| I remember the first time I got to play with Windows PowerShell—I had some spare time on my hands, and after reading a blog post, I quickly set off to download the unofficial pre-release bits that were available at the time. I originally had very low expectations about the tool—all I wanted was a shell that is up to par with its UNIX cousins. Boy, was I wrong! The moment I learned about object pipelines, I knew this tool was going to change the way I think about automating tasks on Windows. Fast forward a couple of months, and here I am, so much in love with Power-Shell that I even wrote a whopping 400-page book about it.
Why Another Book on Windows PowerShell?
As much as I like PowerShell, its plain-console looks make it very easy for people to dismiss it without really seeing what lies beneath the surface. I feel it is still largely undiscovered—I know many professionals who have yet to try it out. When administrators see PowerShell for the first time, many simply shrug, assuming it’s just another version of the primitive command prompt we inherited from DOS.
The most successful way for me to recruit a new person into the ranks of happy PowerShell users is by example. When presented with an automation problem, my first suggestion is, “Let’s try to do it in PowerShell.” A couple of lines later, the usual reaction is, “Wow, can it really do that?” A short and sweet command can win many hearts for PowerShell. Hopefully, the examples in this book will win your heart too—it is my goal to share with you the joy of working with a modern automation environment that will change your professional life forever. |
