The news is now out and to me clear - the next release of PowerShell, to be known as PowerShell 7 is going to be a huge deal. Steve Lee released the news in a blog post about the next release. There are several big points in Steve's blog post:
First, the next release is going to be called PowerShell 7. They are dropping 'core' from the product name, and the team are taking the opportunity to up the major build number to 7.0. I think many folks confused the term "core", so this is a great time to tune the product name. The change in version number was also surprising but most welcome - by calling it PowerShell 7, it signals to Windows IT Pros that what you now know as PowerShell Core 6.2 is pretty good on windows (all my Grateful Dead curation scrips work - so that's good!). But it's not 'there' enough: no WPF, no WinForms, and a bunch of cmdlets that are not supported.
Since PowerShell is based on .NET, its hard to do things that are not in the version of .NET in use. So since there is no WinForms support in the .NET version integrated with PowerShell Core 6.2, that version of PowerShell core cannot run Winforms programs. All you need to do is to add the necessary classes and hey presto.
.NET Core 3.0 is the big game changer here. It is intended to have all the underlying APIs that should allow upwards of 90% compatibility with Windows PowerShell 5.1. In my discussions with Steve Lee, I came away with the distinct view that .NET Core would both solve a lot of problems many Windows IT Pros had in adopting the newer versions and be an awesome tool in the Linux world. Imagine being able to write mini-GUIs that work in Linux. Utterly cool in my view and potentially very very useful for the Linux users. When we chatted, the view was to call it PowerShell Core 6.3, but I really like the name PowerShell 7. It not only makes the name easier but it calls out for adoption.
I am looking forward to updating my PowerShell books for PowerShell 7. Can't wait to get stuck in! I'll certainly be blogging more about this new release!
First, the next release is going to be called PowerShell 7. They are dropping 'core' from the product name, and the team are taking the opportunity to up the major build number to 7.0. I think many folks confused the term "core", so this is a great time to tune the product name. The change in version number was also surprising but most welcome - by calling it PowerShell 7, it signals to Windows IT Pros that what you now know as PowerShell Core 6.2 is pretty good on windows (all my Grateful Dead curation scrips work - so that's good!). But it's not 'there' enough: no WPF, no WinForms, and a bunch of cmdlets that are not supported.
Since PowerShell is based on .NET, its hard to do things that are not in the version of .NET in use. So since there is no WinForms support in the .NET version integrated with PowerShell Core 6.2, that version of PowerShell core cannot run Winforms programs. All you need to do is to add the necessary classes and hey presto.
.NET Core 3.0 is the big game changer here. It is intended to have all the underlying APIs that should allow upwards of 90% compatibility with Windows PowerShell 5.1. In my discussions with Steve Lee, I came away with the distinct view that .NET Core would both solve a lot of problems many Windows IT Pros had in adopting the newer versions and be an awesome tool in the Linux world. Imagine being able to write mini-GUIs that work in Linux. Utterly cool in my view and potentially very very useful for the Linux users. When we chatted, the view was to call it PowerShell Core 6.3, but I really like the name PowerShell 7. It not only makes the name easier but it calls out for adoption.
I am looking forward to updating my PowerShell books for PowerShell 7. Can't wait to get stuck in! I'll certainly be blogging more about this new release!
