Windows PowerShell is an integral part of the Windows operating system.
What benefits does PowerShell 7 provide anyway?
And is it worth the upgrade?
Lets talk about it!
What Is PowerShell 7?
PowerShell 7 is the latest LTS release version of PowerShell.
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PowerShell 7 is registered and licensed under the MIT License.
Developers can also contribute to the official PowerShell releases by joiningPowerShells official GitHub page.
With its community support, this version of PowerShell is now cross-platform!
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Meaning it can now be installed and used on Windows, macOS, and Linux.
For those interested, there are also unsupported packages for Arch and Kali Linux.
What Are the New Features Included in PowerShell 7?
Aside from being cross-platform and open-sourced, PowerShell 7 has many other new features that further improve productivity.
Here are a few of the more notable ones:
1.
To make it easier for people to transition, PowerShell 7 now integrates the WindowsCompatibility module.
This module is designed to allow Windows PowerShell modules and manypopular CMD commandsto work in PowerShell 7.
Pipeline Parallelization With ForEach-Object
PowerShell 7 now has a Parallel parameter.
In Windows PowerShell, each piped object using the ForEach-Object cmdlet will be executed one at a time.
But with the new Parallel parameter, all piped objects are now executed simultaneously.
This drastically improves performance which can save you time.
Ternary Operators
Windows PowerShell conditionals are done through if-else statements.
and : in the syntax.
This feature allows for a faster and cleaner scripting experience.
Pipeline Chain Operators
Pipeline operators are an important feature of Windows PowerShell.
This, however, is limited as Windows PowerShell cannot process conditional expressions using regular pipeline operators.
PowerShell 7 fixes this problem by introducing pipeline chain operators, which are && and ||.
This new pipeline operator allows PowerShell to execute commands with conditional expressions.
While operator || will only execute the right-hand pipeline command if the command before the operator fails.
Why Isn’t PowerShell 7 the Default on Windows?
PowerShell 7 is an open-sourced cross-platform software that provides features that can drastically improve performance and scripting speed.
So why doesnt Microsoft make it the default PowerShell in Windows?
The current PowerShell that comes pre-installed with newer Windows systems is PowerShell 5.1.
This is the last PowerShell version that uses the .NET framework.
The first PowerShell was released on November 14, 2006.
This was when Windows Vista and XP were still the latest Windows OS.
According toresearch from enlyft, the United States alone has over 46,000 companies still using Windows XP.
For huge companies and various critical infrastructures (ATMs, energy suppliers, railways, hospitals, etc.
Never mind all the bugs that may come out during actual operating hours.
Should You Upgrade to PowerShell 7?
In contrast, Windows PowerShell provides complete backward compatibility to all legacy PowerShell before PowerShell 6.
So, should you keep using Windows PowerShell or upgrade to the newer PowerShell 7?
The good thing about PowerShell 7 is that it was designed to coexist with Windows PowerShell 5.1.
PowerShell 7 provided lots of updates but also dropped quite a few legacy modules and cmdlets.
