January 2009 - Posts
My next GeekSpeak discussion What You May Not Know About Visual Studio Team System 2008 will be February 4. I hope you can join us.
In this episode I'll be sharing some perspectives about how Microsoft Visual Studio Team System 2008 is a good investment in these tough economic times. I'll illustrate some of the ways the Visual Studio Team System 2008 can deliver value by getting your whole organization team involved to deliver successful projects. I'll touch on people, process, and technology, discuss process templates, test-driven development (TDD), leveraging continuous integration, understanding reports, and the value of good application life-cycle management. Your hosts for this geekSpeak are Lynn Langit and Mithun Dhar.
The geekSpeak webcast series brings you industry experts in a "talk-radio" format hosted by developer evangelists from Microsoft. These experts share their knowledge and experience about a particular developer technology and are ready to answer your questions in real time during the webcast. To ask a question in advance of the live webcast, or for post-show resources, be sure to visit the geekSpeak blog.
The MSDN Developer Conference is a recap of the best from PDC2008, and it's happening now all across the US. Microsoft has saved the best one for last in San Francisco, where they've joined forces with VSLIve!
MDC kicks off the show on February 23rd. I'll be presenting "A Lap Around VSTS 2010." The MDC is followed by VSLive! and over 80 in-depth technical sessions and workshops thru the 27th. I highly recommend it to anyone looking for a good dose of .NET-related training.
Right now they are running a deal where if you register by February 4th, you'll get a second registration for free. Head to SFO and bring a friend! Both of you get into VSLive! and MDC for a steal. Register with the code NX9F88 to redeem this offer. (If you click the link the code should be entered for you.)
Hope to see you in San Francisco in February!
The Virtual PC image for Visual Studio 2010 CTP provided at PDC 2008 and downloadable from here has an expiration of 1/1/2009. However, you can keep using it if you follow the guidance provided by Brian Keller. Here's a summary.
There are several moving expiration parts you'll have to contend with
- Activation Toast - you'll get a "toast" from time to time asking you to activate Windows. Workaround: Ignore of click the "X" to dismiss it.
- Activate Windows Now - When you boot the VPS image you'll receive a modal dialog for Windows Activation. Workaround: Click on "Activate Later."
- Word Excel Activation - The trial versions only work 20 times, after whichmost functionality will stop working. Workaround: The first 20 times you can click "Cancel" to dismiss the activation dialog. After that you'll have to revert to a fresh copy of the VPC image.
- Project Activation - The trial version will work 25 times. Workaround: After 25 times you'll have to revert to a fresh copy of the VPC image.
- Visual Studio 2010 CTP Expiration - After 1/1/2009 you can no longer launch the Visual Studio 2009 CTP. Workaround: You'll need to roll back the system clock in the VPC to an earlier date. Caution, don't roll back to earlier than your last interaction with TFS because it will get confused. It's better to revert to a fresh copy of the VPC image and immediately turn off Date/Time synchronization, then roll back to an earlier date.
And, Jeff Beehler's Blog tells you how to turn off the synchronization of the VPC and the host OS. By turning off the synchronization, the time in the VPC moves forward on for the actual time the VPC is being used. That gives you about 2 months of actual run time.
Here are the changes necessary for the .VMC file (specific to a particular VPC and not a system-wide setting):
<integration>
<microsoft>
<mouse>
<allow type="boolean">true</allow>
</mouse>
<components>
<host_time_sync>
<enabled type="boolean">false</enabled>
</host_time_sync>
</components>
Bunch of other stuff that I am skipping over to save space...
</microsoft>
</integration>
Thanks to Brian and Jeff.
The Conchango Scrum for Team System process template is installed on the TFS application server. A prerequisite is Team Explorer 2008. Ever wonder why a UI component must be installed on the application server?
The processes used within the Scrum for TS template (and it's associtated web services) require access to the Team Foundation APIs that are installed as part of the Team Explorer. These APIs cannot be re-distributed along with the process template installer as several are compiled into native images during the installation process.
http://www.scrumforteamsystem.com/cs/forums/3271/ShowPost.aspx#3271
Code Camp is a place for developers to come and learn from their peers. This community driven event has become an international trend where peer groups of all platforms, programming languages and disciplines band together to bring content to the community.
Who is speaking at Code Camp? YOUR PEERS are, YOUR LOCAL EXPERTS are, and a few ringers on our speaker list as well… There will be 96 sessions and don't forget the Geek Dinner on Saturday night.
I'm doing two sessions: Making SOA a Success, and What you may not know about VSTS 2008.
Register now at http://www.socalcodecamp.com.
Working remotely with Visual Studio Team System? Teamprise Remote Accelerator is a single user version control proxy for TFS designed for those working remotely over limited bandwidth connections. It runs on your remote PC alongside your VSTS client, including Visual Studio 2005, Visual Studio 2008 and all Teamprise clients.
Teamprise Remote Accelerator monitors changes being made on the Team Foundation Server and downloads new changesets from the server before they are requested by the client. Have multiple computers in your home office? They can all take advantage of Remote Accelerator as long as they're all logging in to the same TFS user account.
A 30 day evaluation is available and a license is priced at $99. Check out the details at http://www.teamprise.com/products/accelerator/.