Team Explorer Everywhere (and more) Now Free!

Visual Studio 2010 Team Explorer Everywhere is Microsoft’s Team Explorer client for Eclipse-based environments.  Here is the official description:

Visual Studio Team Explorer Everywhere 2010 helps .NET and Java development teams collaborate across platforms. It provides the tools and plug-ins you need to access Visual Studio Team Foundation Server 2010 from within Eclipse-based environments, so everyone can work together to achieve business goals.

Up until yesterday, Team Explorer Everywhere was sold as a separate product.  It is now available as a free download.  Keep in mind that although Team Explorer Everywhere is now free, you will still need a Team Foundation Server CAL.  See Visual Studio 2010 and MSDN Licensing for details.

There has also been some changes to how TFS Reporting and accessing TFS from within Microsoft System Center Operations Manager is licensed (i.e. now free).

Check out Brian Harry’s blog for the official announcement and more details.

Visual Studio 11 ALM Beta ALM Rangers Guides

As we are mostly all aware, Microsoft released Visual Studio 11 Beta and Team Foundation Server 11 Beta yesterday morning (see links here).  What you might not realize is that the ALM Rangers released their initial wave of Visual Studio 11 ALM Readiness Guides.

The initial wave includes the release of 10 guides to Microsoft’s CodePlex site:

• Practical Kanban Guide
• Practical Ruck Guide
• Team Foundation Build Customization Guide
• Team Foundation Server Planning Guide
• Team Foundation Server Upgrade Guide
• Test Release Management Guide
• Visual Studio ALM Rangers Personas and Scenarios
• Visual Studio Architecture Tooling Guide
• Visual Studio Lab Management Guide
• VM Factory Guide

There are also nine other guides on deck for being delivered in the near future:

• Branching and Merging Guide
• Microsoft Test Manager Guide
• Requirements Engineering Guide
• Team Foundation Build Customization Guide
• Team Foundation Server Process Template Customization Guide
• Team Foundation Service Practical Guide
• Visual Studio Coded UI Microsoft Word Plug-in
• Visual Studio Coded UI Test Automation Guide
• Visual Studio Quick Reference Guide

For the full details, refer to the post Welcome to Visual Studio 11 ALM Rangers Readiness Beta “Wave” on the Visual Studio ALM + Team Foundation Server blog.

Windows 8 Beta and Visual Studio 11 Beta Quick Links

If you haven't yet downloaded the Windows 8 Beta or Visual Studio 11 Beta, a list of links are provided below for convenience.  If there is anything missing (from the February 29th beta wave release), please leave a comment below and we'll get it added to the list.

Windows 8

• Windows 8 Consumer Preview
• Windows 8 Server Beta - must register to download

Visual Studio 11 Beta

Download - this link works for the following product downloads:

.NET

• .NET Framework 4.5 Beta

Visual Studio

• Visual Studio 11 Ultimate Beta
• Visual Studio 11 Premium Beta
• Visual Studio 11 Professional Beta
• Visual Studio 11 Test Professional Beta
• Visual Studio 11 Express Beta for Web
• Visual Studio 11 Express Beta for Windows 8
• IntelliTrace Collector for Visual Studio 11 Beta
• Agents for Visual Studio 11 Beta
• Feedback Client for Visual Studio 11 Beta
• Remote Tools for Visual Studio 11 Beta
• Visual Studio 11 Beta Shell
• Visual Studio 11 Beta SDK

Team Foundation Server

• Team Foundation Server Beta
• Team Foundation Server Express Beta
• Team Explorer Beta
• Team Explorer Everywhere Beta

Getting Help - To help with any questions you might have, please refer to the following:

• Visual Studio 11 Beta Forums - get answers to your questions from the community
• Visual Studio 11 Beta Documentation - includes walkthroughs, samples, training kits, etc.

Providing Feedback - To provide feedback (bugs, suggestions, etc.) for any of the Visual Studio 11 Beta products, utilize the corresponding Connect site:

• Visual Studio
• LightSwitch
• Blend