TFS vs. JIRA/Bamboo/SVN

Question

Hi,

this week I participated a presentation of the 2008 TFS. Currently we are using Jira and Svn (and maybe Bamboo). What solution to you prefer?

Answer 1

I am a big proponent of the open source movement and I make my living on Microsoft's products. The biggest issue I have always had when trying to get a company to implement TFS is the cost. I mean let's face it - free, functional, with a large group pushing out continuous updates, and a large body of products that easily integrate is hard to beat. For that reason I use CruiseControl.net, CCTray, NAnt, NUnit, NCover, NDepend, NDoc, SVN, Tortoise for my development environments. They just work together right out of the box. NAnt is so flexible for me that I can easily create custom NAnt tasks in C# and plug them right in. This allows to better perform database automation as part of my build process. NUnit, NCover, NDepend, and NDoc allow me to do deep analysis and reporting on my code base with each build done with each check in. This results of this analysis is sent out to the development team with each build. With successful builds I am able to migrate my changes upstream to my centralized development environment allowing managers to see how the team is doing. Having CruiseControl always touching and checking my code is wonderful. Using this I am able to automate all interactions between all of the environments allowing me to push code up or down stream. More importantly allowing someone no where near as technical as me to push code up or down stream.

TFS can perform many of the same tasks. However, it requires a lot more configuration and doesn't work with nearly as many third party tools. For me the the lack of flexibility is not acceptable (though I am sure that it will get there).

The opposite applies to some folks in that all of the tools I use are all third party tools. Each one is a separate download, install, and configure. Though I find this to be easy and painless (as it just works) this may be the stop sign that some don't want to cross...and would prefer to spend the bucks for an MS supported project.

Answer 2

2008 TFS any time.

I used Jira for a while, I could not stand using the web UI. SVN always seems to break and does not integrate with VS. Every once in a while I could not check-in and had to recreate folders.

Answer 3

This is one case where you get what you pay for. It's worth the $$ for TFS if your devs use Visual Studio, the intergration is obviously going to beat out the others.

You also get the web access piece which can be used by clients/customers to create feature requests and log bugs without Visual Studio. And, you get the hooks into SharePoint 2007 team sites as well. TFS is so much more than just "source control" for devs.

Answer 4

If you're just using TFS for source control and nothing else (which, btw, is overkill in the same way as chartering a jet to go pick up fast food), then you're better off with smaller solutions that just does source control (SVN, etc). TFS is an "Application Lifecycle Management" (ALM) tool, and incorporates a ton of additional functionality:

• Bug tracking
• Developer tasks
• External issue submission
• Automated builds
• Code reporting
• Project status update/time projections
• Many more

It's not really fair to compare it against tools that just do source control - TFS will appear cumbersome and expensive if you do. There are tools out there that can be used to do all these things, and they even integrate well together in most cases, but especially if your devs are all using Visual Studio (and there's always http://www.teamprise.com/ if some aren't) and you have some Sharepoint knowledge in-house, and ESPECIALLY if your devs have MSDN licenses (MSDN includes a CAL for TFS, so you only need to buy the server license), TFS can't be beat.

Answer 5

Well just another answer only because the question includes JIRA too and this fact is overlooked by most of the answers. I think JIRA makes up the question not SVN alone.

It seems quite fair and interesting comparison. I have been big fan of SVN and ATLASSIAN tools for past 4 years and continue to do so. Recently I joined another company which is still in process of institutionalization (as they say in CMMI) so we have a hot debate going on regarding the same subject. Most of the team is already convinced by the idea of SVN, CruiseControl, NANT and ATLASSIAN (yes ATLASSIAN is indispensable) excluding me. So as everybody in this thread is saying that the real comparison is for application life-cycle management not only source control so, what we really need for complete application lifecycle management (less project management), here is what I mean by that generally

1. Source control - should be painless to create brances, tags, do code merges, and some times should also work over http
2. WIKI - Program manager's heaven and developer's bible and notes area
3. Bug Database - should be between programmer, program manager, QA guys and customer (yes so broad) this means cool user interface, tracking, and integration with source control
4. Source code reviewer - must have, this is where ATLASSIAN hits again (fisheye with crucible)
5. Automated Builds - the more alarming the better it is

To cut the chase, TFS has all, and well integrated. If you go with open source you got a decision for bugs database and source code reviewer, ATLASSIAN costs bucks too. And any good WIKI is not just good as full SharePoint site (because with SharePoint site WIKI is accompanied by other perks too). What you get is the way you want it. But wait, what if you are not doing most of gory coding in Visual Studio? Is TFS equally good for other languages than that are coded inside Visual Studio? Here TFS is just not as good as open source tools. Too much to give-in if you are not developing inside Visual Studio most of the time.

Finally, after a long answer, in both cases it costs bucks and it is up to you to see what are your organizational patters, vertically, when it comes to languages and technology.

Answer 6

It's also worth seeing:

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/4219/experience-with-svn-vs-team-foundation-server

Answer 7

I've already tried one 'source control' system from MS, I'm unlikely to try another.

I'm underwelmed by SharePoint's wiki.

That .net stuff they did wasn't bad though...

Personally I'd be concerned with the vendor lock in posed by TFS. I think that in this space there's still a lot of inovation to go and products like Bamboo and TeamCity are leading the way. TFS will invariably be playing catch-up no matter how tight their intergration with VS is.

Answer 8

If you code with MS visual studio for Windows, then the TFS will be the choice. If you develop in Java, then i would not choose any MS Product, simply because they are platform dependent. The Atlassian Product line for ALM is is great, JIRA&GreenHopper, Confluence, Fisheye&Crucible, Bamboo.. are nice Tools and easy to use and for small teams (<10) the price is a hammer. And you dont need any 8h MS brainwash to understand the Atlassian license system ;-)

We just installed the "Tool-Stack" in a test-project and we could immediately see the advantage and i'm very happy with the results i see. Nice integration with SONAR, i prefer Confluence Wiki over the Sharepoint wiki, the review tool crucible is expensive, but really usefull.

I dont know what TFS 2010 will bring - in term of function and cost - but MS license politic frustrates me all the time when i have to deal with it.

Answer 9

sTFS 2010 offers multiplatform support so you can use it from unix/Linux/Mac or Windows. You have to try it to see the advantages you get with TFS2010. It is a full ALM solution so can't even compare it with anything else that is not ALM tool. Regarding Teamcity and Bamboo, they provide only build related functionality which are no where near TFS 2010. TFS 2010 build using Windows Workflow and do builds on multiplatform machines is just amazing. I mean, you take test automation, from Coded UI, to just simple lab management (virtual and physical), and the type of reports you can generate that can help you in making key business decisions and improve your team's performance and processes, it is just awesome in TFS. Seeing is beleiving. Also, if quality of the software, processes, support, and money saved is important for your company, I highly recommend using TFS. In other words if the return on investment (ROI) and Business Value are a key factor, go with TFS 2010.