Product marks shift toward collaborative development With the upcoming release of its Visual Studio 2005 Team Foundation Server, Microsoft will attempt to strengthen its relationship with enterprise developers through a new push toward collaborative development.Set to ship in March, Team Foundation Server represents a shift from a developer-centric focus in building software to a collaborative one.Team Foundation Server works with the Visual Studio 2005 Team System platform to enable collaboration between multiple roles in the development process, such as project managers, architects, and developers. “All of these people need to work together in a collaborative way,” said S. Somasegar, corporate vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft, who spoke last week at Microsoft’s VSLive Conference.A release candidate — considered a prelude to the final, general release of the product — is expected to be available in early February.With Team Foundation Server, Microsoft is on the right track with code management, said Todd Dickard, billing systems manager at TravelCenters of America. “Visual SourceSafe doesn’t cut it,” Dickard said, referring to Microsoft’s earlier code management system. He added that he sees a need to bridge the duties of architects, developers, and end-users.During his keynote, Somasegar also touted the next version of the Visual Studio developer platform, code-named “Orcas.” The release date is not yet set. Orcas will enable developers to leverage upcoming technologies such as the Atlas development framework. Software DevelopmentTechnology IndustrySmall and Medium Business