Microsoft embraces OS X, Linux and Unix developers

Typically when developers think of Microsoft development, Visual Studio, the .NET Framework and Visual C++ come to mind. Rarely is Mac OS X, Linux, Solaris, AIX, HP-UX or Eclipse a thought. However, over the past year Microsoft has embraced these OS’s and the Eclipse IDE with a new product called Team Explorer Everywhere. Team Explorer Everywhere 2010, or TEE, is a new Microsoft product that came out of the Teamprise acquisition that occurred in November, 2009. TEE makes it possible for developers using non-Microsoft OS’s and IDE’s to collaborate and take advantage of the great application lifecycle management tooling provided by Team Foundation Server.

Now, as a Java developer running Eclipse on OS X, you can make use of TFS just like the .NET developers using Visual Studio. You can manage projects, tasks , version control and builds using Ant and Maven. Even if your development is split between technology stacks like Microsoft, Unix and Java, you can now collaborate, share assets and get a combined view of the project across the teams who were previously disconnected.

Team Explorer Everywhere 2010 provides:

You can get more information about Team Explorer Everywhere 2010 at
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/gg413285.aspx

Whether you are new to TEE or have been using since it was Teamprise, this week you will have the rare opportunity to meet and hear from Ed Thomson, one of the engineers who created the product.

Ed will be touring the Midwest and presenting:

Collaborate Across Platforms without Compromise
Save time and add value to your development team process

During his talk, he’ll examine how the non-windows platform support provided through Visual Studio Team Explorer Everywhere 2010 enables development teams to easily collaborate across platforms. It provides the tools and plug-ins you need to access Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010 from within Eclipse-based environments, so everyone can work together to achieve business goals.

Key Discussion Points:

  • The current state of Team Foundation Server tools for non-windows development
  • Feature parity of Eclipse and Team Foundation Server
  • Discussions on the direction of Team Explorer Everywhere
  • Eclipse and tools for TFS for non .NET developers

Speaker Bio

Edward Thomson is a software development engineer for Microsoft Visual Studio Team Explorer Everywhere on the Team Foundation Server team. He develops the Team Foundation Server plug-in for Eclipse to provide Java developers and cross-platform users first-class access to the integrated Application Lifecycle Management functionality of TFS. Before joining Microsoft, Edward spent a decade developing version control and work item tracking tools for the Microsoft platform as well as for cross-platform users.

Ed will be visiting the following cities and they are filling up fast. If you want to hear from the Microsoft product team about cross-platform development using TFS, you should register now.

Austin, TX
Monday, April 4th @ 11:30AM to 1PM
TFS Austin User Group
https://sites.google.com/site/tfsaustinusergroup/project-updates/tfsproductteaminaustinapril4thtotalkteamexplorereverywhere

Chicago, IL
Thursday, April 7th @ 2PM to 4:30PM
https://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/EventDetail.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032481095&IO=FugavZ%2bXR1EgFiFq7swLOw%3d%3d

Thursday, April 7th @ 6:30PM to 8:30PM
Chicago ALM User Group
http://chicagoalmug.org

Milwaukee, WI
Friday, April 8th @ 9AM to 11:30AM
https://msevents.microsoft.com/cui/EventDetail.aspx?culture=en-US&EventID=1032481099&IO=FugavZ%2bXR1FKUHEf842Wzw%3d%3d

Bringing our ALM Summit experience to You

As I leave Milwaukee and head towards Redmond on a full flight with five of my Centare colleagues , I cannot help but think about the week ahead at the Microsoft Partner ALM Summit. The question that keeps entering my mind is, how will this week of insight, guidance and relationships add value to our team, company and customers? All of these groups are important to consider and should benefit from this trip, but how? Pondering these questions, I’ve decided to offer some ideas for how these groups will benefit. While these ideas will be specifically considering the ALM Summit, they should apply to any educational event or conference.

Knowledge Transfer
At any educational event knowledge is gained, some more than others, but non-the-less education occurs. Two things can happen with this new knowledge. It can be horded and guarded like trade secrets, or it can be shared with others. I strongly believe in community, and members of the tech community should frequently collaborate and share work experiences to strengthen the group. At Centare, we make a conscience effort to gather our team regularly for educational and social events. We will strengthen our internal community by sharing the knowledge and best practices learned with our team through these gatherings.

Boost Effectiveness
Not only will we pass along new insights, but the team will collaborate and bounce ideas which will naturally improve retention and practicality. Our team is a great group of leaders who are passionate about delivering business value through software development. Our team also constantly seeks ways to sharpen the saw and be better at what we do. New information will be considered by our team and will eventually lead to experimenting, dissecting and developing personal conclusions. Ultimately, the new information is a catalyst for thought, leading to action and resulting in increased efficiency and effectiveness.

Spread the Word
Thus far, I’ve been completely focused on how this benefits our internal team and company but have not talked about our customers. This would all be a waste if our customers didn’t gain value. Our customers will certainly benefit from our team being more knowledgeable about software development practices and specific technologies. Our customers will also benefit from our team’s increased effectiveness. But how do we make it practical for our customers as quickly as possible? I believe our customers would benefit from sessions similar to our internal sessions. The word should be spread and we should equip our customers with insight and practices to be most effective. We regularly hold Lunch & Learn events for our customers and the community to where our leaders present emerging technologies and best practices. This would be a potential forum for passing along this information. However, we could also engage organizations through targeted, intimate sessions. These Customer Briefings would provide insight and guidance and create an environment that encourages good dialog.

Get Involved
You might be asking, how do I get involved? If you are a part of an organization in Milwaukee, Chicago or Madison area and would like to hear about the practices and knowledge that we pick up this week at the Microsoft Partner ALM Summit and in the future, please contact me and let us know to include you on our Lunch & Learn invites. If you are interested in a private Customer Briefing, shoot me an email with your contact info, a little information about your organization and what would be most valuable for your Customer Briefing. Unfortunately, because of the fixed size of our team, Customer Briefing availability will be limited and available on a first-come first-serve basis, so get in quickly.