TFS vs open source alternatives? [closed]

Question

We're currently in the process of setting up a source control/build/and more-server for .NET development and we're thinking about either utilizing the Team Foundation Server (which costs a lot of dough) or combining several open source options, such as SourceForge Enterprise/GForge and Subversion and CruiseControl.net and so on. Has anyone walked down the full blown OSS road or is it TFS only if you want to get it right and get to work soon?

Answer 1

I think that the TFS is worth it for all the extra features mentioned in above posts. It's continuous builds functionality is seriously lacking though so we augment that part using CruiseControl.NET which is awesome. The only reason we would choose against TFS if we were to do it right now is that we are moving to cross platform development of our products. So if you have even thought about that, think OSS. Subversion/Trac would be my favorite combo that way with CruiseCOntrol.NET still being the backbone. CC.NET using mono works well on Linux and Mac.

Answer 2

If you are using TFS make sure you install VSTS2008SP1. The vast majority of people I've seen posting complaints are using the 2005 version. 2005 is the classic "Microsoft 1.0" syndrome. There were a LOT of problems that have been fixed by the 2 later "versions".

The Service Pack for 2008 isn't just a bug fix - but added many new features.

As far as the choice vs OSS - there are a lot of discussion (here and elsewhere). It isn't a cheap product - but it is the best choice for a lot of scenarios (and the worst for others).

Answer 3

The real benefit of using TFS compared to a separate set of OS tool is the integration of the various flow of informations available.

* Create a requirement and insert into TFS
* Create a set of task linking them to the requirement and assign them to the various developers
* Each developer work on his task and checkin, assigning the task to the changeset checked in
* A bug fix come in, also in this case the change set will be coordinated with the bug fix request and you can also map the bug fix to the original requirement

Once done this all the information can be used to track project and make evaluation about the work, like for example how many changes a bug fix caused, which are the requirement that has generated more bugs or change requests and so on.

All these informations are very useful in medium and large organizations and, from what I'm seeing now, are not possible (or very difficult) to track integrating different OS tools.

Answer 4

I've only recently starting working with TFS day to day, and having come from a previously open source stack I find it quite lacking.

While the integration of all the bug and task tracking is a really great feature, the negatives out weight it.

Personally I use the following stack which gives me everything that we need to do from continuous integration to automated deployments on an enterprise scale at a fraction of the cost:

• Subversion
• Hudson
• nCover
• nDepend
• Simian
• Jira
• Jira & Subversion Integration

Answer 5

I've always gone the OSS way and have never had a problem. I would also highly recommend TeamCity for your CI solution. There is a free licence and I think it blows CC.NET out of the water for ease of configuration and feedback.

Answer 6

TFS2010 has a TFS Basic, which costs nothing (over and above your msdn subscription/visual studio licence). It is limited to 1 per VS licence, but you only need additional licences for non VS users

The UI Automation in VS2010 alone makes TFS a winner over cobbling together open source solutions