Sliding Windows

"Agentless" is a design decision, but for Jordan Borean it also describes a career. He is a Senior Software Engineer at Red Hat in Brisbane, Australia, working on Ansible Core, where the Windows integration is largely his work. Ansible, a tool written in Python, extended in PowerShell, maintained by a Linux company, for an operating system that company doesn't sell. Nobody set out to build a job like that.

Jordan grew up entirely inside the Microsoft ecosystem: Windows XP through 7, even a Windows phone. He studied IT, disliked programming, and became a sysadmin at an Australian bank running IIS, MS SQL Server and .NET. Ansible arrived only because the team wanted to stop hand-raising servers like pets. Almost nothing worked on Windows at the time — basic auth over WinRM was not an option in a bank — so he taught himself Python and started sending pull requests. Red Hat noticed and hired him.

A large part of the conversation focuses on operating systems and developer preferences. Jordan talks about growing up on Windows, later trying Linux, and more recently using macOS for its hardware while still relying on a Linux virtual machine for development.

The conversation turns to PowerShell, Bash, curl, and jq. Jordan says he values PowerShell for its object pipeline and interactive discoverability, but that AI tools have reduced some of the advantage it once had for REST and command-line work. He also discusses Linux’s role in the wider IT world, the business value of support contracts, and the differences between MIT and GPL licensing.

Finally, we cover Ansible’s relationship with Windows features such as DSC, idempotency, extension models, and the limits of using Ansible in Windows-heavy environments. Jordan also shares his current focus on improving developer experience, debugging support, Windows integrations, and performance, and closes with advice to stay curious, question details, and keep trying new tools and languages.

We close on .NET and C# — the language he loves and can't use at work — the pressure from Rust and Go, and his advice for anyone starting out: don't follow the guide, find out why it works.

The interview was recorded on June 4th, 2026 in Wiesbaden (Germany).

Ronald Beekelaar is a man of many talents. A qualified computer scientist, he has been involved in training and certification within the Microsoft ecosystem since the 1990s. Following the introduction of virtualisation in the early 2000s, he swiftly became one of the foremost experts in this area. Initially, he focused on VMware products, but with the release of Hyper-V — Microsoft's first in-house hypervisor development — Microsoft's solution became the centre of his work.

He founded Virsoft , developing it into one of the leading lab hosting providers.

During the 2026 MCT Summit in Sarajevo, I spoke to Ronald about his education in the Netherlands and the USA, learning and teaching in the 1990s, and his views on cultural differences in learning between continents. We also discussed the future of teaching and learning in the age of artificial intelligence, learning with disabilities and his unique experiences with the Dutch royal family.

Ich sprach mit Jan-Hendrik Peters über eine Vielzahl von Themen, von denen sich viele Aspekte in der "DevOps"-Bewegung wiederfinden. Jan-Hendriks berufliche Stationen führten ihn von einem Lebensmittelhändler zu Microsoft, und von dort zu einem regionalen Energievorsorger. Jan-Hendrik berichtet von seiner Ausbildungszeit als Fachinformatiker, seiner Freude am Programmieren und den Vorteilen, Konfigurationen als Code zu schreiben und . Am Ende zeigt sich, dass die Abkehr von den Silos, in der sich IT-Abteilungen heute oftmals befinden, eine der zentralen Aufgaben für die Zukunft sein wird.

Michael Niehaus, an IT and software development veteran with quite a long history at Microsoft, talks about his career from his early days as a mainframe system programmer to his deep involvement with Microsoft products. He describes how he moved from programming in assembly language to IT roles involving client-server models in the early days of personal computing in the 1990s. This ultimately led to his work with Microsoft's Systems Management Server (SMS) and the Business Desktop Deployment Solution Accelerator, the latter of which evolved into the Microsoft Deployment Toolkit (MDT).

A significant focus of this episode is the development and evolution of deployment tools and the underlying techniques, from Kickstart to VBScript to PowerShell. Michael recalls encountering PowerShell and emphasises its potential as a powerful backend for various Microsoft products in the very early days.

As strange as it may sound today, the release of Vista retrospectively represented a 'giant leap' in terms of new tools, techniques and enhancements, especially for OS deployment. Michael discusses the introduction of WIM files, WinPE and AutoUnattend.xml, among other things. He reflects on the challenges and innovations involved in shifting to WIM files, and on the effectiveness of Windows PE. He highlights their significance in Microsoft's operating system deployment strategies.

Turning to contemporary issues, Michael and Thorsten discuss concerns about Microsoft's Windows Update Service (WSUS) and the impending discontinuation of related technologies.

Finally, Michael talks about his role at the new company 2Pint, where he works on products such as DeployR, a successor to MDT.

In this special episode of the Sliding Windows podcast we broadcast live from the annual PowerShell conference PSConfEU that took place in Antwerp in 2024.

My guest today is one of the best known celebreties of the PowerShell Universe: Chrissy LeMaire, inventor of the DBATools, Manning book author and Github star - to just give a few examples of her highly acclaimed work.

Chrissy comes from a Cajun family in Louisiana (USA), whose French-speaking ancestors still have a special influence on the culture of this region today. Chrissy has lived and worked for many years in Europe now, embracing the the richness of cultures and influences in different countries and regions.

A little different from a regular episode, we talk less about a specific area of expertise. Our main topic is Chrissy's career from database expert to book author and social media star and her very special view on the future of IT. Of course, we talk about "artificial" and "human intelligence".

Chrissy shares a pivotal moment in her academic journey inspired by a quote from Paul Dressel, catalyzing a transformation in her approach to learning and paving the way for academic excellence.

Transitioning to Chrissy's professional narrative, the dialogue navigates towards her engagement with PowerShell projects like DBA tools underscore her ardor for technology and perpetual learning.

Steering towards technology's cutting edge, the dialogue unfolds the speaker's exploits with PowerShell and SQL Server migrations, elucidating the journey of crafting modules and scripts to streamline migration processes. Discussions on Microsoft's support for DBA tools, GitHub collaboration, AI integration with PowerShell, and the exploitation of AI engines like GitHub Copilot, underscore the transformative potential of AI in ameliorating workflows and augmenting productivity.

Alongside nuanced reflections on Cajun heritage and language intricacies from Louisiana, theepisode culminates in a jovial French language quiz and a toast with craft beer, emblematic of shared ardor for technology, culture, and the enriching exchange encapsulated throughout the conversation. Thanks to Geoffroy Dubreuil and James Ruskin for their support with the Monad Manifesto quiz.

Zur Jahrtausendwende angekündigt, veröffentlichte Microsoft im Jahr 2002 die erste Version dieses ".NET Framework" für Windows; eine Programm- bzw. Laufzeitbibliothek, die Anwendungsentwicklern in Form einer sogenannten Klassenbibliothek zahlreiche nützliche Schnittstellen zur Verfügung stellt.

Die Klassenbibliothek kann mit einer Vielzahl von Programmiersprachen genutzt werden, gleichzeitig sind die kompilierten Anwendungen sowohl auf unterschiedlicher Hardware als auch auf unterschiedlichen Betriebssystemen lauffähig. Der besondere Ansatz von .NET ist die Bereitstellung einer abstrakten Laufzeitumgebung, kurz einer VM ("virtual machine"). .NET Anwendungen werden mit einem Compiler in die spezifische Maschinensprache dieser VM übersetzt - der sogenannten "Intermediate Language".

Dieser Ansatz ermöglicht es, dass lediglich die Laufzeitumgebung für unterschiedliche Hardware und Betriebssysteme portiert und nicht jede Applikation für die jeweilige Zielplattform neu kompiliert werden muss. Die Architektur von .NET erinnert nicht zufällig an das ältere JAVA der Firma Sun und dessen JRE ("java runtime environment).

Demitrius Nelon is the product manager responsible for the Package Manager for Windows which had its beginnings in Canada with an independent software developer named Keivan Beigi, who inspired Microsoft to create their own implementation. Keivan was guest on the "Sliding Windows" podcast, episode 18. Demetrius talks about his personal background and career journey, mentioning his service in the U.S. Navy and his work at various technology companies, including Microsoft, VMware, and Amazon. Prior to the employment of Demitrius Microsoft saw the value in Keivans primal AppGet implementation and used it as a template for their own package manager, initially named AppInstallerCLI due to its positioning under the umbrella of Microsofts sideloading application named AppInstaller. During its early days the AppInstallerCLI/WinGet was targeted as a package manager for developers. Demetrius joined the team in December 2019, and the initial preview launch of WinGet took place at the Build 2020 conference.

He provides insights about WinGets inspiration, security, integration, future plans.

When Microsoft acquired GitHub.com in 2018, no one could doubt that there is a deep cultural change going on in Redmond, Washington. A few years earlier, in 2015, Microsoft began to invest in a  new text editor that can simply be described like this: "One editor to rule them all"

VSCode and GitHub quickly started their journey as a congenial couple, conquering the hearts of the users - many of whom were not previously Microsoft devotees.

Justin Grote is one of those very gifted IT pros who have embraced Microsoft's new course with open arms.

When Microsoft announced a "Windows Package Manager" (better known as Winget) in the context of the Build conference in 2020, hardly anyone suspected that this overdue, long-desired tool was not a "Microsoft original".

A Canadian programmer, my today's guest Keivan Beigi, had developed a package manager called "AppGet" a few years earlier and made it available under an open source license. When Microsoft employees contacted him one fine day, what belonged together seemed to come together. But then the story took its own course.

We talk about the background of his technology, package management in general and Microsofts fickle strategy towards its own community.

Christoph Heussen war in den Jahren rund um die Jahrtausendwende Linux-Trainer/Berater und hat seinerzeit auf höchstem technischen Niveau vorrangig im Kontext von Redhat Linux gearbeitet bevor er von über 20 Jahren an die Realschule wechselte, an der er heute noch als Informatik- und Mathematik-Lehrer arbeitet.

Christoph berichtet von der jahrelangen Aufbauarbeit, sowohl was die Lerninhalte als auch die technische Austattung der Schule selbst betrifft, bis hin zur Corona-Pandemie, die von jetzt auf gleich Fakten schuf und viele geplante Innovationen von jetzt auf gleich systemrelevant werden ließ.