Microsoft PowerShell Core released, runs on Windows, Mac and Linux

Yesterday, Microsoft released the open-source PowerShell 6.0, which works on Windows, as well as Linux and Mac machines. However, there may be some changes coming, as noted by a ZDNet report. While this is exciting news, it should be noted that there are two branches of PowerShell:

“PowerShell Core runs on Windows 7, 8.1 and 10; Windows Server 2008 R2, 2012 R2, 2016 and ‘Semi-Annual Channel’ (the twice-annual feature update to Server); macOS 10.12 and above; and a variety of Unix flavors, including Ubuntu, Debian, CentOS, Red Hat Enterprise Linux, OpenSUSE and Fedora.

As is the case with .NET, there are now two distinct branches of PowerShell: Windows PowerShell, built on .NET Framework, and PowerShell Core, built on .NET Core. Microsoft is not planning to release any new versions of Windows PowerShell. The 5.1 release is the last of that line, but will be supported for the foreseeable future. PowerShell Core can work side-by-side with Windows PowerShell.”

This should come as no surprise, as Microsoft announced their plans to make PowerShell open-source and available on Linux and Mac, back in 2016. Even though Microsoft detailed that they would provide updates to PowerShell just like they will in Windows 10 and Office 365. If you have questions about how the release of Microsoft PowerShell might affect you, be sure to check the FAQ page here.