5 ms·

So relevant info - I used to work at a Vista Equity owned company, one that was eventually sold to Oracle. Vista was run by a bunch of MBAs that believed that h

So relevant info - I used to work at a Vista Equity owned company, one that was eventually sold to Oracle. Vista was run by a bunch of MBAs that believed that had the best insight on how a to run a software company, including what technology to use. We were evaluating better tools for version control as we had been using Subversion. We were seriously considering Git, Jira, and Github. Then Vista decided they knew what was best for all of their companies and decided it was Microsoft Team Foundation and Foundation Server. :/ I know Vista has had a lot of success but it certainly is not related to their ability to make technical decisions for the companies they own. They are succeeding in spite of this kind of decision making, not because of it.

cpach 10y ago
Wow. That’s pretty crazy.
deleted 10y ago
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dennyabraham 10y ago
i had a very similar experience so i set up a git bridge for my part of engineering to use. it was not well-received by management, but it might be still running
- padseeker 10y ago
  You worked at BigMachines too. I know you! That's impressive, the whole git bridge.
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Sacho 10y ago
> We were seriously considering Git, Jira, and Github. You were evaluating Git, Not VCS and Git? Looks like your decision was already made. It seems like you were looking for a project management tool as well, and TFS is both similar to subversion(easy transfer of knowledge) and fills that need. Why Vista's decision was obviously bad is not clear to me.
- NegativeLatency 10y ago
  Have you used TFS?
  - Sacho 10y ago
    Yes, for several years.
    - deleted 10y ago
      [deleted]
- padseeker 10y ago
  For the record I had no input in this decision. When I say we I was saying we as a company. If they had asked me I would not hesitate to at least vote for git. I've used Subversion enough and I have always found the process of merging a branch as absolutely painful. I've never used VCS so I'm not qualified to evaluate it. As for a project management tool I don't know enough to make a compelling case against TFS. I can say that (a) I hated using it and (b) I was not along. It's been so long since I last used but I am thankful I don't anymore. As someone who has used Microsoft TFS and its suite of tools versus using github or gitlab as well as jira for issue management I can tell you that git/github like tool/jira is preferable to subversion/TFS. I am willing to wager a large sum of money that most of the team members at the vista owned company would have agreed. And I am nearly certain TFS and Subversion was more expensive than the other tools. You know why I think Vista's decision is bad? MBAs and finance people should not be dictating what tools should be used technical/coding/project managers. That is dumb. I'm glad you like whatever tools you use, what's with the snide attitude?
dingo_bat 10y ago
What's wrong with Team Foundation? I have never used anything but git, but I have had people suggest TFS.
- taspeotis 10y ago
  TFS used to be pretty clunky but MS has modernised it quite a bit. Especially their SaaS version [1]. [1] https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/visual-studio-team-services-vs.aspx https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/visual-studio-te...
cheez 10y ago
> I know Vista has had a lot of success but it certainly is not related to their ability to make technical decisions for the companies they own. Ironically, this is the case for 90% of software-run businesses. The technology matters very little beyond initial profitability. Initially, technology is important because it allows you to leverage, but once you can leverage revenue instead, the quality of your technical decisions generally don't matter so long as they aren't super dumb.

cpach 10y ago

Wow. That’s pretty crazy.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

dennyabraham 10y ago

i had a very similar experience so i set up a git bridge for my part of engineering to use. it was not well-received by management, but it might be still running

padseeker 10y ago
You worked at BigMachines too. I know you! That's impressive, the whole git bridge.

deleted 10y ago

[deleted]

Sacho 10y ago

> We were seriously considering Git, Jira, and Github. You were evaluating Git, Not VCS and Git? Looks like your decision was already made. It seems like you were looking for a project management tool as well, and TFS is both similar to subversion(easy transfer of knowledge) and fills that need. Why Vista's decision was obviously bad is not clear to me.

NegativeLatency 10y ago
Have you used TFS?
- Sacho 10y ago
  Yes, for several years.
  - deleted 10y ago
    [deleted]
padseeker 10y ago
For the record I had no input in this decision. When I say we I was saying we as a company. If they had asked me I would not hesitate to at least vote for git. I've used Subversion enough and I have always found the process of merging a branch as absolutely painful. I've never used VCS so I'm not qualified to evaluate it. As for a project management tool I don't know enough to make a compelling case against TFS. I can say that (a) I hated using it and (b) I was not along. It's been so long since I last used but I am thankful I don't anymore. As someone who has used Microsoft TFS and its suite of tools versus using github or gitlab as well as jira for issue management I can tell you that git/github like tool/jira is preferable to subversion/TFS. I am willing to wager a large sum of money that most of the team members at the vista owned company would have agreed. And I am nearly certain TFS and Subversion was more expensive than the other tools. You know why I think Vista's decision is bad? MBAs and finance people should not be dictating what tools should be used technical/coding/project managers. That is dumb. I'm glad you like whatever tools you use, what's with the snide attitude?

dingo_bat 10y ago

What's wrong with Team Foundation? I have never used anything but git, but I have had people suggest TFS.

taspeotis 10y ago
TFS used to be pretty clunky but MS has modernised it quite a bit. Especially their SaaS version [1]. [1] https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/visual-studio-team-services-vs.aspx https://www.visualstudio.com/en-us/products/visual-studio-te...

cheez 10y ago

> I know Vista has had a lot of success but it certainly is not related to their ability to make technical decisions for the companies they own. Ironically, this is the case for 90% of software-run businesses. The technology matters very little beyond initial profitability. Initially, technology is important because it allows you to leverage, but once you can leverage revenue instead, the quality of your technical decisions generally don't matter so long as they aren't super dumb.