CodePlex

Last month, we launched CodePlex - an extension of our Shared Source Initiative that provides a community portal for developers to actively participate in collaborative development projects. CodePlex is the first web-based instance of Team Foundation Server, our recently launched collaboration tool that provides an environment where members of a software development team can work together to develop and share source code with each other.

Even though the site is still in beta, we’ve already seen tremendous interest and community excitement. For example, when CodePlex went live in May, there were a total of 12 projects hosted on it. This included the Atlas Control Toolkit, Visual Studio Power Toys from the Developer Division (here is my previous blog on this) and three external projects.

Now there are about 40 projects on the site, with over half coming from the community. We are seeing more each day from both Microsoft and the rest of the community. The growth really shows the excitement around CodePlex and it will be interesting to see how this evolves. The possibilities are endless – whether you’re a developer and you want a little feedback on your application or you are a part of a larger team that needs a venue to discuss and collaborate.

You have heard me talk about the importance of community in our development efforts and CodePlex is a perfect example of how working with the community helps us build better solutions. This is another example of how everybody can benefit from the increased transparency.

Thanks to everyone who helped get CodePlex off the ground and make it a success - both my team and you all.

Namaste!