You don't need to ponder your answer, you just need to free-associate the first thing that pops into your mind: What is the number-one leading complaint people have about Linux? Go!
The two words now emblazoned in your cerebellum like flaming Elvish writ by hand of Sauron are "command" and "line". Here, try these Google searches:
"linux sucks" "command line" - 5,090 hits
"linux will never" "command line" - 5,630 hits
"linux on the desktop" "command line" - 9,840 hits
See some familiar old flames? It's kind of like a song set to the tune of "The Blue Danube Waltz", only the lyrics go "Whinge whinge whinge whinge whinge... whinge whinge, whinge whinge" whenever the subject of the Linux command line comes up, even among those who claim to love Linux.
But suddenly, Microsoft is including their own command line shell with the next version of Windows, and the pundits immediately change polarity and weep hot tears of joy over the glory of command lines, faster than a Republican trying to pin the crashed economy on Obama. Now you can't look up command lines on the web without being distracted by the waving pom-poms as cheerleaders everywhere rave "YAAAYYYY COMMAND LINES!"
Suddenly, because it's Microsoft doing it and not Linux, command lines are sexier than Twitter.
LifeHacker gasps "What are your favorite scripts and uses for PowerShell?"
BetaNews wets itself and lists PowerShell as #9 in their "top ten Windows 7 features".
NetworkWorld boldly cites PowerShell as a reason why Windows 7 will crush Linux. I hope you had Windex and paper towels handy after reading this one.
PowerShell has an evangelist. Check the comments. Worship, worship, worship. Imagine a Linux blog evangelizing about Linux's command line without attracting a single, solitary troll.
The Windows PowerShell Blog is rolling in hits, with the tagline "Automating the world one-liner at a time." Wow. Just wow. Just because I'm curious to see if these people actually believe themselves that Microsoft invented command lines or if they're just trying to give everybody else that impression, I searched the site for 'linux' and turned up this gem: Appreciation for this "fair" comparison of PowerShell with Bash, as opposed to those other rotten, ungrateful Linux elitists who won't acknowledge that Bill Gates is Jesus.
TechWorld's review of PowerShell muses,
"it’s not the hardest thing in the world to get used to. It’s just a case of learning the keywords and, most importantly, figuring out how to find your way around the help system."
You're very smug, aren't you, Mr. Cartwright? Lucky for you that those aren't new Linux users you're telling to learn keywords and read the documentation, because you would get tarred and feathered and burned at the stake by the blog-o-sphere for that kind of... I believe the word is "elitism".
Yes, the word is 'elitism'. It certainly gets screamed at me often enough for advocating learning and hacking; I think I've been familiarized with it.
Never forget: the only thing free software is doing "wrong" is not being an abusive monopoly. Another of the tragedies of Linux is that half of its own developers fall for this FUD, tearing up their perfectly good work because they've been told there's something wrong with it.
It reminds me of what Gloria Steinem said of the so-called pro-life (anti-choice) movement, "If men could get pregnant, abortion would be a sacrament." Yes, it's our old friend hypocrisy, again. Now command lines are a sacrament because Microsoft has them. Even Granny and Joe Sixpack say so now.
Comments:
This one says it all (read file from stdin and display lines):
PowerShell:
Const FOR_READING = 1
strFilename = "hosts.txt"
Set objFSO = CreateObject("Scripting.FileSystemObject")
Set objTextStream = objFSO.OpenTextFile(strFilename, FOR_READING)
Do Until objTextStream.AtEndOfStream
strComputer = objTextStream.ReadLine
Wscript.Echo "Use WMI to get OS and SP versions from " & strComputer
Loop
bash:
awk '{print "Use WMI to get OS and SP versions from " $1}' < hosts.txt
ose MS-boys are never gonna get it. PoSH = Piece of SHit
alexboly: after a few unsuccesful tries to use synaptic, my mother used apt-get install successfully in !ubuntu #jaunty -- http://identi.ca/notice/4036689
Should I also mention that my two Mac-using coworkers are pretty fond of the command-line? People are starting to get it, Pete. We need to be a little noisier and more persistent, that's all.
Here is the true comparison:
Bash:
awk '{print "Use WMI to get OS and SP versions from " $1}' < hosts.txt
Powershell:
gc hosts.txt | % { write-host "Use WMI to get OS and SP versions from $($_)" }
Like you noticed, I don't know the difference between vb/ps. That was the reason I googled the forum thread wwith the examples. Just read the first post and did some copy/paste over here.
Should be more careful.
PowerShell does indeed look much better than VBscript - how on earth could the Windows world work with crap like that?!
Btw: seems like they borrowed some ideas from Perl/Ruby? It's never too late to see the light :)
I do find it amusing though that the best I can say about this revolutionary new piece of software from the largest developer on the planet, is that it's perhaps about as good as what the open source community has had for decades. :-P
Yes - we were very heavily influenced by BASH, Perl, TCL. A number of us on the team have deep Unix backgrounds and a very strong respect for Unix and the Unix community.
I was also very heavily influenced by VMS DCL and AS400 CL and have tried to always give those superstar engineers credit for their great accomplishments as well. I've been very public these influences. If you search for SNOVER and UNIX - you'll get a low s/n ratio on this matter but if you search for SNOVER and VMS then you'll get a bunch of hits where I describe our Unix influences.
Just to be clear - we are digging ourselves out of a 30 year hole. We are making great progress but for the next few years it will be fairly easy to point out particular sequences which are very pithy in Unix and more verbose in PS. That will eventually change.
You know a lot of Unix admins have to manage Windows boxes as well and they have long railed about the lack of tools they need to get their job done. My hope is that this people will find PowerShell both gives them the tools they need and gives it to them in a way they'll appreciate (given the fact that they can't just use awk for everything because WMI, REG, AD, etc are not flat text files :-) ).
Cheers!
Jeffrey Snover [MSFT]
Distinguished Engineer
Visit the Windows PowerShell Team blog at: http://blogs.msdn.com/PowerShell
Visit the Windows PowerShell ScriptCenter at: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/hubs/msh.mspx
http://techdirt.com/articles/20090525/1626124999.shtml
Thanks
Also, all that Windows is missing now is a C compiler, a package manager and the ability to shut down the graphical environment. Apart from a sound license and a working multi-user system, of course.