What is Visual Studio Team System?

Microsoft's marketing engine IMO, missed the mark branding and naming Team System. (To their defense, it's tough to understand this product line and communicate its vast functionality.) I've seen these products referred to as Team System, Team Suite, Team Edition, and a host of other monikers. To help clear up the confusion, here's a brief write-up and a link to Wikipedia which [I hope] offers a clear explanation.

Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition - The Integrated Development Environment (IDE) technology workers use to accomplish work. There are five "editions", each targeted to a particular role:

Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Developers
Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Testers
Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Database Professionals
Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Architects
Visual Studio 2005 Team Suite - This edition encompasses the functionality of the other four. It's an extra $1200 but I recommend it. The crossover value is well worth the money.

Team Foundation Server - This server-based product enables the collaboration amongst members of the software project team (presumably using Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition). Known as simply TFS (sometimes prefixed with Visual Studio), it provides functionality such as version control, automated building of source, task (or Work Item) tracking, collaboration and project management through Sharepoint, reporting, and data analysis.

Visual Studio 2005 Team Test Load Agent - This add-on module leveraged by Visual Studio simulates virtual users against a web site. It is used in conjunction with the Web Test functionality within Visual Studio 2005 Team Edition for Software Testers.

Visual Studio Team System - This moniker refers to the entire line of products...including all of the above: Visual Studio Team Edition, TFS, and the Load Agent. It is not a product per se but a line. I.e. one cannot purchase Team System, one purchases the individual components of Team System.

Wikipedia Team System Entry

Save the World...Use Blackle

Blackle is a low-power-consumption custom Google search engine. Creative.

Starting a New Blog with my Cousin

On 9/15/2006, my cousin (he's really a 2nd cousin many times removed...I'm not convinced we're actually related ;-) John Ingrisano and I will launch a new blog targeted to the small business owner. He'll provide most of the content and I will provide the technical and marketing expertise. Ok, ok, starting a blog isn't rocket science but we're aiming to [eventually] derive some sort of profit from this venture, so I plan on doing this right. The two blogs I currently maintain live on the free Blogger.com and LiveJournal.com. I'll be covering the adventure here on Effective Thoughts--providing insight as to what worked and what didn't. To start off, our first activities are: Choose a name and a theme Find a host Help John learn the ins and outs of blogging Implement the site: look/feel, about/bio, 1st content, announcements, etc. Understand marketing best practices To this end, here is some research I compiled: Finding a host http://en...

Switching the Parents to Ubuntu...?

I spent a half hour or so recently on the phone walking my Mom through a technical issue. Tentatively, I diagnosed her issue as a hard drive failure. She brought it over on her last visit and sure enough, the Dell XPS 450 from circa 1999 sounds like a bad coin-operated laundry at full capacity. I was aghast to discover she's running Windows 98. Ugh. Also, her recovery disk is just that--for recovery. I don't believe I'll be able to re-install Win98 on a new hard drive. That, coupled with the end of Microsoft (and Dell) support for Win98, got me thinking about Linux. (and she's not intense about her computing needs...and she doesn't want to spend much money...) I've been reading good things about switching one's parents to Ubuntu. Any thoughts out there?

Effective Thoughts

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