How many licensed users are available with TFS 2010 Beta 2?

Question

We've been considering trying out the TFS 2010 Beta 2 as an upgrade from our existing installation, but I cannot find anything in the docs explaining how many users are available. Has anyone found information on this?

Answer 1

I don't think a 5-user "workgroup edition" of 2010 has been released. There are supposedly big licensing changes coming in 2010 -- most notably, the full server now comes with any MSDN subscription, not just the stripped down SKUs -- so there may not be a "workgroup edition" in the works at all.

Thus: any user with a valid CAL (whether purchased individually, or included with the VS Team System client suites) can access the server. If it's anything like 2008 there will be additional complexities around programmatic access, customer-facing web interfaces for bug filing, report generation, etc but you'll have to wait for the legal docs for the final word.

Answer 2

So here's the deal from the licensing changes in TFS 2010 that were announced when Beta 2 was released:

• Every one who has an MSDN subscription will receive a license for TFS 2010.
• There will only be one edition of TFS available which means there won't be a Workgroup edition any longer.
• Every one who has an MSDN subscription will also receive one TFS 2010 CAL.
• Retail costs for a TFS server are substantially lower than what they were previously although Microsoft hasn't publicly announced the cost you can do a quick search on the Internet to find out what it will be.
• If you purchase the retail edition, there will be an added EULA insert which allows you to have up to five named users that don't require CALs. You don't get this exclusion if you use the license of TFS that you receive from an MSDN subscription and likely from TFS licenses that you purchase through volume licensing agreements. (I'm not exactly sure about the VL part but can only assume since they've indicated the CAL-exclusion is only available for retail purchases.)