There are more tools than just VS.NET

Kirk Allen Evans has an excellent post on Change Control.  He points out that many software developers view change control as synonymous with Visual Source Safe, and leave things at that.  He's correct in that there's much more to Change Control than source code control, and that Rational's solutions are only useful for those few cash-rich shops that can afford it.

However, I part ways with Kirk's arguments when he begins wishing that VS.NET would tie all of this together. 

A common problem I've been observing recently is that just about every developer starts wishing that VS.NET will do everything perfectly, and that we'd never need another tool, ever.  In fact, I recently blogged about just such a situation.

Truth be told, I enjoy the choice that multiple vendors offer, and Microsoft has gone to some lengths to ensure that VS.NET is extremely extensible.

There are also several vendors that can accomplish much of what Kirk's asking for.  A case in point is that a VS.NET --> Perforce --> DevTrack combination enables an end to end VS.NET based solution, extending change control and bug tracking control using Perforce's SCC solution along with DevTrack's extensible defect and feature tracking solution.

Indeed, this combination of products goes a long way towards providing the very solutions that Kirk's asking for.

If you want even to go even cheaper, the open source projects CVS (or Subversion) and Bugzilla are also available.  It will take more work to make things 'end-to-end', but it can be accomplished.

If VS.NET doesn't do what you need, that doesn't necessarily mean that Microsoft needs to plug that gap.  There are several ISV's that will point out that the gaps left in VS.NET create opportunities for others. 

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