Are there any features of Windows Vista you don’t like (UAC comes to mind, for me)? What about Exchange? SQL Server? Windows Server? I’m sure you can come up with at least a few things that you just feel were *designed* wrong for the way you need them to work.
Here’s the problem with Microsoft users: Too many of us wait until Release Candidate (RC) phase to start playing with a product. After all, why should we debug Microsoft’s code – which is really all the "beta" phase is about, right?
Wrong. Take a look at the PowerShell v2 Community Technology Preview, or CTP. This product’s DESIGN is not yet locked down. Microsoft knows there are bugs in it – heck, the help files aren’t complete in the latest CTP – and they’re not mega-worried about bugs, yet (although they certainly want to squash them all). No, the CTP phase is important because this is your chance to tell them if the product design works or not. This is the time when they can make changes! Just submit your feedback to the PowerShell program on Connect.Microsoft.com (prefix suggestion/bug titles with "CTP2" so they’ll stand out).
Once PowerShell v2 hits "beta," the design is pretty much fixed and it’s time to start getting everything working on all of the target operating systems. At RC stage, it’s 100% bug-fix mode – and the time to start dropping features that still have serious problems. But neither beta nor RC phases address design flaws – those are carved in stone at that point. So NOW is the time to start looking at PowerShell v2 – when you can help the team figure out the best DESIGN for important new features like remoting, transactional operations, internationalization, the hosting and debugging APIs, the new graphical console, and much more.
And once v2 hits beta or RC – or even final release – you’re not allowed to complain about the design or the way things work – you had your chance!
(Thanks to the forum thread http://minasi.com/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=26827 for bringing this up)
