Automating the world one-liner at a time…
For those who are familiar with Microsoft Script Explorer for Windows PowerShell, you know that we haven't released additional updates to it since we published the release candidate (RC) in August 2012. Over the past few months, we have been talking with customers and partners and taking a hard look at the adoption rate of the RC in terms of the number of downloads and the feedback we're received to date.
One of the results of this analysis was that the adoption and usage of the pre-release versions of Script Explorer were not at the level we had hoped. Part of this stems from the fact that customers already have a number of options in the market for discovering and sharing PowerShell scripts, and most appear content to continue using these existing mechanisms. As a result, we've decided not to bring the Script Explorer project to RTM.
In the meantime, we will start winding down the Script Explorer project. This will be a gradual process to allow time for existing users to move to other tools. We'll start by removing the RC package from the Download Center this week.
For those who have already downloaded pre-release versions and are actively using Script Explorer in their environments, we will continue to operate the back-end script aggregation service used by Script Explorer for a few more months. We plan to turn off the service on June 14, 2013.
To help with migrating from Script Explorer to other solutions, we would like to highlight a few of the existing options that you might find useful for discovering and sharing PowerShell scripts:
TechNet Script Center
PowerShell Code Repository
PowerShell.com
PowerShell.org
Bing
PowerShell Plus and PowerShell Scripts by Idera
PowerGUI by Quest
PowerShell Studio by SAPIEN
Microsoft Developer Network
CodePlex
And there are lots of others. Feel free to add your favorites in the comments below.
Thanks,
The PowerShell Team
You could release it as open source, in case someone else wants to take it over.
I had never heard of Script Explorer until CodeProject commented that it was shutting down. Maybe that was the problem? Also, it seems that relying on beta/RC for adoption rates might be misguided. I, for one, rarely use a product until RTM, although I do follow blogs about its development course.
Did not even know the product existed until today, how many others would have tried the product if they knew about it.
The alternate methods for discovering PowerShell scripts in the community existed before you assigned Microsoft development resources for Script Explorer. Did you not have a plan that included actually releasing this project? What changed from the planning assumptions, other than over-estimating RC downloads? Will you abandon the work already done, or will you turn it over to the community, should anyone there wish to continue working on it?
A TED talk that is worth the view in this context: wmpoweruser.com/the-story-of-the-courier-teams-demoralization
Why to not donate the source code to CodePlex?
Disappointed to have discovered its existence and demise on the same day. Hardly surprising no one downloaded it if no one knew about it.
I'll add my name to the list of folks who had no clue that Script Explorer existed.