Professional Windows® PowerShell

Chapter 2. The Need for Windows PowerShell

In this chapter, I briefly look at how Windows command line tools developed and some of the reasons why a new command shell and scripting language are needed on the Windows platform. In Chapter 3, I discuss some aspects of the approach that Windows PowerShell takes, with the aim of improving on the current command shell and scripting languages available on the Windows platform.

Windows PowerShell wasn't created in a vacuum. It has been created to fill a business need to allow administrators to work more effectively than the current command line and scripting tools on the Windows platform. Let's look at why Windows command line tools have been relatively neglected for years and why there was a business need for a better tool.

The world of computing is changing fast. In a business context, there is increasing pressure to get more work done faster and to do that work for the same or less cost. Twenty years ago, personal computers were just that—personal. It was good enough, in fact, it was pretty amazing at the time, to be able to process text (for example, in Word), business numbers (for example in Lotus 1-2-3), and data (for example, in dBASE) on a personal computer. The simple fact that one individual could work with information (whatever file format it happened to be stored in) was a huge step forward over the typewriter or adding machine (remember those?) that preceded the personal computer. In those days, only a small number of employees ...