News

Microsoft Issues Web Access Tool for TFS

• By Chris Kanaracus
• July 31, 2007

The Power Tool, dubbed Team System Web Access, is based on technology Microsoft acquired in March from DevBiz.

The company had already made the 1.0 and 2.0 versions of DevBiz's TeamPlain tool available for download, but did not provide customer support, according to a blog post from Brian Harry, a Microsoft distinguished engineer.

Team System Web Access was built atop the TeamPlain 2.0 codebase, Harry wrote, which Microsoft teams have extended with a series of changes.

One major new capability is a "build" tab, which enables users to manage team builds.

Also, Microsoft has tested the tool "to a moderate degree"; fixed many bugs; punched up its visual elements; and boosted its error logging capabilities, according to Harry.

Harry notes that this release isn't technically a finalized version, as it lacks documentation and hasn't been localized, among other things. That will come in the Visual Studio 2008 release timeframe, expected later this year. "This 'final' release should eliminate most of the exceptions listed above," he writes.

The tool is available for download here.