Advantages of using VSS in IDE include having the IDE taking care of 'check in' and 'check out'. Every time we open a file in IDE its automatically checked out and on close checked in to VSS. Disadvantages of not having the IDE include that you mustseparately run the VSS client program, browse all the structure of VSS and manually check in and check out the files. Its quite cumbersome having to check in this way and is coparatively slow in the sense that it involves more mouse clicks and humanintervention. With so many files and projects (folders) in VSS the client program requires having to search the required file before work can be started on it. IDE maintains the exact location and the related group of files for easy access.
Another plus point of IDE is that it connects you to VSS whenever required. Outside of IDE you have to browse to the VSS database and connect to it.
Advantages of using the client program include that you can 'search' through the files to identify the required files and can sort, merge or share your files and documents. The client program offers some of the features that are not available outside of it. However given the ease of use with IDE, and the not often required features of the vss client program, i find it best to run it in IDE. However for different types of uses, applications and platforms, these pros and cons can be weighed and approach selected.
