Effective Thoughts

I haven't installed a development tool (production or beta/CTP) on my core OS for years. I do all my development, presentation preparation and learning / experimentation on Virtual PC (VPC) instances. (Ok, my clients pony up development machines for client work but...and no developing / architect jokes) Also, these are not VPCs I created. Certainly, one needs to license these instances properly when used in a production environment (vs. testing/evaluation) but leveraging a VPC will save you loads of time and effort (and headaches). To be clear, I don't recommend this approach if you need to actually learn how to install and configure a product and/or operating system. If you're studying for your MCSE, it likely behooves you to actually install it a few times rather than leveraging an existing virtual instance. But, if you want to learn how to leverage or use the product rather than how to install and configure it , go out to your favorite search engine or search.microsoft....

Update 12/25/2008: Refreshes are out... here ! Update 12/10/2008: Apparently, there's a way to edit the VPC config file (.VMC) to disable time synchronization with the host operating system. Might make demos relying on a sprint/iteration interesting but it's very helpful. ------------------ We rely on the TFS / VSTS 2008 VirtualPC instances Microsoft pumps out for demos, presentations, and even some training. Yes, I can kit out a VPC on my own but it takes at least a day or two, it lacks the scenarios and test users, and sharing 20+GB files across the team can be challenging. I'm excited to announce the TFS team will be refreshing the 12/31 expiring VPC instances soon...with SQL 2008 and all the latest bits! Thanks, Jeff Beehler for this insight.

After lots of demos leveraging the TFS 2008 VirtualPC (VPC) trial instance released last April, I decided it was time to clean out the garbage and start from scratch. I realized, however, a lot had changed in those few short months. Now, this will be moot for this image on 12/31/2008 when it expires (and I hope replaced...please?) but here are the steps I followed (still a lot easier than starting from scratch): Update/upgrade Virtual PC client software to SP1 . Apply TFS 2008 SP1 Apply TSWA 2008 SP1 (uninstall TSWA 2008 first) Apply TFS Power Tools October 2008 (uninstall Dec 2007 first) Apply any custom process templates: Scrum for Team System 2.2 Install the latest FxCop (v1.36) to %ProgramFiles%\Microsoft Visual Studio 9.0\Team Tools\Static Analysis Tools\FxCop

I use the Visual Studio Team System / Team Foundation Server VirtualPC trial frequently for demos. However, I can never remember the users and their roles presented in the various scenarios / labs. (and they don't appear to be documented anywhere) For the record: Darren - Administrator Nicole - User Andrew - CIO Art - Architect Grzegorz - Developer Jacqui - PM Larry - BA Renee - Tester Sonia - DBA TFSSetup - Administrator