Boy did I have a great time at TechEd!  On Sunday, I got to finally meet Mark Van Orsouw (MOW of  http://mow001.blogspot.com/ fame) and we both ran into Scott Hanselman ( of http://www.hanselman.com/blog/ fame).  It was a blast to spend a couple hours sharing scripts, tips and favorite features.  It really confirmed my faith in the community.   Giving the right set of tools to the community is like pouring gasoline on a fire – big things happen fast.

MOW joined me on stage to give a demo of how to use Windows PowerShell’s .NET support to manage ActiveDirectory.  It was very cool not only for the things he was showing but also to see the way he uses the REPL (Read Evalue Print Loop) to maximal effect – very impressive. 

Don Jones also joined me on stage to demonstrate PrimalScript 4.1’s support for Windows PowerShell (http://www.primalscript.com/psnextpreview.asp) .   He showed syntax highlighting, intellisense, TASK (e.g. TODOs)  support, support for security, near-infinite undo, etc but the thing that really got the room going was the CONVERT function which allows you to write a quick and dirty script using aliases and then it expands all those aliases into full command specifications.

Scott Hanselman did two lightning demos of PowerShell which were great.  Scott has a great way to walk through how to think about what PowerShell is and what it is doing.  He is also a great presenter.  If you haver have the opportunity to see Scott present, go! 

10,000 thanks to MOW, Don, and Scott.

Jeffrey P. Snover
Windows PowerShell Architect