WarpTest, August 24, 2015
By Jonathan Ross
Click here to read the full post in Warptest
Many of us take for granted that when launches a new that there are Developer tools like Visual Studio and TFS(Team Foundation Server) that need updating to support it.
These allow all the software and apps we use to be updated in line with the OS, to add new features and to change the look and feel to match that of the Operating System, and of course to create incredible new applications that leverage all the power behind Windows 10.
Microsoft isn’t alone in these endeavors and works hand in hand with many partners and 3rd Party Solution Providers. Incredibuild is one of these and they didn’t waste a moment, while others are scrambling to go to market with their solutions for Windows 10 and Visual Studio 2015, Incredibuild are already out of the gate with their offering.
So, what is Incredibuild?
To quote their product overview,
“A simple and speedy way to accelerate builds, compilations, and development processes 30x faster or more.“
After reading this, I caught up with their Marketing Manager, Avi Hein (disclosure: Avi is a friend) and in addition to the official press release (embedded in this post as a PDF) I decided to ask him some questions all about Incredibuild 7 for Windows 10 and Visual Studio 2015:
PDF of Press Release: IncrediBuild 7 For Visual Studio 2015 and Windows 10
- How long did Incredibuild’s team work on this release?
Incredibuild has been around since 2002 and we are continually working to update and support the latest operating systems and versions of Visual Studio.
The last version before Incredibuild 7.0 was released in March, so we have been dedicating ourselves exclusively to 7 for the past 6 months. But we are always working on continuous improvement.
Since the first alpha of Visual Studio 2015 and Windows 10, we have been working to ensure compatibility. We have a very strong relationship with the development team at Microsoft and have been constantly working. In addition, we were Visual Studio 2015 Sim-Ship partners, so we were in constant communication to ensure early support for Visual Studio.
Incidentally, we also have some great things planned for the future as well.
2. Who is it intended for, large companies, startups or a single developer?
The great thing about Incredibuild is there is a solution for any size dev team.
A single developer can use our “FreeDev” version on his or her local machine and will gain performance improvements at no cost.
Startups, medium companies, and even large enterprises can also benefit from Incredibuild. The more cores added to Incredibuild’s coordinator, either on the local network or via cloud integration with public clouds like Azure and AWS, the more speed improvements. We have customers who have a small dev team using it as well as hundreds of users in large enterprises who are running it in their whole company.
One of the advantages of Incredibuild is ease of use and installation. Just install and run. There is no need for professional services or to change your code or your software toolchain. Continue using the same tools, but faster.
3. What is the added value in a nutshell for me as a developer to having Incredibuild?
We spend too much time waiting, and not enough time building and testing software.
As an example, one of our customers, GeoTeric, a UK-based geological software company, wanted to add automated tests. However, because their builds were taking over two hours (without tests) they did not want to add automated unit tests. However, after implementing Incredibuild, they implemented Agile development practices such as automated testing and continuous integration and even with 2,000-3,000 automated tests (where before all tests were manual) build time decreased from 2 hours to 11 minutes.
Recently, we surveyed hundreds of developers. The results were astounding. Running multiple builds daily, the survey revealed that developers spend a minimum of two hours a day waiting for their software to build. I want to hear from your readers. How long do your builds take?
4. How does this integrate with TFS?
Incredibuild integrates easily with TFS. We integrate out-of-the-box with Team Foundation Server
Essentially, the Microsoft® TFS-Incredibuild integration transforms each build agent into a 500-core machine.
Here is an old white paper that explains our TFS integration: https://www.incredibuild.cn/extrafiles/whitepaper.pdf
5. Does it matter if I work Agile or Waterfall?
Incredibuild accelerates any process and builds. So you can benefit regardless of what development methodologies. If you are a waterfall team with manual tests, but your builds and compilations take a long time, you will see a significant improvement.
Of course, if you are an Agile team doing Extreme Programming, doing continuous integration, running automated testing, those processes take a long time and so
6. Is there a trial version, for how long is it good and can I have the link to sign up for it?
Incredibuild offers a FreeDev version, which is free for life on up to 4 cores, on your local machine. For the full power of Incredibuild, of course, the price depends on the number of cores you want to use to help you speed up your development.
You can learn more or download Incredibuild at https://www.incredibuild.cn/incredibuild-product-overview.html
We also just released a Linux and Android version, which accelerates Linux development as well.
Right now, that is free. If you are running Red Hat Enterprise Linux, CentOS, or Ubuntu, you can learn more or get it here:https://www.incredibuild.cn/incredibuild-for-linux-solution.html
7. So clearly you all have been using Windows 10, why should everyone be upgrading? Tell me for developers but also for the everyday user too?
Many companies are beginning to upgrade to Visual Studio 2015 and Windows 10, especially companies that haven’t migrated from Windows XP or Windows 7. Therefore, it is important to be supporting anyone who is using the latest operating systems and Windows 10, from the first days.
8. You mention an increased focus on gaming in the press release, what are the best games I should be playing right now?
Visual Studio 2015 included some very nice gaming compilations. We also worked very closely with NVIDIA and are included in their AndroidWorks suite of tools for Android developers.
What many people do not know is that the world’s most popular games are developed with “Incredibuild Inside.” We, personally, of course, love Halo & Age of Empires.
Also, there are some great games coming out of Indy studios. Check out Star Citizen (https://robertsspaceindustries.com/) if you like space battles,
9. How much coffee did it take to launch Incredibuild’s latest release?
While we love coffee here at Incredibuild, one of the benefits is that we shorten your coffee break. Since our builds are so fast, there were a lot fewer coffee breaks.
Yes, that is the one downside for developers – faster builds and so shorter coffee breaks. (See https://www.incredibuild.cn/how-much-time-does-incredibuild-save-incredibuild-vs-your-coffee-brea.html for a great video that shows how much IncrediBuild shortens your coffee break)
10. Who do I contact to buy this now?
You can download Incredibuild at https://www.incredibuild.cn
If you want to buy Incredibuild contact our sales team at sales@www.incredibuild.cn or buy onlinehttps://www.incredibuild.cn/ibonlinestore
Thanks, Avi.
The Warptest POV
If you are a Developer working with Visual Studio 2015 and Windows 10, whether you work in Enterprise, Startup or alone, this is something you should be seriously looking at. Incredibuild are offering a way to turbo-boost your lifecycle / development mojo.
I’m going to be recommending to all the Windows 10 Developers I know to take a look at Incredibuild 7 for themselves. If you know someone this could help then pay it forward.
Time to work faster and smarter. Oh and by the way, if you haven’t already upgraded to Windows 10 and want to, see this link.