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PowerShell is a cross-platform automation and configuration management framework developed by Microsoft, combining a command-line shell and a scripting language. Initially released in 2006, PowerShell has evolved significantly, expanding its capabilities across platforms and enhancing the features for system administrators and developers. Below is a comprehensive version history of PowerShell, highlighting key features and improvements introduced with each major version.

1. PowerShell 7.3 (November 2022)

PowerShell 7.3 was a release focused on performance improvements, enhanced debugging, and new cmdlet features.

Key features:

• **Improved logging and diagnostics**: Enhancements to logging capabilities allow for more detailed and structured logging in system automation tasks.
• **Pipeline performance improvements**: Optimized performance of pipelines, which is especially beneficial for handling large data streams.
• **New cmdlet features**: Additional cmdlet parameters and new cmdlets focused on system management tasks, including working with JSON and web requests.

Official documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/whats-new/what-s-new-in-powershell-73

1. PowerShell 7.2 (November 2021)

PowerShell 7.2 was a major long-term servicing release (LTS), focusing on stability, performance improvements, and bug fixes.

Key features:

• **Improved native command support**: Enhanced support for native commands, allowing easier integration with Linux and macOS tools.
• **Predictive IntelliSense**: Added more predictive suggestions based on context, improving developer productivity.
• **Telemetry updates**: Improved diagnostic data collection with more granular control, enhancing performance and stability tracking.

Official documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/whats-new/what-s-new-in-powershell-72

1. PowerShell 7.1 (November 2020)

PowerShell 7.1 introduced additional features aimed at enhancing the cross-platform experience and overall performance.

Key features:

• **Compatibility with older modules**: Improved backward compatibility for modules designed for Windows PowerShell, making it easier to run legacy scripts on newer systems.
• **Pipeline improvements**: Better performance for the PowerShell pipeline, leading to faster data processing in automation scripts.
• **Predictive IntelliSense**: Initial release of predictive IntelliSense, helping users write commands faster with suggestions based on previous command history.

Official documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/whats-new/what-s-new-in-powershell-71

1. PowerShell 7.0 (March 2020)

PowerShell 7.0 was a significant release that marked the transition from PowerShell Core to simply PowerShell, aligning it with the cross-platform efforts.

Key features:

• **Unified PowerShell**: Dropped the “Core” label, unifying PowerShell under one major version for Windows, Linux, and macOS.
• **New operators**: Added the null-coalescing operators (`??`, `??=`), and the ternary conditional operator (`? :`), enhancing scripting capabilities.
• **Parallel execution of `ForEach-Object`**: Introduced the `-Parallel` parameter to `ForEach-Object`, enabling concurrent execution in scripts.
• **Pipeline chain operators**: Introduced `&&` and `]] | powershell_version_history | ## PowerShell Core 6.2 (March 2019) [[PowerShell Core 6.2 introduced several performance improvements and updates to the cross-platform compatibility of PowerShell Core.

Key features:

• **Reduced startup time**: PowerShell Core 6.2 improved the startup time significantly, making it faster to launch on various platforms.
• **Parallel jobs**: Introduced enhancements in running parallel jobs and background processing in scripts.
• **Improved error handling**: Enhanced error handling with new cmdlets to handle exceptions more effectively in automation scripts.

Official documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/whats-new/what-s-new-in-powershell-core-62

1. PowerShell Core 6.1 (September 2018)

PowerShell Core 6.1 was the first version to provide significant cross-platform compatibility improvements and overall performance enhancements.

Key features:

• **Cross-platform improvements**: Enhanced support for Linux and macOS environments, with improved native command compatibility on these platforms.
• **Windows Compatibility Module**: Allowed users to run traditional Windows PowerShell modules and cmdlets on PowerShell Core.
• **Improved remoting**: Enhanced support for SSH-based remoting, allowing for secure cross-platform remote management.

Official documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/whats-new/what-s-new-in-powershell-core-61

1. PowerShell Core 6.0 (January 2018)

PowerShell Core 6.0 was the first major release of PowerShell Core, marking the shift to a fully cross-platform version of PowerShell that runs on Windows, Linux, and macOS.

Key features:

• **Cross-platform support**: The major highlight was cross-platform compatibility, enabling PowerShell to run on Linux and macOS in addition to Windows.
• **Built on .NET Core**: PowerShell Core was built on .NET Core, allowing for better performance, modularity, and platform independence.
• **Simplified remoting**: Support for `SSH` remoting in addition to traditional Windows remoting, allowing more flexible and secure remote administration.
• **Open-source**: PowerShell Core became fully open-source, hosted on GitHub (https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell), encouraging community contributions and transparency.

Official documentation: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/whats-new/what-s-new-in-powershell-core-60

1. Windows PowerShell 5.1 (January 2017)

Windows PowerShell 5.1 was the final release of Windows PowerShell before the transition to PowerShell Core and introduced several new features.

Key features:

• **PowerShell Web Access**: Enhanced the ability to use PowerShell remotely via web browsers through the PowerShell Web Access Gateway.
• **Enhanced Windows Defender cmdlets**: Added new cmdlets to interact with and manage Windows Defender from PowerShell.
• **PowerShell remoting over SSH**: Introduced experimental support for remoting via SSH, allowing more flexible cross-platform remote management.

Official documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/whats-new/what-s-new-in-powershell-51

1. Windows PowerShell 5.0 (February 2016)

Windows PowerShell 5.0 introduced significant new features, especially around configuration management and scripting.

Key features:

• **PowerShellGet**: Introduced the `PowerShellGet` module, enabling users to discover, install, update, and publish PowerShell modules from the PowerShell Gallery.
• **Class definitions**: Added support for defining classes and enums, allowing object-oriented programming features in PowerShell scripts.
• **OneGet (PackageManagement)**: Introduced package management capabilities, allowing for easier management of software packages from various sources.
• **DSC (Desired State Configuration) improvements**: Further enhancements to DSC, allowing more fine-tuned configuration and management of systems.

Official documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/whats-new/what-s-new-in-powershell-50

1. Windows PowerShell 4.0 (October 2013)

Windows PowerShell 4.0 focused on Desired State Configuration (DSC), which allowed for declarative configuration management of systems.

Key features:

• **Desired State Configuration (DSC)**: Introduced the DSC framework, which enables administrators to declaratively define and enforce system configurations.
• **Enhanced remoting**: Improvements to PowerShell remoting, making it easier to manage multiple systems in parallel.
• **Workflow improvements**: Enhancements to PowerShell Workflows for long-running, parallel tasks.

Official documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/whats-new/what-s-new-in-powershell-40

1. Windows PowerShell 3.0 (September 2012)

Windows PowerShell 3.0 introduced several new features aimed at improving automation and management tasks.

Key features:

• **Workflows**: Introduced support for workflows, which allow complex, long-running tasks to be written in PowerShell and resumed after interruptions.
• **Scheduled Jobs**: Introduced cmdlets for scheduling and managing background jobs, allowing tasks to be automated on a schedule.
• **Simplified syntax**: Various syntax improvements made PowerShell easier to use, including the introduction of auto-completion for cmdlet parameters.

Official documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/whats-new/what-s-new-in-powershell-30

1. Windows PowerShell 2.0 (October 2009)

Windows PowerShell 2.0 was a significant release that expanded the scripting capabilities of PowerShell.

Key features:

• **PowerShell remoting**: Introduced remoting, allowing administrators to run commands on remote machines, simplifying large-scale management.
• **Modules**: Introduced support for PowerShell modules, enabling better modularization of scripts and functions.
• **Integrated Scripting Environment (ISE)**: Released the ISE, providing an improved development environment for writing and debugging PowerShell scripts.

Official documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/whats-new/what-s-new-in-powershell-20

1. Windows PowerShell 1.0 (

November 2006)

Windows PowerShell 1.0 was the initial release, bringing powerful scripting and automation capabilities to the Windows environment.

Key features:

• **Cmdlets**: Introduced the concept of cmdlets (lightweight commands), which are specialized .NET functions used to perform specific tasks in automation scripts.
• **Pipelines**: Introduced the use of pipelines to pass output from one cmdlet as input to another, enabling efficient data manipulation and task automation.
• **Object-oriented output**: Unlike traditional shells that use text streams, PowerShell introduced object-oriented output, allowing data to be passed between cmdlets in structured forms.

Official documentation: https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/scripting/whats-new/what-s-new-in-powershell-10

PowerShell has evolved from a Windows-specific automation tool to a powerful, cross-platform scripting language and automation framework. Each version introduced significant features, from remoting and modules in PowerShell 2.0 to the cross-platform capabilities of PowerShell Core 6.0 and beyond. With its continuous enhancements in performance, error handling, and integration with modern systems, PowerShell remains a key tool for administrators, developers, and DevOps engineers. The introduction of predictive IntelliSense, parallel execution, and improved compatibility has further solidified PowerShell as a modern automation tool suitable for both Windows and cross-platform environments.