Shipped as a part of Microsoft Visual Studio, SourceSafe sells more than $40 million (US) per year (Source: IDC) and is a very popular version control program for Windows developers. As the teams go distributed and cross-platform, the limitations of SourceSafe rise to the surface. In fact, there has been a lot of negative press about the drawbacks of SourceSafe.

This article focuses on the growing challenges for development teams who are using Visual SourceSafe (VSS). We will cover development problems, the causes and most importantly reveal options for quick resolution.

This document is written for software developers who have team members working remotely and require remote and cross-platform access to source code. However, the information is just as beneficial to those who make tool selecting decisions since it provides a better understanding of the problems their developers are facing and solutions that could save time, energy, and budget.