Microsoft to support SSH in Powershell and Windows, join Open SSH community

The new Microsoft, under CEO Sataya Nadella’s leadership, has become a more open company that works with developers in ways that were once unthinkable in Redmond, WA. The company has also been improving the ways it listens to its customers, such as with the Windows Insider program, and listening to the communities who interact with their products.

At the //Build/ 2015 Conference Nadella took the stage saying Microsoft is going back to its origins of focusing on empowering developers and building bridges for developers on other platforms. And Microsoft has followed up on its commitment in a number of ways, such as new tools for Android and iOS developers to easily port their apps to Windows 10 and bringing support for open source developers for things like Node.js.

Microsoft also recently announced it will be adding support for Secure Shell or SSH, a cryptographic network protocol used widely by Linux developers, to allow for better interoperability between PowerShell and SSH. Angel Calvo, the Group Software Engineering Manager at Microsoft’s PowerShell Team, said this will “deliver a robust and secure solution to automate and to remotely manage Linux and Windows systems.”

Calvo also announced that the PowerShell team will be supporting and contributing to the OpenSSH community.

Interestingly, Calvo states in the blog post that this is the third time the PowerShell team has attempted to support SSH and that previous attempts were rejected. But Calvo goes on to say that:

“given our changes in leadership and culture, we decided to give it another try and this time, because we are able to show the clear and compelling customer value, the company is very supportive.”

Finally, the PowerShell team concludes the blog by thanking those in the developer community who have been wanting and asking for PowerShell and SSH support, reiterating that their voices do matter in this new more customer-oriented culture at Microsoft.