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So, here is the short review of TFS Windows Shell Extensions in Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server Power Tools.

Me and a couple of colleagues installed it... and it is actually quite nice. Now that I have it installed I dont think I want to work without it  You get all the basic TFS source control related actions in the explorer window, no more, no less. The name is still a few letters too long for my liking

One of my colleagues ran into some trouble with TFS Windows Shell Extensions though. The icon overlays in explorer did not show up properly. Turns out there was a "simple" explanation...

"Windows Shell has a hard limit of 15 registered Icon Overlays and reserves 4 for its own use. If you do not see your TFS controlled files and folders displayed with these overlays but the context menus are displaying correctly you may have run into this limit. The only workaround is to uninstall one of the applications that is using the available slots or disabling its shell integration."

No big deal, as long as you know which application to uninstall...

Lately I've had a few TFS users complain to me that the TFS client (aka Team Explorer+Visual Studio) lacks the explorer integration you get with TortoiseSVN. Now, I've never felt the need for this feature but decided to do some research. And guess what? You CAN get explorer integration with TFS! In several different ways!

• Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server Power Tools
• Dubbelbock TFS
• SvnBridge
• LizardTF

I have not tried any of them (yet) but I'd recommend the power tools... mainly because it is Microsoft and they'll eventually steamroll the competition (except maybe SvnBridge). Just pay attention to this small but important part of the "instructions" on the download page:

"Please note that the TFS Windows Shell Extensions are not installed by default. Choose Custom when prompted at installation to add the tool to the installed components."

If I'm not too busy I'll write up a short review of the TFS Windows Shell Extension in Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server Power Tools. Jeez... Microsoft, you relly need a shorter name for these tools!

My colleague Torkel Ödegaard just released CodeSaga, a free source code repository analyser for TFS and Subversion. Not only does it have some really nice and useful features (with more coming) but it looks real good too! Nice work Torkel!

Why do some pop ups insist on popping up BEHIND all other windows!? Seriously, its the most annoying thing ever and it is wasting my time!

This has to be one of the coolest things I've ever seen!  Installation is a system built at MIT Media Lab and allows the user to "place" virtual objects in real space. Virtual reality in real life! Oh, the possibilities!!! I hope someone fits this concept into a pair of screen glasses real soon...

Apparently this blog has been down for some time due to a bug in BlogEngine.NET. Basically one post was missing a xml-tag and it broke BE. Fixed it and notified BlogEngine.NET developers. Back to business...

Scott Guthrie recently announced that Silverlight 1.1 will in fact be Silverlight 2.0 to mark the major changes from 1.0. I've been wondering about the numbering myself and now it finallly makes sense... Now I just have to change my presentation slides for next weeks meeting

This is actually really easy as long as every developer on your project makes the move simultaneously. If not, well, there are a couple of things to keep in mind.

• VS2008 will convert your solution and project files even when you stay in .Net 2.0. Converted solution files can not be opened by VS2005. Project files can still be opened (you'll get a warning but that is all). This means you'll have to work with two versions of your .sln files, one for VS2008 and one for VS2005.
• If you've used Microsoft's Test Project template for writing unit test etc, the reference to ”Microsoft.VisualStudio.QualityTools.UnitTestFramework” will have changed in the conversion, breaking the project for VS2005. This reference will have to be manually changed back and forth depending on what VS version developers use.

That's it so far, but I'm sure there are some other pitfalls out there waiting for me :P

There is a session at TechEd called "Women in Technology" (WIT 01-PAN) but considering the scheduling of the session I'm wondering if Microsoft would rather see women OUT OF technology. The session has its own session slot and overlaps two other slots… It is the ONLY session slot of the entire event scheduled this way!

Update: This session is no where to find in the session search tool either. First I thought it had something to do with me being a man and all, but after checking with one of the precious few women around here... No, they cant find it either...

Mr Somasegar just finished the TechEd Developers 2007 Keynote. So, what is new and important according to Microsoft? Filtered by me...

• VS2008 and .Net 3.5 available as MSDN downloads by late November!
• UX - User eXperience. RIA, WPF, Silverlight and Expression all belong under this acronym. 
• All MS products matching the pattern "<product name> 2008" 

Naturally the first two is what excites me the most. I'm looking forward to learning more about it all!