User login
PlayTank Information
Small Business
IT Infrastructure Revisited
Over a year ago, I posted an article about the IT Infrastructure I am using for my business. I thought it was time to revisit that article and see what has changed, and why.
Source Code Control
Last year I was using the free single-user version of PerForce. As I look towards scaling my business, however, this becomes an expensive option. I still think this is a fantastic product. I have switched, however, to Subversion. This is also a fantastic product, and it's free. As an added benefit, the Subversion (or SVN) model of editing allows you to be completely disconnected from the server while working on code. This allows me to keep my source code on my laptop and edit away while I travel. I am very impressed with Subversion, and that's now my recommendation for Source Code Control.
IT Infrastructure
One of the first things you'll need to do when you start up a small software company is build your infrastructure. If you're coming from a large environment, many things you took for granted will be missing. Here's a list of some of the choices I've made, and why.
Source Code Control
I'm using PerForce. As a one-person shop, I can take advantage of the free version that allows two client views. I use one view for OS X development and one for Windows. After working at Microsoft and using their version of PerForce, I'm sold on it's stability, scalability, and feature set. It's far more powerful than I'll need until I grow, and powerful enough to support hundreds of programmers if I need it to. You need SCC. If you ever lose code, either your own or your customer's, you're sunk. Even if you don't want to use PerForce, use something.
