CODEWITHSUNDEEP
visual-sourcesafe
Paritosh
Paritosh

Reputation:

What is the roadmap for VSS 2005/ 6.0?

Microsoft has been aggresively pitching for usage of Team Foundation Server. The VSS population in our organization is pretty huge. I am trying to find the absolute must reasons for the transition. And nothing scares more from the fact that VSS 6.0/ 2005 would go bust in 20XX. THe MSDN site still runs the 2004 update on the roadmap (http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa302175.aspx)

Can anyone share any pointers on the out of support date for VSS?

Thanks Paritosh

Upvotes: 2

Views: 585

Answers (3)

M4N
M4N

Reputation: 96561

I don't know if there is any roadmap for VSS (i.e. new versions). But this page says that VSS2005 will be supported until 2016.

BTW: The last update for VSS 2005 that I'm aware of seems to be the 2005 GDR package, which was released in 2007. Although I stopped using SourceSafe at around that time and switched to subversion (never looked back since then).

Upvotes: 3

Giovanni Galbo
Giovanni Galbo

Reputation: 13081

Don't quote me on it, but I think that I've read that the standard Microsoft policy is to continue to support a product for 10 years after it is no longer sold.

That said, I still suggest that you upgrade to something a little more robust than VSS. There are plenty of free options available.

EDIT

From http://support.microsoft.com/gp/lifepolicy :

Microsoft will offer a minimum of 10 years of support for Business and Developer products. Mainstream Support for Business and Developer products will be provided for 5 years or for 2 years after the successor product (N+1) is released, whichever is longer. Microsoft will also provide Extended Support for the 5 years following Mainstream support or for 2 years after the second successor product (N+2) is released, whichever is longer. Finally, most Business and Developer products will receive at least 10 years of online self-help support.

Upvotes: 1

John Saunders
John Saunders

Reputation: 161773

Better than the out of support date - how about the lack of features and the chance of corrupted databases?

Have you ever used VSS remotely, over a VPN? I've had horrible data corruption problems with VSS in those circumstances, and I was only 15 miles away! I shudder to think of anyone still using it in remote settings.

At the very least, you want a source control system that uses a reliable data store, preferably a database. Switch to SourceGear Vault if you don't want to switch to TFS. Vault is very similar to VSS as a migration path.

On the other hand, there's a lot more to TFS than just source control. Source control is only the beginning of its features. It also handles bug tracking and other work item tracking; permits Continuous Integration and tracking of all builds, including tracking the success of automated unit tests; performs code coverage analysis and static analysis (and keeps track of the results).

It's really an apples to oranges comparison: they are both fruits, and grow on trees. That's about the end of the similarity.

Oh, and they both use the same path syntax, starting with dollar sign.

Upvotes: 3

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