If I am a solo developer, should I worry about VS Team System?

Question

I have an MSDN subscription, and I am wondering which version of Visual Studio 2008 to get. I remember reading that Team System has many bonus features, such as creating elements of a high-level system architecture and specialized functions related to working with databases. As a solo developer, I wear a lot of hats, including a database developer and an architect - should I use Visual Studio Team Suite to get all these things, or are they a serious overkill for one guy?

EDIT: I have a “special” MSDN license (through the MS BizSpark program for startups) that gives me access to the FULL version of Team Suite for 3 years, for me and for any developers in my startup. After that, I have to pay if I want updates, but I can freely use it for development indefinitely if I do not update (licensed by BizSpark).

With that in mind, should I look at Team Suite or stick with Pro? I do not plan to use Team Foundation Server at all.

Answer 1

If you are serious about testing your code (you should be), I would definitely recommend using Development Edition, as it provides code coverage that is not available in Professional Edition.

Of course, you can get most of the functionality difference between Professional and Development Edition from free / cheap third-party tools, but IMO is a price that is usually higher than their tag says. Since you can use the even better Team Suite for 3 years, I would not even look at third-party tools.

Answer 2

Well, the “test” material is now available in “pro” (but not profiling), so one large comparator is removed. In many ways, MSDN subscription is a more significant factor than the VS product suite, assuming you don't need a complete toolbox.

The list of VS functions is here ; The list of MSDN functions is here .

I used to be professionals, and I never felt like I missed you very much. Of course, you can always get pro plus something like dotTrace for profiling, ReSharper for analyzing / refactoring code, and possibly TestDriven.NET for testing - you probably still have a change left over.

Now I have a license for command dialing (which is very nice), but if I had to pay for it, I would have to think very carefully; I would probably get the developer version + MSDN.

Answer 3

I would say that VS Team System is redundant for one sweatshop developer, but your situation may be different. Team Team works great when you work on a project where everything is Microsoft, but all the additional functions (database, architect, etc.) will become useless when you start working with the Oracle and MySQL database. Don't put too much emphasis on tools; VS Pro is good enough if you want to save money. I would rather spend more money on additional tools such as a third-party component and refactoring tools than the shining VS Team System.

But, since you are joining the BizzSpark program, which, in my opinion, is really good for startups, I think you should go and try VSTS. You pay nothing for additional features. By the time you need to pay the full license, I think you will have gathered enough experience in VSTS to decide to either stick to this or roll back to a professional.

Answer 4

It never hurts to have as many toys as possible in your toy box. Of course, you can only play with some of them once in the blue moon, but the fact is that you can play there whenever you want.

I am running on a Mac, so I need to run all my stuff from a virtual machine, and I thought that all I need is VS, and I could use the base OS to handle all my other functions (Dreamweaver, Photoshop, Office, web browser) or, in other words, my everyday computing life. Thanks to VMWare, the transition between the virtual machine and the host operating system is very simple, but you get the attachments in your email that you want in the VM, or you are working on a program document on the os host ... the list goes on.

My thing is ... you will never regret investing more in your development system, you will regret that you do not have the tool that you wanted to have, but simply did not think what you needed.

Answer 5

First, you should definitely use a version control product. Being able to go back in time and recall previous builds will save you a ton of time and effort. Nothing worse than ever working, and then realizing the changes that you made, but do not remember, broke everything.

Secondly, if you are just (or even a couple of other people), you probably should go with subversive activities. Easy setup, control and interaction - this is the name of the game here. Not to mention the free, fully supported, reliable and easy to learn.

I recently started using VisualSVN Server and VisualSVN Client for Visual Studio. The server is free, and the client is $ 45 for a license that you can use on all your development machines. Add TortuousSVN and you can use the version control from the Windows shell.

I tried Microsoft's TFS and VSS products and found that the disruptive process is much easier to handle.

Answer 6

I believe Team Developer Edition will now include the database version. That is probably all you need. From memory, the full version of Team Suite (developer, database, architect, and test all together) is a pretty expensive purchase.

Answer 7

One of the features of the command system that I like is the ability to profile the performance of your application. This may not deserve the update itself if you have to pay for it, but in some cases it is very convenient.

Answer 8

I agree with BadDawg.

I thought it was a parody when module testing functions were available only in the most expensive editions of Visual Studio; unit testing is something that everyone should have access to, because it benefits all of us, instills good habits and helps us write much better software. Especially if we are new to the game.

Fortunately, this is now in the Pro version.

If you can get Team Suite and enjoy its tools to be more productive and get better software from it, do it .

Answer 9

I agree with @Marc Gravell. You can probably get closer to the cost of Team System with add-ons, but you also need to consider the cost of supporting add-ons. There is a certain pain associated with supporting several third-party tools for getting the functionality that you can get in the integrated package. Depending on who is spending the money (you or the employer), the amount of pain that you are willing to have in order to get all the functionality may vary.

I was very pleased with the Team System, although I added TestDriven.Net as a test runner. We switched to this when TS came out with baking in unit testing, coverage analysis, and source control. I am very pleased with the choice, but if I had to pay for it personally, I would probably go with nUnit, nCover, SVN, etc. And left the remaining money. I feel that it made me more productive, but I just wouldn’t have that much money to spend.