Microsoft does indeed listen

When I posted my question “Would anyone be interested in Hosted TFS? ” on linked in I was hopping for a response from potential users. I did not think that Jim Lamb would be reading it and blog about Microsoft’s internal ambition to have a hosted model for TFS . I have been quite excited about this subjects as I have worked for many companies that would find the cost of running an internal TFS server prohibitive, but for whom a hosted option would be perfect.

To date there is only one hosted option and that is from TFS Now , if you are interested in hearing more about them then you should read their blog .

Now, if you wanted to setup and offer Hosted TFS yourself, well, you can’t. The licensing for TFS as the moment does not allow it but Microsoft is currently looking a this and we can probably expect to see something in this space some time in 2008/2009…

If you are wanting space on a TFS server, but not an actual server (usually because you have only one or two projects) you will have to wait until Rosario before these features will be available. It seams that TFS 2005 and 2008 are both impractical for this model, but Microsoft is looking to solve these problems in Rosario to allow multiple companies (clients) to share a single TFS instance.

In the hopes that some one is still listening there are a number of things that TFS requires to be more marketable, and not just for Development projects:

• RAG reporting needs to be built into TFS for management reports
• There needs to be a higher level of reports that can be used cross project
• Some targeted presentations would be good (i.e. targeted at Project Managers, or Test Managers, or program managers, or just plain management.)

I think Paul Slater will be posting a more detailed list, but you get the picture. There is not lacking in features for developers, testers or architects, but the ones that sign are paychecks and the budget for TFS are non technical management with little imagination…

I would like to thank Paul Slater for his incite into the black art of “Marketing TFS” and Jim Lamb for continually answering stupid questions…

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