Although the launches of Windows Vista and Office 2007 got all the attention during the Winter 2006-2007 period, I think that when people look back on this period in a few years, the standout Microsoft release will be PowerShell. I’ve mentioned a couple of Port 25 interviews and comments on PowerShell in the past. Here are some of the pertinent ones to refresh your memory.
Watching a community grow - Powershell
Powershell Released: An interview with Architect Jeffrey Snover
Powershell in Action! Hank interviews Bruce Payette
PowerShell is currently a free downlaod add-on product for Windows XP, Windows Vista, and Windows Server 2003 (I couldn’t get it to install under Longhorn Server Beta-2). This week, however, Microsoft’s Jeffrey Snover (PowerShell Architect) Announced: PowerShell to Ship in Windows Server (Longhorn)!!!! This is good news indeed. Having spent the last couple of decades working on UNIX/Linux servers (mostly from the command line), I find managing Windows Servers from the GUI often slows me down and makes remote management a chore. Having PowerShell built into the future version of Windows Server makes life easier for those of us with mixed server environments.
Here’s a PowerShell goodie I found on Microsoft’s CodePlex site that is an example of the power PowerShell brings to Windows.
This brings together the Windows data objects that PowerShell has access to with the statistical analysis power of the Open Source R statistical package. The oldsters among you (if you remember the late 20th century, you are old :-), will find that your old S statistical package books mostly applies to help you use the powerful R statistical package.
