Hi everyone, we are weighing our options on implementing Team Foundation Server.  We currently have Licenses in place for Visual Studio 2008 Professional.  If we build a Team Foundation Server, can we use VS 2008 Pro and get all the benefits of Team Foundation Server?  Or do we need to purchase the specific versions of Visual Studio that are labeled for Team development?

Thanks

Unfortunately, Professional edition does not integrate with TFS. You'll need one of the Team editions to do that.

MelvynHarbour:

Unfortunately, Professional edition does not integrate with TFS. You'll need one of the Team editions to do that.

Thanks for the reply Melvyn, unfortunately getting licenses for the team editions can get a little pricey.  Can you (or anyone) recommend team server?  Is it THAT good to have?  We have a team of 5 who will be sharing duties and responsibilities on a variety of asp.net applications.

Thanks

For a team of 5, I think it is probably overkill. It's a fairly heavyweight product designed for running fairly large software teams. You'd do better to look at a lighter weight solution like Subversion.

MelvynHarbour:

Unfortunately, Professional edition does not integrate with TFS. You'll need one of the Team editions to do that.

I believe this is wrong. 

Pro will integrate, but the Pro licences does not include a TFS CAL.

(With respect to costs, compare the cost of the tools with the cost of employing a developer, just how much of a productivity gain will the tools need to provide a nice short ROI?) 

Yes, you're correct - Team Explorer is a normal VS Plugin, but you're also correct about the CALs. I think the ROI on TFS for a team of five people is likely to be low compared with using a free solution like Subversion!

MelvynHarbour:

I think the ROI on TFS for a team of five people is likely to be low compared with using a free solution like Subversion!

I was thinking more about the Team Edition additional cost, e.g. the test automation abilities. 

What has been said is correct: VS2008 Pro will work just fine with TFS, but you need to install the client (its on the TFS CD, but can be downloaded online too), but you'll need a CAL, which does not come with Pro, unless you're using the workgroup edition at 5 license (If you only have ONE license of a Team Edition of Visual Studio, you get a workgroup license for TFS, which includes license for the server and 5 "free" CALs. If you need more than 5 CAL, then you need the real deal).

And while Subversion is a really great source control, source control capabilities is only a tiny little fraction of what TFS is for. If all you want is source control, using TFS is overkill. But it can do so, so much more.