team system version control for non microsoft products

Is it possible to use the version control used by team system in non microsoft development setups For instance java or coldfusion developers. Does working with the source control require visual studio I could have sworn i read somewhere that you only need team explorer. Does anyone have a link that describes this Thanks.

Visual Studio Team System21

The following thread has information you may find valuable.

http://forums.microsoft.com/MSDN/ShowPost.aspx PostID=159491&SiteID=1

The summary is that TeamPrise (http://www.teamprise.com/) has a suite of client applications to access TFS from the Max and UNIX platforms as well as from within the Eclipse IDE. Additionally there is a MSSCCI plug-in for non-.NET environments. If your Cold Fusion or Java editor supports MSSCCI then this solution may work well for you.

Robert.

Robert is correct that TFS is integrated into 3rd-party IDEs thanks to partners like TeamPrise. Also,

I could have sworn i read somewhere that you only need team explorer.

Yes, that's true too. If you install just Team Explorer, you get a VS-like shell from which Team Explorer and Source Control Explorer work just like they do in VS Pro / VSTS. (Solution Explorer is not supported because there are no solutions!) Obviously, this trick only works on Windows.

(edit) note: installing Team Explorer installs all the client bits. So you can also use the tf.exe command line, the public assemblies themsevles, etc. As noted in the thread Robert linked, TFS itself can store any file type; it's only a question of UI integration.

Awesome. thanks guys.