Tag Archives: PowerShell

SLW 20: WinGet with Demitrius Nelon

Posted on by .
Comments Off on SLW 20: WinGet with Demitrius Nelon
Demitrius Nelon

My guest today is Demitrius Nelon who joined Microsoft in 2019. He is responsible for the Package Manager for Windows, better known as WinGet.

Demetrius talks about his personal background and career journey, mentioning his service in the U.S. Navy and his work at various technology companies, including Microsoft, VMware, and Amazon.

Prior to the employment of Demitrius Microsoft started to work on a Package Manager, primarily targeted on developers. They were inspired by the software of an independent developer from Canada named Keivan Beigi. His AppGet tool led Microsoft on the path to their own implementation. Keivan was a guest on the Sliding Windows in episode 18.

Initially named AppInstallerCLI, due to its positioning under the umbrella of Microsofts sideloading application named AppInstaller, Scott Hanselmann recommended to change the name to WinGet which became popular fast.

WinGet was initially (also) considered for use on servers but was only deployed on Windows Desktop due to evolving business requirements. Today, many admins complain that WinGet is not available everywhere.

Compared to Chocolaty WinGet eliminates arbitrary code by using a declarative syntax called a manifest.
Demitrius discusses the security precautions taken to ensure the safety of the manifests and the considerations for vendors hosting the manifest and installer without independent verification.

This episode provides in-depth insights in the development of WinGet so far, its inner struggles and the many visions of the developing team. Of course, we also discuss the necessity of PowerShell cmdlets, the integration of native commands utilizing argument completers and the long wishlist of the Microsoft’s customers embracing such an overdue, long awaited tool.

The interview was recorded in Prague on June 22, 2023.

RSS feed: AAC | MP3

Direct download: AAC | MP3

Show Notes

Chapters

00:00:00 Intro (This Is Who I Am by Rewob)
00:01:15 about Demitrius Nelon
00:04:57 The Evolution of Windows Package Manager aka WinGet
00:09:11 Winget’s Potential
00:11:12 Winget Internals
00:14:30 Manifest Creation and Vendor Adoption Challenges
00:34:51 Windows Store, Acceptance, Recognition, Security boundaries
00:41:13 Efforts to bootstrap Winget on Windows Server
00:45:10 Community-built tools like Winget UI
00:52:14 A Linux-like tool for Windows
00:54:51 WinGet and PowerShell
01:06:43 Configuration as Code and Desired State Configuration
01:12:48 WinGet, Linux, WSL: Better together?
01:15:49 Outlook: Employees, Community, future Features
01:21:20 Farewall/Outro http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/rewob/66100

Bonus content

Music

Rewob: This Is Who I Am

SLW 19: VSCode with Justin Grote

Posted on by .
Comments Off on SLW 19: VSCode with Justin Grote

When Microsoft acquired GitHub.com in 2018, no one could doubt that there is a deep cultural change going on in Redmond, Washington. A few years earlier, in 2015, Microsoft began to invest in a  new text editor that can simply be described like this:
“One editor to rule them all”

VSCode and GitHub quickly started their journey as a congenial couple, conquering the hearts of the users – many of whom were not previously Microsoft devotees.

Justin Grote is one of those very gifted IT pros who have embraced Microsoft’s new course with open arms. A man of many talents – and his greatest may be that he willingly shares his knowledge with the community. I met Justin during the PSConfEU 2022 in Vienna and of course we did not only talk about VSCode .. Listen yourself!

The interview was recorded on June 23, 2022 in Vienna.

RSS feed: AAC | MP3

Direct download: AAC | MP3

Show notes

Chapters

00:00:00.000 Intro/Whoami,
00:03:07.680 Exposed to computing
00:10:03.317 From Mac to Windows
00:16:01.100 Becoming
00:21:38.267 The glue
00:35:57.579 A cultural shift,
00:53:11.385 VSCode
01:01:53.372 Tips and tricks for VSCode
01:27:48.516 From files to workspace
01:36:13.347 Console
01:43:14.374 Epilog

Music

Extan ft Farisha: I Want To Live

SLW 18: A package manager for Windows with Keivan Beigi

Posted on by .
Comments Off on SLW 18: A package manager for Windows with Keivan Beigi

When Microsoft announced a “Windows Package Manager” (better known as WinGet) in the context of the Build conference in 2020, hardly anyone suspected that this overdue, long-desired tool was not a “Microsoft original”. 

A Canadian programmer, my today’s guest Keivan Beigi, had developed a package manager called “AppGet” a few years earlier and made it available under an open source license. When Microsoft employees contacted him one fine day, what belonged together seemed to come together. But then the story took its own course. When Microsoft finally published the first preview of WinGet six months later, it was all too obvious that they  simply copied AppGet – without giving credit, which caused loud criticism. 

I talk to Keivan about the background of his technology, package management in general and Microsoft’s fickle strategy towards its own community.

In the bonus section, you’ll find a reference, a little salute to the colleagues of Windows Weekly, Paul Thurrott and Mary Joe Foley, whom we both admire, and who played a significant role in making Keivan “famous” from one day to the next.

The interview was recorded on December 20, 2021 in Vancouver and Duisburg.

RSS feed: AAC | MP3

Direct download: AAC | MP3

Show notes

Chapters

00:00:00.001 Intro: Bluenotes by Airtone
00:01:20.382 Welcome
00:02:18.802 Keivan’s beginnings
00:09:52.663 Stuck with Windows
00:14:59.809 The missing package management
00:28:39.052 Rocket science
00:31:14.582 From AppGet to WinGet
00:41:33.521 Conspirancy theories
00:45:10.348 WinGet vs AppGet
00:48:51.328 The vendor vs the community
00:51:47.876 WinGet++
00:58:57.169 Package formats
01:05:55.381 Predeictions
01:08:28.942 No regrets
01:12:18.061 Hot reload
01:16:13.781 Competing languages
01:22:30.785 Wrap-up
01:24:41.144 Bonus:Off the records

Music

Airtone: Bluenotes

SLW 15: DSC with Gael Colas

Posted on by .
Comments Off on SLW 15: DSC with Gael Colas

Gael Colas is an independent consultant and vital member of the DSC Community (https://dsccommunity.org), an association who actively contributes to the development of the name-giving Configuration Management framework.

Desired State Configuration (DSC) was introduced with PowerShell 4 as an addition to the Windows PowerShell and has undergone some significant changes ever since. I invited Gael to chat about the roots, the principles and the future of DSC – not only for the Windows platform.

The interview was recorded on July 15, 2020 in Kuala Lumpur and Duisburg.

RSS feed: AAC | MP3

Direct download: AAC | MP3

Show notes

Chapters

  1. 00:00:00.000 Intro (Admiral Bob: Wanderer, Take 2)
  2. 00:02:31.396 about_Gael
  3. 00:07:31.506 DSC early days
  4. 00:10:02.050 Configuration management
  5. 00:12:35.465 Idempotency et al
  6. 00:18:59.571 DSL
  7. 00:22:39.457 DSC ressources
  8. 00:26:09.837 LCM
  9. 00:28:03.786 Pull server
  10. 00:36:01.196 Toolmakers
  11. 00:46:54.780 DSC in mixed environments
  12. 00:54:40.467 Classes in DSC
  13. 00:58:26.173 DSC and PS7
  14. 01:04:59.300 Forecast
  15. 01:19:04.528 Wrap-up
  16. 01:33:09.517 Outtro

Music

SLW12: PowerShell 7 with Steve Lee

Posted on by .
Comments Off on SLW12: PowerShell 7 with Steve Lee

Steve Lee, Principal Software Engineer Manager for the PowerShell Team, started his career as developer on the “Internet Explorer for UNIX” team in Redmond. Later on he focussed on (remoting) technologies such as WMI/CIM, WinRM/OMI and SSH until he finally took the role of a leading manager on the PowerShell team. 

Steve provides deep insights on the cultural change at Microsoft and the impact on the ecosystem PowerShell. Finally we stare into the chrystall ball to find out what’s beyond the current state of the implementation.

The interview was recorded on June 7, 2019 in Hannover.

RSS feed: AAC | MP3

Direct download: AAC | MP3

Show notes

Chapters

  1. 00:00:00.000 Intro (Bluemillenium: Temperate transition)
  2. 00:00:43.779 about_Steve
  3. 00:05:30.150 From WMI to CIM
  4. 00:13:49.779 CIM
  5. 00:24:02.275 OMI
  6. 00:30:14.015 From OMI to SSH
  7. 00:35:17.420 The Linux Challenge
  8. 00:43:31.397 Open sourcing
  9. 00:53:53.680 From Windows PowerShell to PowerShell 7
  10. 01:06:05.394 RSAT++
  11. 01:16:40.895 The boss enemy
  12. 01:20:55.092 Forecast
  13. 01:30:16.976 One more thing

Music