This evening (a few hours later than planned) I managed to pull together the first public release of StudioShell!  I know a lot of you have been waiting for that private beta, and I apologize that the beta will be a bit more public than I initially intended…

I’ve chosen to release StudioShell to open source under the Microsoft Reciprocal License (Ms-RL).  You can download the installer and pull the source code at http://studioshell.codeplex.com/.

I can’t say this was my original plan for the project, but after evaluating the options I think this is the best one.  With tools like PowerGUI VSX and  NuGet exposing developers to the deliciousness that is PowerShell, this space is already staked as open source.  StudioShell has the potential to be the ultimate “awesome sauce” in this space, adding its flavor to any of these tools.  And what better reason would a developer have to learn PowerShell than to be able to extend and manipulate their own development environment?

I agree with Hal Rottenburg who said that adoption of PowerShell will hockey-stick in 2011.  I want developers to be a part of that.  I’ve advocated developing tools around PowerShell as a great way to keep your software limber and spry, and hopefully StudioShell will give the development community a solid idea as to what’s possible.

Looking Ahead

I still have plenty to do.  This initial release is help iron out the wrinkles and solidify the core.  I expect issues.

The next new goal on my list is to get all of StudioShell’s features working from the other popular Visual Studio PowerShell hosts.  I already have a branch of NuGet working with StudioShell, but I need to rebase and get a pull request in and see if that team will accept the changes.  I’ve also been in touch with Adam Driscoll about PowerGUI VSX, which is next on my list.

In the meantime, please download the installer, and start liberating your IDE one-liner at a time…