What the heck is Harvest?
Today I would like to touch upon the topic somewhat unrelated to TFS, that of application in many aspects similar to TFS but one that has been around for ages. No, not ClearCase; I am talking about Computer Associates Harvest Change Manager. There is a good reason for that too (since we have recently released Harvest related utility application into a public domain).
To make the things shorter and somewhat entertaining - for those who think that there were no commercial life-cycle and configuration management applications before ClearCase or PVCS, Harvest (called then CCC Harvest - for Configuartion and Change Control) was there in 1977! The application parent company changed several times but the tool is still on the market and is currently version 7.1.
Personally I have been working with Harvest since version 3.0 (back there in 1996), and I still believe that there is plenty of wisdom in its methodology and flexibility of the tool is almost unrivaled even today (and am talking about flexibility without writing any code!). But with great sadness I must admit that the application did not reach the fame it justly deserves - it is sold and there are clients around the globe, but the community... Well, there is virtually no community; there are no Harvest evangelists out knocking at your door, there are no hats with Harvest logo being handed out at conferences... Were you even aware of the application before that post?
What am I driving at? The community, man - that's the foundation to build on! Harvest is yet another example of the great application (and I mean great) that did not quite get to the top because the community was not engaged enough.
As part of Team Foundation community nowadays I do feel different. I feel the creativity bubbling, see things happening - even the fact that TFS may not be perfect (to phrase it gently) drives the creativity. Overall I enjoy it immensely, so kudos to Microsoft Team Foundation Server team and keep it up to!
Dixi.