Effective Thoughts

Brian Keller just updated the soon-to-expire (12/15) all-up Visual Studio/TFS 2010 VM . Make sure to download the latest refresh! From Brian: What’s new in the December 2010 Refresh? The version of this virtual machine which was refreshed on December 9, 2010, includes the following additions: · Visual Studio 2010 Feature Pack 2 · Team Foundation Server 2010 Power Tools (September 2010 Release) · Visual Studio 2010 Productivity Power Tools (these are disabled in VS so that the screenshots of the hands-on-labs still match; you can quickly enable the Productivity Power Tools via Tools -> Extension Manager from within Visual Studio) · Test Scribe for Microsoft Test Manager · Visual Studio Scrum 1.0 Process Template · All Windows Updates through December 8, 2010 · Lab Management GDR (KB983578) · Visual Studio 2010 Feature Pack 2 pre-requisite hotfix (KB2403277) · Microsoft Test Manager hotfix (KB2387011) · Minor fit-and-finish fixes based on customer feedback · A new expiration date of ...

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....