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Visual Studio IDE? Essential for a Microsoft Shop.
Updated January 28, 2021

Visual Studio IDE? Essential for a Microsoft Shop.

Anonymous | TrustRadius Reviewer
Score 9 out of 10
Vetted Review
Verified User

Software Version

Enterprise

Overall Satisfaction with Visual Studio IDE

Visual Studio IDE is used primarily by our Software Developers and Architects. Our Testers use Microsoft Test Manager, and most of our other SDLC roles (Project Managers, Design Managers, Business Analysts, etc.) use the Team Foundation Server web interface. Visual Studio is necessary for coding, version control, build administration, and access to other tools. It is a more robust interface than what TFS Web offers, and many of the features provided in the Visual Studio IDE that aren't present in the TFS Web are essential to the duties of those roles.
  • One-stop development shop. Centralized location for all development-related tools and workflow.
  • Continue work offline, disconnected from the network if needed.
  • More robust build administration than what is offered on the web
  • Certain settings and features can sometimes be challenging to locate. The interface isn't always intuitive.
  • Sometimes there are too many ways to do the same thing. For example, users can quickly add a new workspace in Source Control Explorer when a local path shows as "Not Mapped," but it doesn't indicate that the user might want to check the dropdown list of workspaces. The shortcut of creating a new workspace by clicking on the "Not Mapped" link can lead to developers creating too many workspaces and causing workspace management to become unwieldy. If the shortcut link were removed, the user would be forced to use the Workspace dropdown. While it can add an extra step to the process, workspaces would be managed more easily, and this would enforce consistency. At the very least, there should be a high-level administrative setting to hide the shortcut link.
  • Our company has an Enterprise agreement with Microsoft, which includes many benefits and Visual Studio IDE being just one of them.
  • Visual Studio IDE provides the tools needed for our development teams to code and deliver releases quickly.
There are many resources available supporting Visual Studio IDE. Microsoft whitepapers, forum posts, and online Visual Studio documentation. There are countless demonstration videos available, as well. If users are having issues, they can call Microsoft Support, but depending on the company's agreement with Microsoft, the number of included support calls will vary from organization to organization. I've found that Microsoft support calls can be hit or miss depending on who you get, but they can usually get you with the right support person for your issue.

Do you think Microsoft Visual Studio delivers good value for the price?

Yes

Are you happy with Microsoft Visual Studio's feature set?

Yes

Did Microsoft Visual Studio live up to sales and marketing promises?

I wasn't involved with the selection/purchase process

Did implementation of Microsoft Visual Studio go as expected?

Yes

Would you buy Microsoft Visual Studio again?

Yes

Visual Studio IDE is essential for businesses where the primary coding languages are Microsoft Dot Net based, such as C#. If the company uses TFS or Azure DevOps for ALM, then Visual Studio IDE fits perfectly as it was designed to. If the company is not a primarily Microsoft-centric shop, then Visual Studio IDE isn't needed.