For anyone thinking of heading to TechEd 2008 in Sydney, Australia in September. The early bird offer (save $250) finishes at the end of next week. You can register (before 27th June for the discount) by visiting the TechEd Australia web site.

This year I’ll be busy at TechEd delivering a 2-day pre-conference event as well as two breakout sessions.

Pre-con – “Using VSTS to build a quality .NET 3.5 application“

Breakout #1 – TLA311 – Application Lifecycle Management with Microsoft Visual Studio Team System Code Name “Rosario”

Breakout #2 – TLA308 – Microsoft Visual Studio Team System Code Name “Rosario” Architecture Edition

I have William Bartholomew as a co-presenter for the 2nd breakout session so that will be fun.

Fellow Team System MVP, Mike Azocar, has decided to run a fantastic competition to see who can create the Coolest Team System Gadget!

Here’s some information about the contest.

Have you created a useful gadget for Team System?  Do you have one in mind?  I am looking for the coolest community built tool for VSTS.  It can be something for TFS, for Visual Studio, or something that is stand alone. The winner will receive a one year subscription to MSDN with Team Suite!  

To enter, submit a screen cast (up to 3 minutes long) which tells everyone why your gadget is the coolest and the source code.  All submissions will be released to the public as free source to use and enjoy (with you getting all the credit of course).  Videos will also be made available to the public to help make you famous!  This should be something new and not something repackaged. 

Submissions accepted up until August 31st 2008.  Winner will be announced September 15th 2008.</blockquote>

Keep an eye on Mike’s blog for more details for the contest as they are announced.

Microsoft Learning are due to release two new courses on Visual Studio Team System and Team Foundation Server in the next month or so and I have been engaged by Dimension Data Learning Solutions to deliver the first run of these courses around Australia for them. I expect the courses will be quite popular given the absence of such courses since the release of the product so I though it would be worth blogging about them.

Here’s the details about the two courses as well as links to their preliminary outlines. Given these have not been officially released yet, it is important to know that the outlines may change.

6214 – Effective Team Development Using Microsoft Visual Studio Team System (3 days)

This three-day instructor-led course provides students with the knowledge and skills to manage source control management, a configurable build process, tools that aid in test driven development, and process workflow all integrated directly into Visual Studio 2008. By the end of the course, developers are equipped to use test-driven techniques and proven software processes to create high-quality software with a minimal change in overall effort.

More information… http://www.ddls.com.au/VendCourseDet/MS+/2/MSVI6214.htm

6215 – Implementing and Administering Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server (2 days)

This two-day instructor-led course provides students with the knowledge and skills to implement and administer Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server. The course focuses on installation and configuration details, team projects, work items, version control, Team Build, and reporting.

More information… http://www.ddls.com.au/VendCourseDet/MS+/2/MSVS6215.htm

The courses will be delivered in six cities around Australia initially which should keep my frequent flyer points building up nicely 🙂

Schedule	6214 (3days)	6215 (2days)
Sydney	21-23 July	24-25 July
Melbourne	18-20 August	21-22 August
Perth	25-27 August	28-29 August
Adelaide	15-17 September	10-11 September
Canberra	22-24 September	25-26 September
Brisbane	6-8 October	9-10 October

 

If you are interested in finding out more about either of these courses you can contact the DDLS Customer Care Centre in Australia on 13 12 01.

A while ago, a white paper entitled Key Benefits of Microsoft Visual Studio Team System was released. This document provided a great overview of many of the key benefits of Microsoft Visual Studio Team System, as the name implies. There are now a full set of new white papers available that expand on the key benefits raised in this original document and go into greater depth.

The new white papers are as follows;

NOTE: The whitepapers are available as docx, xps and pfd from here. The following links are all to the PDF versions

• Communicate and Collaborate
  • Drive Predictability
    • Ensure Quality Early and Often
      • Integrate Work Frequently
        • Making Real-Time Decisions
          • Managing Team Workflow
            • Using Familiar Tools</ul> You can check out the new white papers at http://go.microsoft.com/?linkid=8884154 and a full list of Visual Studio Team System white papers at http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/products/cc297232.aspx

            As an aside, the “Managing Team Workflow” document is my first foray into writing a white paper, and while I have a lot to learn about writing technical papers, I hope this one isn’t too bad for a first effort.

Now that Microsoft has released the beta versions of Visual Studio 2008 SP1, TFS 2008 SP1 and .NET Framework 3.5 SP1, how should you go about evaluating them? Remember – As beta products, you should NOT install these in production environments. (OK – so you’re not silly enough to consider that anyway)

One of the best ways to evaluate these Service Pack 1 betas, is to use the pre-configured VSTS/TFS 2008 virtual machine which is available from the Microsoft web site. The following steps will walk you through downloading and installing the trial VPC and then adding the betas to the virtual machine.

**STEP ONE
** Download the VSTS/TFS 2008 Trial Virtual machine form the Microsoft Download Center is you don’t already have it. It’s a hefty download (~5Gb) but it’s a quick way to get started.
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyID=c7a809d8-8c9f-439f-8147-948bc6957812&displaylang=en

**STEP TWO
** Download and install Microsoft Virtual PC 2007 if you don’t already have it. (~30Mb)
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?familyid=04D26402-3199-48A3-AFA2-2DC0B40A73B6&displaylang=en

STEP THREE
Expand the Virtual machine you downloaded in step one and start it by double-clicking the “VSTS08RTM-V7.vmc” file from the folder you installed the virtual machine to.

STEP FOUR
Two of the SP1 packages are only download wrappers so you’ll need Internet access on the machine you wish to install the service pack betas on. One of the easiest ways to do this is to configure the virtual machine to use Shared Networking (NAT).
  a. In Virtual PC 2007, choose Edit | Settings
  b. Select Networking in the list of settings
  c. Change Adapter 1 to “Shared Networking (NAT)” or other options if you’re familiar with VPC2007.
  d. Click OK and confirm your virtual machine has Internet access

**STEP FIVE
** Download the SP1 Betas inside the Virtual Machine using the following links;
NOTE: The VS2008SP1 & .NET3.5SP1 downloads don’t actually download the SP1 beta. They download small applications that run and download the actual service pack 1 beta installers. The TFS download is the complete service pack 1 beta.
VS 2008 SP1 : http://download.microsoft.com/download/7/3/8/7382EA08-4DD6-4134-9B92-8585A5B07973/VS90sp1-KB945140-ENU.exe (450Kb)
.NET 3.5 SP1 : http://download.microsoft.com/download/8/f/c/8fc1fe13-55de-4bf5-b43e-375daf01452e/dotNetFx35setup.exe (2.79Mb)
TFS 2008 SP1: http://download.microsoft.com/download/a/e/2/ae2eb0ff-e687-4221-9c3e-9165a942bc1c/TFS90sp1-KB949786.exe (114Mb)

STEP SIX
Install the three service pack 1 betas by double-clicking the files you downloaded in Step Five. Make sure each installer has completed before running the next one.
_NOTE – I chose to install the three packages in this order for no specific reason.
_   a. TFS90sp1-KB949786.exe
  b. dotNetFx35setup.exe
  c. VS90sp1-KB945140-ENU.exe

STEP SEVEN
After you have rebooted the virtual machine, you’re ready to start exploring the many need enhancements and features available in the SP1 betas.

For a list of TFS 2008 SP1 features, check out Brian Harry’s blog post on “Team Foundation Server 2008 SP1 Preview“

Scott Guthrie runs through many of the features of VS2008 SP1 Beta and ASP 3.5 SP1 Beta at

Visual Studio 2008 and .NET Framework 3.5 Service Pack 1 Beta

Once you’re up and running, you should use the following resources for feedback, suggestions and help:

• Submit bugs and suggestions on the Beta via http://connect.microsoft.com/VisualStudio
  • Support and discussion Forums http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=119125 </ul>

Visual Studio 2008 and .Net Framework 3.5 SP1 Beta was announced today after being kept as a secret for some time.

Here is the list of available downloads as part of this release:

• Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Service Pack 1 Beta
  • Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service pack 1 Beta – Full Installation
    • Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Service pack 1 Beta – Web Installation
      • Microsoft .NET Framework 3.5 Client Profile (Beta)
        • Microsoft Expression Blend 2.5 March Preview Refresh
          • Microsoft Visual Studio 2008 Express Edition with SP1 Beta
            • Visual Studio 2008 Shell (integrated mode) with Service Pack 1 Beta Redistributable Package
              • Visual Studio 2008 Team Foundation Server Service Pack 1 (Beta)</ul>

One of the great things that the VSTS Product Team showed us at the MVP Summit a couple of weeks ago was an overview of the things coming in TFS 2008 Service Pack 1. Unfortunately this was all covered under NDA and we weren’t permitted to blog about it 🙂

Brian Harry has now blogged about the many new features and changes coming out in the service pack. It is quite a comprehensive blog post and well worth the time to read through it. Check it out at “Team Foundation Server 2008 SP1 Preview“.

You can’t download any prerelease version of the Service Pack yet, but it shouldn’t be too long now.

This month I will be presenting at the Queensland VSTS Users Group. In this “roadmap” session, I will discuss upcoming features for VSTS/TFS including the new WIWA CTP, TSWA updates and *possibly* TFS 2008 SP1. I’ll then look at “Rosario”, the next version of Microsoft Visual Studio Team System and walk through many of the significant new enhancements included in the latest CTP.

If you’re interested in what the future holds for Visual Studio Team System and Team Foundation Server, this is a session not to be missed.

Topic: VSTS/TFS Roadmap – WIWA, TSWA Updates, TFS 2008 SP1 and what’s coming up in “Rosario”

Date:  Friday, 2nd May, 2008 </p>

Time:  7:30am Breakfast –  8:00am Presentation  </p>

Where: </p>

Microsoft Office </p>

: Theatre 1, Level 9 Waterfront Place </p>

:   1 Eagle Street, Brisbane </p> 
        
    RSVP: [Reserve your free ticket by registering here](http://qvstsugmay2008.eventbrite.com/)

The latest update to the Microsoft’s TFS Power Tools has just been released and as usual there should be something for everyone in this latest version.

My top three features are:

1. TFSServerManager client – Now you can product your very own Dogfood statistics for management
2. TFS BPA support for Windows Server 2008 – This has become a very handy tool to checking out client’s TFS installs
3. Scriptable Team Project creation – I have several clients who have been wanting to do this

You can read all about the various improvements and new features in the Power Tools on Brian Harry’s post March ’08 Team Foundation Server Power Tools Released

The download is available on the Microsoft download site here – TFS 2008 March ’08 Power Tools

One of the things that Microsoft did with the release of VSTS 2008 was to relax the TFS licensing to enable a number of use scenarios. Specifically they now “allow an unlimited number of users in your company to create any work item, query for work items they have created and view or update any work item they have created all without a CAL.“  Brian Harry provided the details in his blog post “TFS Licensing Change for TFS 2008”

The relaxation of the CAL licensing was great news but unfortunately there was no user interface that could enforce the limitations of creating and viewing only your own WIs. That where the newly announced Work Item Web Access (WIWA) Power Tool CTP comes in. This cut down version of Team System Web Access (TSWA) allows you to expose a web interface that automaitcally enforces compliance to the “only view and edit work items I create” restriction.

WIWA differs from TSWA in the following ways show in the following screenshot. There is only a single query wich is “Work Items created by Me” and the tabs you are familiar with from TSWA such as Documents, Reports and Builds are missing.

The CTP of this power tool is available at “http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?FamilyId=FAED8359-F54D-480E-8A86-F154D3DEA07E&displaylang=en%20”.