That's assuming that you haven't put your ESX hosts in lockdown mode or disabled SSH access, which is obviously a security best practice. If you have done these things then you can't script the actions without PowerShell.

And it's not just VMware, either. How do you manage directory services? How do you manage storage? How do you manage networking? More importantly, how do you do it remotely and at enterprise scale? Most of the major hardware vendors out there now have PowerShell modules for managing their products, because it is quickly becoming the de facto method of managing systems for companies that use Windows server. I get that Slashdot has a fairly strong pro-linux/anti-Microsoft bias, but unless you are one of the few that live in a 100% linux/Unix world then PowerShell is the way forward.

For anyone who has any sort of legitimate interest in learning what PowerShell is intended to be, take a few minutes to look over the Monad Manifesto. It was written by Jeffrey Snover, the "father of PowerShell". He's not some pro-Windows shill that just popped up at Microsoft, his pedigree goes all the way back to DEC and before.

The nice thing about their path is that they're not afraid to cut off backwards compatibility. That's pretty much the biggest flaw with Windows. A lot of the security issues in Vista today are there because drivers used those holes to work. People still use hardware that uses those broken drivers, and the companies who released the products stopped supporting them years ago.

If you had said that about Windows XP I would agree with you, but Windows Vista has a different driver model that is focused around providing security and stability. It clearly broke the "old" driver model to which you are referring.

When you're first starting out, it's very important to have that degree to get your foot in the door. Without having the degree it can be difficult. But the ironic thing is that technology changes fast enough that the degree very quickly becomes irrelevant. This is especially true when it comes to system administration. Even those "schools" (ITT, DeVry, etc) that offer general IT/Sysadmin "degrees" have a very difficult time keeping up with industry trends. After about 5 years of working in IT, nobody will care about your B.S. degree (or Associates). Now if you're working on a Masters, Ph.D., or MBA, that's a different story.

But if you can break into the market without a degree and get those first few years of experience you absolutely can work yourself up to a good IT job. Remember, after 5 years in the workforce your experience will be comparable to everyone else's and their degrees will be outdated. Just don't expect to come in as a sysadmin from day one. You'll probably have to start at the helpdesk/PC tech level, then work your way up to a junior admin, and so on. I don't have a degree but after several years of hard work and continued learning I'm just shy of a six-figure income in a city where the median individual income is about $32k.

Though their motivations may not be so philanthropic, at least consumer electronics corporations are on the side of the people like you and I. After all, they know that consumers will not purchase crippled, copy-protected products. Hopefully, this will result in a somewhat more balanced result when laws are passed. Call me cynical, but I feel that the Hollywood lobby's advantage is quite large and the laws will likely get passed.