Unfortunately it is not. The UI is better - but that is just the new resource files used with cooler icons (compared to the previous version), but VSS itself is as limiting a product as it has been till now. I remember asking one of the product managers of VSTS on VSS when I was in Redmond, and they had said that it will be a completely revamped product - something which Microsoft internally will (or can - I forget now) use in the product development teams and should be able to compete with ClearCase, CVS, etc. But I guess, Beta1 ships with the same old useless source control.
But till the “real source repository” ships, for most small development teams VSS is still not a bad product and is quite useful in those situations. I have not checked out the API so am not sure if that has changed, but I would assume (quite safely) that it is the same. For those who are curious to see how the GUI has changed, here are some screen shots below.
Adding a File to VSS - Well the dialogue boxes also have not changed, with the Folder and Drives view still from the old Windows 3.x days!! If you have a deep hierarchy it does make is a big pain to navigate. Not to mention long filenames that do not fit in the listbox.
VSS File Menu (Context) - Again the same as before except newer icons.
VSS Toolbar:
VSS Working Folder:
VSS About:
VSS Application - As you can see below, the changes are only cosmetic but everything else is more or less the same. Click on the image below to see the fullview.
<p> <img src="images/vss%20client.png" alt=""/> </p>
Update: Intead of scaling down the image for the client I moved it right to the end of the post as it was spilling over to the content on the right hand side. I also scaled down version and if you click on it then you can see the fullimage.