Rich Turner

Microsoft Open-Sources GW-BASIC

May 21st, 2020

We are excited to announce the open-sourcing of Microsoft's GW-BASIC on GitHub!

New Experimental Console Features

December 10th, 2018

As of Windows 10 build 18298, when you open the properties page of any Console window, you’ll notice an additional “Terminal” tab. Click on this tab and you’ll see several new settings for some experimental features we’re working on for future OS releases: Important Note: These settings are "experimental", because in certain ...

Windows Command-Line: Unicode and UTF-8 Output Text Buffer

November 15th, 2018

In this post, we'll discuss the improvements we've been making to the Windows Console's internal text buffer, enabling it to better store and handle Unicode and UTF-8 text. Posts in the Windows Command-Line series: This list will be updated as more posts are published: [Source: David Farrell’s “Building a UTF-8 encoder in ...

Windows Console: CTRL + Scroll to zoom and Dark Theme Scrollbar

October 31st, 2018

Many of you have been asking for Windows Console to support zoom. Well, today is your lucky day! 😜 Install today's Windows 10 Insider build #18272 and you can! How does one perform this magic? After upgrading to Win10 Insider build #18272 or later, open any Console window (E.g. launch Cmd, PowerShell, WSL, etc.) and then hit and hold ...

Re-Open-Sourcing MS-DOS 1.25 and 2.0

September 28th, 2018

In March 2014, Microsoft released the source code to MS-DOS 1.25 and 2.0 via the Computer History Museum. The announcement also contains a brief history of how MS-DOS came to be for those new to the subject, and ends with many links to related articles and resources for those interested in learning more. Today, we're re-open-sourcing MS-DOS ...

Windows Command-Line: Introducing the Windows Pseudo Console (ConPTY)

August 2nd, 2018

In this, the fourth post in the Windows Command-Line series, we'll discuss the new Windows Pseudo Console (ConPTY) infrastructure and API - why we built it, what it's for, how it works, how to use it, and more. Posts in the "Windows Command-Line" series Note: This chapter list will be updated as more posts are published: In ...

Windows Command-Line: Inside the Windows Console

July 20th, 2018

Welcome to the third post in the Windows Command-Line series. In this post, we'll start to dig into the internals of the Windows Console and Command-Line, what it is, what it does ... and what it doesn't do. Posts in the "Windows Command-Line" series Note: This chapter list will be updated as more posts are published: [...

Windows Command-Line: The Evolution of the Windows Command-Line

June 27th, 2018

Welcome to the second post in this "Windows Command-Line" series. In this post we'll discuss some of the background & history behind the Windows Command-Line. Specifically, we’ll explore its humble origins in MS-DOS, to its modern-day incarnation supporting tools like PowerShell and Windows Subsystem for Linux. Posts in the "Windows ...

Windows Command-Line: Backgrounder

June 20th, 2018

This is the first of a series of posts in which we’ll explore all things command-line – from the origins of the command-line and the evolution of the terminal, to what we’re doing to overhaul and modernize the Windows Console & command-line in future Windows releases. Posts in the "Windows Command-Line" series Note: This ...

Tabbed Console starts here

April 13th, 2018

[2018-06-29: Important Note: As announced in the release notes for Windows 10 Insider build 17704, Sets and Tabs will NOT ship in the next mainstream release of Windows (codenamed RS5). Please read the first bullet under the heading "General changes, improvements, and fixes for PC" for more details.]   [2018-04-16: Updated to better reflect...