Software Engineering

How is Rational going to react with the arrival of MS VSTS. Here are some thoughts:
- java? Obviously, if you have a client with java project or mixed java-.net projects, it seems clear that those cies would remain with RAtional suite.
- rational tools are stable and available now. VSTS will come out in 1.0 version in 2005. Probably not until 2006 that bugs will be ironed out. From now until then, it will be a long and bumpy road. any project that starts until then should consider rational tools, unless you are willing to experiment. In which case, ensure you have Microsoft support (ie. the client must be big and the project meaningful to VSTS team)
- let's face it, MS VSTS 1.0 is not going to be great for projects with large teams. I expect performance issues, probably conflicts, painful use in distributed delivery projects, etc. VSTS will probably be great for small teams (<10-20 people total I would think) in the same location. Then again, such small teams cannot afford Rational suite so there is VSTS market target...
- IBM is planning a complete revamp of their rational products in Q404, with much better performance for tools like XDE, which will become integrated into eclipse and written from scratch to use EMF. Round trip engineering will be easier and much faster.
- finally, VSTS is a first cut that focusses on the most burning SW development issues. It deals mainly with communicating tasks to various team members but leaves the soft eng aspects of the work behind. For example, the diagramming tools are very basic and do not yet support code generation a-la-MDA. This is where developer productivity will increase the most by allowing them to focus on design rather than code (plumbing). Rational is already targetting those applications and there are numerous open source tools available on the market.