TFS vs. JIRA/Bamboo/SVN [closed]

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Closed 8 years ago.

this week I participated a presentation of the 2008 TFS. Currently we are using Jira and Svn (and maybe Bamboo). What solution to you prefer?

Answer 1

I've already tried one 'source control' system from MS, I'm unlikely to try another.

I'm underwelmed by SharePoint's wiki.

That .net stuff they did wasn't bad though...

Personally I'd be concerned with the vendor lock in posed by TFS. I think that in this space there's still a lot of inovation to go and products like Bamboo and TeamCity are leading the way. TFS will invariably be playing catch-up no matter how tight their intergration with VS is.

Answer 2

sTFS 2010 offers multiplatform support so you can use it from unix/Linux/Mac or Windows. You have to try it to see the advantages you get with TFS2010. It is a full ALM solution so can't even compare it with anything else that is not ALM tool. Regarding Teamcity and Bamboo, they provide only build related functionality which are no where near TFS 2010. TFS 2010 build using Windows Workflow and do builds on multiplatform machines is just amazing. I mean, you take test automation, from Coded UI, to just simple lab management (virtual and physical), and the type of reports you can generate that can help you in making key business decisions and improve your team's performance and processes, it is just awesome in TFS. Seeing is beleiving. Also, if quality of the software, processes, support, and money saved is important for your company, I highly recommend using TFS. In other words if the return on investment (ROI) and Business Value are a key factor, go with TFS 2010.

Answer 3

Well just another answer only because the question includes JIRA too and this fact is overlooked by most of the answers. I think JIRA makes up the question not SVN alone.

It seems quite fair and interesting comparison. I have been big fan of SVN and Atlassian tools for past 4 years and continue to do so. Recently I joined another company which is still in process of institutionalization (as they say in CMMI) so we have a hot debate going on regarding the same subject. Most of the team is already convinced by the idea of SVN, CruiseControl, NANT and Atlassian (yes Atlassian is indispensable) excluding me. So as everybody in this thread is saying that the real comparison is for application life-cycle management not only source control so, what we really need for complete application lifecycle management (less project management), here is what I mean by that generally

1. Source control - should be painless to create branches, tags, do code merges, and some times should also work over http
2. WIKI - Program manager's heaven and developer's bible and notes area
3. Bug Database - should be between programmer, program manager, QA guys and customer (yes so broad) this means cool user interface, tracking, and integration with source control
4. Source code reviewer - must have, this is where Atlassian hits again (fisheye with crucible)
5. Automated Builds - the more alarming the better it is

If you are going to use Visual Studio toolset and eco-system inside an enterprise, TFS is a viable option. It has deeper integration with the IDE and does all 5 things nicely. You get SharePoint sites for every project. However, if you are not going to use Visual Studio toolset or if the project is going to be public. Atlassian tools come free hosted in the cloud. They should be the go-to choice.

It really depends on your project and the enterprise. They are all good options.

Answer 4

If you're just using TFS for source control and nothing else (which, btw, is overkill in the same way as chartering a jet to go pick up fast food), then you're better off with smaller solutions that just does source control (SVN, etc). TFS is an "Application Lifecycle Management" (ALM) tool, and incorporates a ton of additional functionality:

• Bug tracking
• Developer tasks
• External issue submission
• Automated builds
• Code reporting
• Project status update/time projections
• Many more

It's not really fair to compare it against tools that just do source control - TFS will appear cumbersome and expensive if you do. There are tools out there that can be used to do all these things, and they even integrate well together in most cases, but especially if your devs are all using Visual Studio (and there's always http://www.teamprise.com/ if some aren't) and you have some Sharepoint knowledge in-house, and ESPECIALLY if your devs have MSDN licenses (MSDN includes a CAL for TFS, so you only need to buy the server license), TFS can't be beat.

Answer 5

How much does it cost to put TFS in place for a team of 100 developers?

As a comparison I think the full suite of Atlassian tools (JIRA, Confluence, FishEye, Crucible, Crowd, Bamboo) is around $20K, then throw in a couple of days of consulting and training and you're near the total.

For small teams, I agree that the Atlassian $10 for 10 users is near impossible to beat.

Disclosure: My company Consulting Toolsmiths is an Atlassian partner

Answer 6

If you code with MS visual studio for Windows, then the TFS will be the choice. If you develop in Java, then i would not choose any MS Product, simply because they are platform dependent. The Atlassian Product line for ALM is is great, JIRA&GreenHopper, Confluence, Fisheye&Crucible, Bamboo.. are nice Tools and easy to use and for small teams (<10) the price is a hammer. And you dont need any 8h MS brainwash to understand the Atlassian license system ;-)

We just installed the "Tool-Stack" in a test-project and we could immediately see the advantage and i'm very happy with the results i see. Nice integration with SONAR, i prefer Confluence Wiki over the Sharepoint wiki, the review tool crucible is expensive, but really usefull.

I dont know what TFS 2010 will bring - in term of function and cost - but MS license politic frustrates me all the time when i have to deal with it.