Better Software Quality with Visual Studio Team System 2010 (Channel 9)

I sat down with James Whittaker, software testing pundit and principal architect for Visual Studio Team System's testing capabilities, to learn more about the software quality tools coming in Visual Studio Team System 2010.

The last time we saw James he wasn't allowed to say anything about this particular release, but now that marketing has let the cat out of the bag James is excited to start talking about bridging the developer-tester divide.

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figuerres ???

Oct 02, 2008 at 2:34 PM

will MSFT address testing needs when the "Team" is one developer / arch / designer / DBA / tester ?
very common for small to mid sized projects.
even for some large proejcts with a small company.

I need to test WebServices I wrote. I need to design / model / test and document all kinds of code.
but we can not justify VS Team SKU's cost at this time.
all I really lack at this time is code profile and web test on top of what VS Pro does now.
briankel

Oct 02, 2008 at 3:43 PM

Hi Figuerres -

Well, the marketing folks haven't announced the official SKU plan, pricing, or licensing for Visual Studio 2010 yet so I don't have many details to share there. But what they have done this week is combine the Developer and Database Edition SKU's into one. So now you can get all of the functionality from each of those SKU's for one price. Also, in the scenario where you want testing and architecting capabilities as well, that's what Team Suite is for which effectively gives you the functionality from all four SKU's for the price of two.

Brian Keller
figuerres ???

Oct 02, 2008 at 5:46 PM

Hey thanks for the info and the reply....

I guess my main issues come in a few groups:

1) I do not need any of the "Team"Features, I am not saying they are not worth having for the right users. so I do not want to have to pay for the server bits.

2) why for example is "code profiling" not part of VS Pro? ( I know you can't give me an answer as such, just take that as a question to pass on) to me a professional developer having a performance problem would want to do profiling of the app. I do not see this as a feature that needs a "Team" to make use of. in that same group I would add "service testing".

I agree that MSFT should make money on the work they have done on a really great set of tools.
And for cases where you have a "Team" the server SKU is a good thing.

I do like the news about the DB SKU getting folded into the PRO SKU good move, makes me happy on that count.

about that: will VS 2008 be part of that ? can I get an MSDN update that combines the two? at work we have a valid MSDN premium account.
briankel

Oct 02, 2008 at 10:41 PM

>>about that: will VS 2008 be part of that ? can I get an MSDN update that combines the two? at work we have a valid MSDN premium account.

If I understand your question correctly then yes, if you own Visual Studio Team System Development Edition with MSDN Premium, then starting October 1st when you logged into your MSDN Subscription you should see that you can also download and install Database Edition. This will install into your existing Visual Studio client to give you effectively one Visual Studio client with the combined functionality. The reverse is also true - if you own Database Edition with MSDN Premium then you can now download and install Developer Edition.

Note, however, that if you have Visual Studio Professional Edition with MSDN Premium then there are no new changes. Only if you own the higher-end Development or Database editions.

Hope that helps..

Brian
gdesroches

Oct 07, 2008 at 4:53 AM

I'd love to be able to use these tools, but unfortunately they cost 10x the price I paid for the Pro SKU just for one of the Team System SKUs. It's 20x the price if I want everything. Not only that, but I'd have to pay 4x-7x the cost every year to keep using it since I'm not allowed to buy a retail copy. Where exactly is the value? The only thing Team System's pricing model is doing is keeping it limited to large corporations who have extra money to burn. Small companies with people who play multiple roles and independent devs are still being left out. I do hope your marketing department comes to their senses.
Vasili

Mar 20, 2009 at 11:16 AM

Hello,

1) Can the Team Test system be used to test legacy(already existing) VB6 code?

2) Does Team Test have a way to simulate manipulating a legacy VB6 GUI, e.g. filling in dialog boxes, push GUI buttons, etc?

Regards, Vasili
slugworth

Mar 25, 2009 at 4:28 PM

Looks like microsoft has finaly decided to try to mimic Mercury (HP) Quality Center (Test Director). The industry standard for manual testing. I wish they would have done this years ago. When will this be available?
jtrujill24

Oct 29, 2009 at 7:04 AM

I tried doing this with VSTS 2010 Beta 1 on a VB6 application and it does work. I was able to login to the application, select menus, validate results.
jtrujill24

Oct 29, 2009 at 7:04 AM

I have used both and I consider VSTS 2010 a step ahead of what HP's product is able to do, at least for MSFT technologies.