Behind the Shell with Microsoft

The PowerShell Podcast

In this episode, recorded live at PSConfEU, Andrew catches up with some of the PowerShell team from Microsoft to talk all things PowerShell—from AIShell to PSResourceGet to the future of DSC and OpenSSH. First up is Steven Bucher, Product Manager on the PowerShell team, who discusses the massive scale of PowerShell usage, the state of PowerShell 7, and the team’s focus on security and reliability. He also gives an exciting walkthrough of AIShell and how it’s helping users stay in the terminal while getting AI-driven help, error resolution, and integration with providers like Azure OpenAI and AI Foundry. Then we hear from Anam, a software engineer working on PSResourceGet, PowerShell Gallery, and security. She shares details on the rewrite of PowerShellGet, performance improvements, and new features like container registry support. She also dives into Microsoft's Artifact Registry (MAR) and offers her take on coding as a creative, artistic endeavor. Lastly, Tess joins the conversation to talk about OpenSSH and Desired State Configuration (DSC). She highlights the native cross-platform capabilities of DSC v3, its decoupling from PowerShell, and the move toward supporting resource development in languages like Python. Tess also shares the significance of SSH server availability in Windows Server 2025 and reflects on her open-source journey and love of outdoor sports. Whether you’re managing packages, remoting with SSH, exploring AI integrations, or just want to know more about some of the people behind PowerShell, this episode delivers valuable insights from the team building the tools you use. Links and Mentions:

• https://www.linkedin.com/in/anamnavied/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/tess-gauthier-a43a368a/
• https://www.linkedin.com/in/stevenabucher/
• https://andrewpla.tech/links
• https://github.com/PowerShell/PowerShell
• https://github.com/PowerShell/AIShell
• https://github.com/PowerShell/PSResourceGet
• https://github.com/PowerShell/Win32-OpenSSH
• https://github.com/microsoft/DSC
• The PowerShell Podcast on YouTube: https://youtu.be/F4mVUHinjf4
• The PowerShell Podcast: https://pdq.com/the-powershell-podcast

Guests:

• Stephen Bucher – Product Manager II on the PowerShell Team
• Anam Navied – Software Engineer 2 @ Microsoft
• Tess Gauthier – Software Engineer @ Microsoft | OpenSSH