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Monad Manifesto – the Origin of Windows PowerShell

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Attached is a public version of the original Monad Manifesto.

This is not a Windows PowerShell whitepaper nor is it an accurate description of how V1.0 works. This is a version of the original Monad Manifesto which articulated the long term vision and started the development effort which became PowerShell. Many of the elements described in this document have been delivered and those that have not provide a good roadmap for the future. The document has been updated for publication. Confidential information has been culled and examples are updated to reflect the current syntax.

Enjoy!

Jeffrey Snover [MSFT]
Windows Management Partner Architect
Visit the Windows PowerShell Team blog at: http://blogs.msdn.com/PowerShell
Visit the Windows PowerShell ScriptCenter at: http://www.microsoft.com/technet/scriptcenter/hubs/msh.mspx

Published Monday, March 19, 2007 3:12 AM by PowerShellTeam

Attachment(s): Monad Manifesto - Public.doc

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# re: Monad Manifesto – the Origin of Windows PowerShell

Awesome! :-) Thank you so much for making this available. Whilst PowerShell is clearly the best of its kind on the Windows platform, I've really enjoyed the degree of frank openness in discussing why it turned out the way it did (both from yourself and Bruce). As a humble developer myself its so incredibly valuable to get a glimpse of what your original goals where and how (and why) they changed along the route.

I'm guessing also that such openness helps a great deal in winning over folks from the *nix community. In a 100% good way, Microsoft is not the company I remember when I first started programming professionally 12 years ago (back then Microsoft was opaque and unfathomable). The MSDN blogs, Channel 9 and the sharing of internal documentation like this is fantastic. Kudos all round.

Monday, March 19, 2007 1:08 AM by Tom Kirby-Green

# re: Monad Manifesto – the Origin of Windows PowerShell

Looks like a great summary. Thanks for sharing that.

Tuesday, March 20, 2007 11:50 AM by Can Erten

# re: Monad Manifesto – the Origin of Windows PowerShell

Oh la la! I'm giddy just scanning it; I can't wait to print and read. I've always had an interest in not only how enterprise software is built but why and how it came about. There are very few other applications (if any) that I'd love to know the backstory on more than Powershell. Thanks a ton for sharing this!

Friday, March 23, 2007 11:00 PM by Chrissy

# No PowerShell at LISA

If you were thinking about attending a PowerShell talk at LISA (Large Installation System Administration

Friday, June 29, 2007 9:20 AM by Windows PowerShell

# re: Monad Manifesto – the Origin of Windows PowerShell

The Source ! Thanx. Regards ..

Sunday, September 13, 2009 9:08 PM by Andy

# re: Monad Manifesto – the Origin of Windows PowerShell

This is a great read and helps to show the insights of how Powershell not only built upon the historical power of command line *nix type shell commands and the .NET framework but improved upon both.  Pipelining objects instead of text, awesome.  Providing the scripting wiring to take advantage of the massive set of functionality that is .NET and managed libraries, tremendous.  The simple EventLog example goes a long ways.

It is true I work at MS, but in a completely different area, and Powershell has made a huge difference in my day to day productivity.

Monday, September 14, 2009 1:19 PM by Dave Remy

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