TFS "Change Language" tool

After we released TFS 2005, we shipped a set of guidance and tools for helping customers change their TFS server from English to a localized version.  It was fairly “do it yourself”, consisting of a lot of manual steps and a few tools to help you.  None-the-less, many hundreds (maybe a couple thousand – I can’t remember the number right now) people used it.  The reason we did it was that, being the first version of TFS, and Betas being only in English, customers had no choice but to start with English if they wanted to use TFS.  Once the localized versions were released, they wanted to move to the language of their choice.

Our thinking (perhaps misguided) was that we did not need to do this again for TFS 2008.  The theory being that a customer could use a localized version of TFS 2005 until the localized versions of TFS 2008 are available (within the next 2-3 months).  We have started to see a few requests for a version that will work with TFS 2008 and want to gauge the level of interest before we invest in it.  We’ve put together a survey to understand how many people need it an what they need it for.

We appreciate your input on this.  One thing I ask is that you think hard about your need.  I have learned from many years of doing SDRs and Advisory councils that if you ask “Do you want feature X?” the answer is almost always “yes”.  If we ask “Which feature do you want more: X or Y?”  People think harder about it.  Everything we do takes time and means that’s time spent not doing something else.  With that caveat, if this ability is important to you, please let us know.  We very much want to make sure that our international customers who use localized versions feel that we are meeting their needs.

Thank you,

 Brian