Longhorn beta 3 shows the beef
November 22, 2008 nnyq.com editMicrosoft’s wide open beta testing paradigm, which combines unfettered interaction between Microsoft developers and customers and a formal system of gathering feedback from public testers, brings a whole new meaning to the word “beta.” Nowhere is proof of the vendor’s commitment to the program more evident than in the third beta release of Windows Server “Longhorn,” which looks like it’s been hit with a mega-dose of growth hormone since beta 2. And I mean that in a good way.
Longhorn beta 3 is distinguished not only by the strengthening of features that were wobbly in prior prereleases, but also by the addition of significant new functionality across the board. The new functionality is the focus of this preview.
Topping Microsoft’s list, and mine, is Microsoft’s fresh focus on the good, old-fashioned command line, starting with the addition of PowerShell to all Longhorn editions. PowerShell is Microsoft’s first scriptable command-line shell. Yes, there is the “DOS box” and the .bat file, both of which are among the last remaining cave paintings left behind by MS-DOS. PowerShell surpasses the expectations of, but will not be familiar to, those facile with Unix shells. It unlocks the entire .Net language suite to use for building PowerShell commands, and it promises an end to the need for command-line executables to parse untyped data sets with Unix tools such as sed, awk, and Perl. Developers can dream of being able to read scripts written by others.
 Click for larger view.
|
