Accessing TFS from Windows Explorer with "Dubbelbock TFS"

When the big wig at IBM came in to show off ClearCase, he waved in my face the ability to interface with ClearCase by Right Clicking on a file in Windows Explorer, and then seeing the Source Control features at the tip of my proverbial fingers. While I didn't ever think I'd use it, I did find it an interesting feature. Personally, I like to interact with Source Control in my IDE only, but obviously others differ.

Anyway to my point. A fellow blogger, who happens to work at the same company but uses a separate TFS instance, found a tool called "Dubbelbock TFS" that allows just this. I don’t think I'll ever use it, but I did find it a nice example of how easy it is to extent TFS and how many small little projects are out there to improve developer efficiency.

Lastly just a note on my game theory analysis. I see ClearCase as a direct competitor of TFS. Since ClearCase has this Right Click in Windows Explorer functionality, I'm thinking MS might want to add it, even though I don't think users like me will ever use it. Reason being; when all the vendors show up on your door knocking they like to tout all the neat bells and whistles centered around functionality. When the ClearCase vendor showed this Right Click deal, I looked around the room and saw a bunch of manager types peak above their BlackBerrys and nod, as indicating "Oh that is nice. Let's make it a mandatory requirement for our next SCM tool so I don't get fired for buying a tool that does not have it." So even though I think the functionality is unneeded (at least by my group), game theory says MS should add it to a forthcoming release.