AzureDevOps Server (formerly Team Foundation Server, or TFS) is a test management and application lifecycle management tool, from Microsoft's Visual Studio offerings. To license Azure DevOps Server an Azure DevOps license and a Windows operating system license (e.g. Windows Server) for each machine running Azure DevOps Server.
N/A
Beyond Compare
Score 10.0 out of 10
N/A
Beyond Compare from Scooter Software headquartered in Madison is a utility for comparing different version of documents and seeing the differences. It also allows changes to be merged and synchronized.
In our case it was best suited when we started working remotely, we were able to track everything in out projects easily, able to share our codes, give reviews for the codes and also create integration and deployment CI/CD plans for the release and testing. It helped our team members with the productivity, early prototyping and release. Create summarised reports of different aspect of our projects. Even in other scenarios it is one of the best tools to use for collaboration and project management. I haven't found any specific scenario where it is not appropriate
It allows for scrolling through both documents at the same line level meaning you are not required to skip between files to look at what is different between the two.
A comparison between registry hives can easily pinpoint issues for hundreds and thousands of records.
Tabbing can allow for multiple compares to take place at the same time.
I often need to exclude folders or files from the comparison. Currently, the fastest way is to right-click and then pick "exclude" from the context menu. Having the ability to multi-select folders and then exclude the group would be nice.
Sometimes we need to verify MD5 and SHA256 fingerprints, and this would be a nice enhancement within the tool.
Because we are a Microsoft Gold Partner we utilize most of their software and we have so much invested in Team Foundation Server now it would take a catastrophic amount of time and resources to switch to a different product.
For standard users the interface is friendly. but if you are a manager some tools are a little confusing to use, like the query system that you always need to create from scratch. Templates should be more helpful for queries and for standard procedures that you need to duplicate PBIs over time. The search history of Work Items is a little painful to use.
Again, given the intuitive nature of this program, there is barely any learning curve needed. It is simple, reliable, accurate, and just one of those tools you always have with you and rarely think about until you don't have it. Then it is a case of OMG what was I thinking? This program is just very easy to use, and that makes it more valuable to me than some of my other software tools that cost significantly more.
I have not had to use the support for Azure DevOps Server. There have never been any issues where I was not able to figure it out or quickly resolve. Our Scrum Master has used support before though, and the service has always been prompt and clear with a customer-focus
I've only contacted Beyond Compare support for one issue ever, and that was an issue we had because we didn't track our license properly. Their support staff was friendly and helpful, quickly identifying the lost license key and helping us understand what our current license terms. We couldn't be happier with the responsiveness of their support.
Azure DevOps is a fully integrated solution that solves all of the problems that our separate tools did in a much easier-to-use way. Before we implemented DevOps we had three different solutions that we had to integrate with each other and required a lot of manual intervention to make sure they worked correctly.
When Beyond Compare 4 came out, we briefly considered looking at other tools, like Code Compare, but in all reality, we never really considered it a viable option. Beyond Compare offers such a comprehensive solution, especially with its Pro License (and 3-way merging functionality.). Our development team is so comfortable with Beyond Compare at this point that it would represent a learning curve to shift off of it.
It has streamlined the pipeline and project management for our agile effort.
It has helped our agile team get organized since that is a new methodology being leveraged within the Enterprise.
The calendar has improved visibility into different OOOs across the project team since we all come from different departments across the larger organization.
