Conclusion
The benefits of PowerShell are obvious. Being developed out of the robust and extensible .Net framework allows you to leverage existing technologies for more efficient development. PowerShell further speaks to developing systems as services. Building cohesive, small-in-scope components with a specific purpose help the development of loosely-coupled, cohesive designs. This helps typical .Net development and enables scripting of these services. This is a productivity upgrade on multiple levels. For example, re-purposing existing services glued together with a script is far quicker and more flexible than one done in compile code.
Because of PowerShell's strengths, there are signs of good growth-a strong user community has already taken shape; Microsoft is already building version 2.0; a third-party market is also emerging just as it did when Visual Basic emerged. The reason for the excitement is clear: PowerShell is flexible, extensible, and easily integrated.