Microsoft has released the first preview of PowerShell 7.1, its automation and scripting language for Windows, Linux , and macOS. The new preview adds some features that were missing in PowerShell 7, which was released in March and is the successor to PowerShell Core 6.x. The PowerShell 7.1 preview contains new modules and tools that the PowerShell team is working on, but the features are not yet perfected enough to be available in about 1-2 weeks, as planned. This winter, .NET 5 will be released. This is due to the fact that starting with PowerShell 7, Microsoft intends to combine its release with that of .NET.
Microsoft is working on a preview of PowerShellGet 3.0, which aims to offer a better user and eliminate the “dependency” on Package Management and the Nuget provider. The company is also moving away from the idea of a PowerShell that will be written in the C # programming language. The first preview may be released at the end of the month and will initially be revealed in the PowerShell Report.
Microsoft is considering including the new Secrets Management Module by default in PowerShell 7.1. The company released the second preview of the Secrets Management Module last week, which can be used to manage sensitive information and credentials to authenticate complex PowerShell scripts in heterogeneous cloud. This module provides a set of cmdlets that allow users to store sensitive information using something like Windows Credential Manager, and access sensitive and confidential data from a vault like Azure Key Vault through extensions. It currently only supports Windows, but Microsoft plans to add support for Linux and later macOS.
Additionally, Microsoft is looking at ways to make it easier for users to install and update PowerShell 7.
In terms of user experience, the company is exploring ways for users to complete a pipeline with minimal typing. It also wants PowerShell users to get context-aware help as they type or get full help content with minimal interruption.
Finally, Microsoft wants to use more color in PowerShell, so version 7.1 could include color for string decoration, among other things. The PowerShell team wants to separate the utility, management, and security modules as part of an effort to reduce the size of templates during development.
