Rational ClearCase

What do you like best?

IBM Rational ClearCase was one of the best version control tools when it came out. It ability to provide Dynamic and Snapshot views was cutting edge at the time. Branching and merging code was very simple using the built-in tools. It also provided the ability to geo-replicate the repository to different sites using an addon product called Multisite. Policy management is performed by using "triggers", which can be run using simple scripting languages to allow for extra policy checks. Latter versions also introduced UCM (Unified Change Management) which provided an out of box branching strategy to further simplify the development process

What do you dislike?

At the time I would say nothing. However as time has progressed IBM Rational ClearCase is not longer a viable solution for a development team, especially as there is so many open source alternatives (Git, Subversion). It has now become quite a niche product with very few developers knowing how to use it.

What problems are you solving with the product? What benefits have you realized?

Software Configuration Management is the main issue that Rational ClearCase resolves - however as stated above there are competitor products , most of which are open source that can surpass its abilities now.