New Team Foundation Server 2008 VPC Released (with 12/31/2008 Expire date)

Microsoft Downloads - Visual Studio® Team System 2008 Team Foundation Server and Team Suite VPC Image (Trial)

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This image will expire December 31, 2008.
Microsoft ® Visual Studio® Team System an integrated Application Life-cycle Management (ALM) solution comprising tools, processes, and guidance to help everyone on the team improve their skills and work together more effectively.
This VPC release is available in English only.

Visual Studio 2008 delivers on Microsoft’s vision of smart client applications by letting developers quickly create connected applications that deliver the highest quality rich user experiences. This new version lets any size organization create more secure, more manageable, and more reliable applications that take advantage of Windows Vista, 2007 Office System and the Web. By building these new types of applications, organizations will find it easier than ever to capture and analyze information so that they can make effective business decisions.

To learn more about this release, please visit the Visual Studio Team System 2008 home page.

This virtual machine is running Windows Server 2003 Enterprise Edition, SP2. It contains a full installation of Team Foundation Server 2008, Team Build 2008, Team Explorer 2008, Visual Studio Team System 2008 Team Suite and all necessary prerequisites. In addition, it has been updated with Office 2007 SP1, current Windows Updates as of March 25, 2008, and the December Release of the TFS Power Tools. Team Foundation Server is installed in workgroup authentication mode and thus does not require a domain controller.

This release also contains 38 hands-on labs and sample data. Please examine C:\MSLabs inside the VPC image. If you desire, you can download the hands-on labs and their support files only. See the MSI download link below.

Please note: future updates to this image will be provided in the form of Virtual PC Differencing Drives. You may find it convenient to keep a copy of this download unmodified for these future updates so that you do not need to re-download this base image.

This virtual machine does not have anti-virus installed. It should not be connected to any network until it has anti-virus installed. In addition, the operating system and programs installed were patched with all updates as of March 25, 2008. If you use one of the included VMC configuration files, you will find networking is not enabled.

..." [Description leached in full]

I saw this release a few days ago and was thinking to myself, "I don't need this, or this link, because I already have TFS 2008 in production..."

Then I smacked myself on the forehead and realized this would be a great help when playing with different Process Templates (cough... the different Scrum's... cough), when trying different changes to Work Items, etc, etc, etc. And given it has a 9 month life span I'm sure I'll need to do some TFS hacking between now and then... Also I want to see if the WSS 3.0 upgrade is worth the effort... I want to see what value it add's, etc and this seems like a perfect vehicle for that.

Note the inclusion of the Hands-on Labs in this VPC. Also the "...future updates to this image will be provided in the form of Virtual PC Differencing Drives..." statement.