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Truth be told, Windows does have a command line or shell -- cmd and command -- but its only if you come from the Unix world that you will experiment the limitations of such an environment.

Not to get into a religious debate on what can be done in a run of the mill Unix shell(Bash or Csh) versus the classical Windows shell, but if you ask anyone who has used both, its evident that more tasks can be accomplished through the command line in Unix-type shell's than on Windows.

So what is Windows Power Shell about ? The first and most evident difference compared to the older cmd or command, is that Windows Power Shell is rooted on the same .NET object model on which the newest Microsoft applications are built on, this in itself is a break from the old MS-DOS root's from which the existing Windows shell evolved.

Being based on .NET -- which in itself is starting to become tightly integrated into core operating system functions -- Windows Power Shell provides functions once achievable only through point and click tasks or elaborate scripts (.Bat files). To cite a few examples, here are a few commands available in Windows Power Shell :

• ConvertTo-Html : Converts the input into an HTML table.
• Set-ExecutionPolicy :Sets the execution policy for the current shell.
• cd HKLM:/System : Direct access to the values and properties in System registry
• Get-Unique : Gets the unique items in a sorted list.

These are just a few commands in the mixed bag that will be provided by Windows Power Shell, a little bit on security tasks, some others in text and file manipulation, and even some on system registry editing.

For a Unix sysadmin guru these commands might cause a chuckle, as most are common utilities packed into Unix distros/shell's, but if you work with a Windows environment, it sure looks like command line utilities will be greatly enhanced with Windows Power Shell.