30 PM CST [Register Here]
• ALM Virtual Roundtables
  • November 3rd, 10 AM-12 PM EST [Register Here]
  • November 5th, 10 AM-12 PM EST [Register Here]

Live Events

• SharePoint as a Development Platform
  • November 2nd, 10 AM-4 PM, Washington, DC (Chevy Chase)
  • November 3rd, 10 AM-4 PM, Reston, VA
  • November 9th, 10 AM-4 PM, Pittsburgh, PA
  • November 11th, 10 AM-4 PM, Malvern, PA
  • November 12th, 10 AM-4 PM, NYC
  • November 16th, 10 AM-4 PM, Atlanta, GA
  • November 18th, 10 AM-4 PM, Charlotte, NC
  • November 19th, 10 AM-4 PM, Waltham, MA
• Using Visual Studio 2010 to Improve Software Quality
  • November 11th, 9 AM-12 PM, Waltham
  • November 17th, 9 AM-12 PM, Charlotte
  • November 18th, 9 AM-12 PM, Tampa
  • December 1st, 9 AM-12 PM, Malvern
  • December 2nd, 9 AM-12 PM, Atlanta
  • December 8th, 9 AM-12 PM, DC
  • December 9th, 9 AM-12 PM, NYC
• Ultimate Event: Visual Studio 2010 Preview
  • January 12th, 9 AM-4 PM, Rochester, NY
  • January 14th, 9 AM-4 PM, Farmington, CT
  • January 19th, 9 AM-4 PM, Tampa
  • January 20th, 9 AM-4 PM, NYC
  • January 21st, 9 AM-4 PM, Iselin, NJ
  • January 21st, 9 AM-4 PM, Pittsburgh
  • January 27th, 9 AM-4 PM, Charlotte
  • January 28th, 9 AM-4 PM, Malvern
  • January 28th, 9 AM-4 PM, Durham, NC
  • February 2nd, 9 AM-4 PM, Waltham, MA
  • February 2nd, 9 AM-4 PM, Atlanta, GA
  • February 3rd, 9 AM-4 PM, DC
  • February 4th, 9 AM-4 PM, Reston
  • February 11th, 9 AM-4 PM, Fort Lauderdale, FL

     

     

This was probably a great lecture.  I wish video of this talk from 2006 was available but I guess the slides will have to do for now.

Brian Harry will be speaking live at the June NYC VSTS User Group meeting.  Brian is one of the architects of Team Foundation Server so this is a great opportunity to hear what’s coming in the 2010 release as well as ask questions about Team System 2008.

Registration information here: http://nyc-vsts-ug.com/Upcoming.aspx

Hope to see you there.

Incycle Software will be providing a a seminar on managing the data tier with VSTS on May 21st.  Details are here:

https://www.clicktoattend.com/invitation.aspx?code=137891

The VSTS Rangers released the Visual Studio Team Test 2008 Quick Reference Guide on CodePlex yesterday.    It looks to be a pretty useful resource for web and load testing using the Team System toolset.

Many teams are either using or considering using Scrum as the basis for their software development process.   TFS’s extensible process support has templates (1,2) for Scrum.  If you’re interested in learning how to apply Scrum with TFS, Accentient, a well known VSTS partners, has a new training course on the topic.

One of the best ways to understand the capabilities of VSTS is to see it in action.  These videos range from overviews of VSTS to specific product feature areas:

http://www.microsoft.com/events/series/Msdnvsts.aspx?tab=webcasts&id=odall

Some of the videos are based on VSTS 2005 but the concepts should apply to VSTS 2008.

Additionally, Notion Solutions has provided these on-demand webcasts:

http://www.notionsolutions.com/training/Pages/VSTSVideos.aspx

Notion Solutions, a premier VSTS partner, has released a number of additions to TFS:

• Notion Timesheet - Classic timesheet features fully integrated with Team System.
• Notion Work Organizer - Manage work items and documents from a single, easy-to-use interface.
• Notion Work Planner - Plan iterations and releases based on real teams, real schedules, and real conflicts.
• Notion Work Item Control Library - Enable hierarchical Work Item relationships.

I’ve heard numerous requests for Timesheet capabilities so this should be a welcome addition to many teams.  Details and video demos here.

You may have heard that VS 2010 will have an improved UI.  The last CTP showed some of the work but you’ll see more of the polish in upcoming releases.  Here’s a preview. 

Probably not as funny as Bill & Ted, but a lot more worthwhile, are Bill & Peter’s roadshow, coming to a location near you.  The last two events of this series will be in Long Island and Stamford, CT.  This is a great way to network and gain exposure to the latest Microsoft technologies.

Notion Solutions, a long time VSTS Partner, is providing a series of introductory VSTS webcasts.  Please join if you want to learn about or refresh your memory about VSTS.

Notion Solutions – Visual Studio Team System Webcast Series

Visual Studio Team System 2008 Overview

1/29/2009 - 1:00:00 PM 2/19/2009 - 1:00:00 PM

3/12/2009 - 1:00:00 PM 4/2/2009 - 1:00:00 PM 4/23/2009 - 1:00:00 PM

5/14/2009 - 1:00:00 PM 6/4/2009 - 1:00:00 PM 6/25/2009 - 1:00:00 PM

Team Foundation Server - 2008 Overview

2/5/2009 - 1:00:00 PM 2/26/2009 - 1:00:00 PM

3/19/2009 - 1:00:00 PM 4/9/2009 - 1:00:00 PM 4/30/2009 - 1:00:00 PM

5/21/2009 - 1:00:00 PM 6/11/2009 - 1:00:00 PM

Visual Studio Team System 2008 Developer Edition Overview

 2/5/2009 - 3:00:00 PM 2/26/2009 - 3:00:00 PM

3/19/2009 - 3:00:00 PM 4/30/2009 - 3:00:00 PM 5/21/2009 - 3:00:00 PM

6/11/2009 - 3:00:00 PM

Visual Studio Team System 2008 Database Professional Edition Overview

 2/12/2009 - 1:00:00 PM 3/5/2009 - 1:00:00 PM

3/26/2009 - 1:00:00 PM 4/16/2009 - 1:00:00 PM 5/7/2009 - 1:00:00 PM

5/28/2009 - 1:00:00 PM 6/18/2009 - 1:00:00 PM

Visual Studio Team System 2008 Tester Edition Overview

2/12/2009 - 3:00:00 PM 3/5/2009 - 3:00:00 PM

3/26/2009 - 3:00:00 PM 4/16/2009 - 3:00:00 PM 5/7/2009 - 3:00:00 PM

5/28/2009 - 3:00:00 PM 6/18/2009 - 3:00:00 PM

If you’re curious about the benefits of ALM, Tallan is hosting a free workshop in the Microsoft NYC office on 2/20/2009 that can help you understand the benefits on ALM & VS Team System. 

Wish you could’ve attended one of the most important PDCs ever but couldn’t?  Well, now you get a second change.   From December 9th thru February 19th, the Microsoft Developer Conference will be coming to a city near you.  The MDC is a condensed, one day conference that delivers the essence of PDC 2008.  It’s a great opportunity to understand ground breaking technologies that will impact how you develop and deliver software in the coming years.   Don’t miss it.

For those of you in the NY area, I hope to see you on January 20, 2009 at the Marriott Marquis.

Get more information here and register.

Our second meeting is on Tuesday 10/28 @ 6pm at the MS NYC office.  The topic will be TFS version control. 

Register here.