VS 2005 Checks in New Source Control

Visual Studio 2005 Team System (VSTS) includes a new source-code control system designed to address some of the weaknesses that kept Visual Source Safe from being used in many enterprise development environments. Microsoft has historically left tools for team development, such as source-code control systems, to third parties, but the acquisition of Microsoft’s largest tools partner—Rational—by its biggest enterprise competitor—IBM—sparked a renewed interest in team development.

However, VSTS, like Visual Studio itself, is available for Windows only, and organizations with substantial development on non-Windows platforms will want to evaluate the integration benefits of VSTS against the support for Linux and Unix workstations offered by competing products. In addition, caution is warranted with the current prerelease, as the installation process is quite laborious and not very automated.

Finally, the server-based architecture of VSTS opens up the possibility that Microsoft will charge developers and project managers Client Access Licenses (CALs), a complexity that developers have thus far avoided. (For an overview of the basic architecture of VSTS, see “Visual Studio Team System Targets Multiple Roles” in the Feb. 2005 issue of Update.)