Windows Server® 2012 Unleashed

Introduction to PowerShell

The introduction of WSH as a standard in the Windows operating system offered a robust alternative to DOSShell scripting. Unfortunately, WSH presented a number of challenges, discussed in the preceding section. Furthermore, WSH didn’t offer the CLI shell experience that UNIX and Linux administrators had enjoyed for years, resulting in Windows administrators being made fun of by the other chaps for the lack of a CLI shell and its benefits.

Luckily, Jeffrey Snover (the architect of PowerShell) and others on the PowerShell team realized that Windows needed a strong, secure, and robust CLI shell for systems management. Enter PowerShell. PowerShell was designed as a shell with full access to the underpinnings of Windows ...