Wednesday, May 7, 2008

Why, Microsoft? Why?

While flipping through a new set of MSDN DVDs that arrived in the mail today, I came across one labeled Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server Workgroup. Having absolutely no idea what any of those words meant when used in conjunction with one another, I looked up the product. Here's what Microsoft has to say:
Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2008 is an integrated Application Life-cycle Management (ALM) solution comprising tools, processes, and guidance to help everyone on the team improve their skills and work more effectively together.
Wow, sounds nice, doesn't it? I want to improve my skills, and there's nothing wrong with working more effectively together. However, on a practical level, I STILL HAVE ABSOLUTELY NO IDEA WHAT THIS PRODUCT IS OR DOES.

1 comment:

James Manning said...

Yeah, the msdn page is a bit marketing-speak. The wikipedia page isn't bad

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team_Foundation_Server

Chapter 1 of the TFS guide may help explain the overall environment as well

http://www.codeplex.com/TFSGuide

For a video related to how it's used inside MS:

http://channel9.msdn.com/ShowPost.aspx?PostID=391362