PowerShell: predict the future via TechEd

Summary: Microsoft Scripting Guy Ed Wilson talks about Windows PowerShell and the future of the technology

Microsoft Scripting Guy, Ed Wilson, is here. Where ever I go, people always want to know about what is coming up next. What is our roadmap for management. Or, what is the future of PowerShell.

The future of PowerShell?

Dude, this one is easy. Windows PowerShell is mission critical, and is central to our management strategy. All enterprise products are adding more and more Windows PowerShell to their systems. A good way to look into the future, is to look at TechEd. Over the years, I have learned to look at the Microsoft TechEd conference as a very good way to predict what is coming from Microsoft in the next year to 18 months. Often, we even catch glimpses of things two years out. In the fast paced world of technology, that is like 14 years in doggie years (which for whatever reason bears a reasonable relationship to Internet years as well).

So how important is Windows PowerShell? Well for starters, Windows PowerShell grabbed three of the top ten TechEd 2014 talks in Houston this year. PowerShell.Org printed out 3,000 DSC Resource guide books to hand out at the Scripting Guys booth, and to give out in presentations – they were gone in two days. In addition, there have been more than 10,000 downloads of the electronic version from the web site. At the Scripting Guys booth this year, we talked to more than 5,000 people during the week. This equates to like ½ of all attendees at TechEd – and after the first two days, we had nothing to give away – but people came to talk to Windows PowerShell people. This is incredible.

If you missed TechEd 2014 in Houston, Texas, here is a rundown of the blog articles I published about TechEd. It will give you a really good feel for Windows PowerShell at the conference (some people were saying that they should change the name of TechEd next year to Windows PowerShell Summit – but that name is actually already taken, and the Windows PowerShell Summit in 2015 will be in Charlotte, North Carolina).

There was a lot of very rich Windows PowerShell content at TechEd 2014 this year, and the Scripting Wife had a hard time creating her ideal Windows PowerShell schedule. Interesting enough, she has been doing this for the last several TechEd’s, and this is the first time that we actually had people come up and say they followed her schedule. This happened more than once this time around. Way cool.

We were able to arrange for some excellent guests to come assist with fielding questions at the Scripting Guys booth. We had MVP’s, Microsoft PFE, Microsoft Windows PowerShell Team Members, and other luminaries from the scripting world. Jeffrey Snover came over to talk to people, and was scheduled for 30 minutes. He ended up staying for nearly an hour and a half, and the people kept coming. At one point both Mark Minassi and Jeffrey Snover were sitting side by side tag teaming questions. It was an incredible moment.

One of the things that we demo’ed to our visitors was the way cool Script Browser and Script Analyzer. To time with our demo’s I worked with Scott and Bill to have an article on the Hey Scripting Guy blog announcing the new tool. People were really impressed with the power, and how easy it is to use.

During TechEd 2014 in Houston, I wrote seven extra Scripting Guy blog articles about the conference, the people we were seeing, the questions that were asked, and about the things that were going on. Here is a quick link to those articles, and it will give you a feel for the popularity of Windows PowerShell.

Scripting Cmdlet Style

One of the highlights of TechEd is when Windows PowerShell MVP, and honorary Scripting Guy, Sean Kearney came by with his camera to film video for Scripting Cmdlet Style. If you have not seen it, you should check it out. But bear in mind that it is addictive. While the video is really funny, the message is very serious, and it both highlights the community support for Windows PowerShell, as well as the power of Windows PowerShell to solve real world problems. Check out the video and see how many Windows PowerShell MVP’s you can count, and how many members of the Windows PowerShell Team are there as well.

So what is coming up next in Windows PowerShell?

If you want to know what is next for Windows PowerShell, check out the preview of the Windows Management Framework 5.0. For a great overview of Windows PowerShell 5.0 check out this blog article. One of the really neat new features is PowerShellGet that will make it easy to discover, install and to update Windows PowerShell modules. Jeffrey Snover also has a great article that talks about some of the other improvements to Windows Management Framework 5.0 in the preview.

I invite you to follow me on Twitter and Facebook. If you have any questions, send email to me at scripter@microsoft.com, or post your questions on the Official Scripting Guys Forum. See you tomorrow. Until then, peace.

Ed Wilson, Microsoft Scripting Guy

ed wilson

Microsoft Scripting Guy

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/scriptcenter/default.aspx

PowerShell: predict the future via TechEd