The Windows terminal has become Windows 11 default console in the latest ‘Dev’ channel build that Microsoft just released to the Insiders testing group.

The move has been announced. Microsoft has defined Windows Terminal as the “ultimate” tool for working with the various command-line applications active in its operating systems (CMD and Powershell), and the change is simple but logical. So if you run a command line application or a PowerShell script, starting with the latest development version of Windows 11, it will run in the Windows Terminal.

What is Windows Terminal and what is it used for?

For those unfamiliar with the tool, Windows Terminal was a new command-line tool that Microsoft announced at the BUILD 2019 developer conference. It belongs to a group of advanced applications that Microsoft produces with system administrators in mind. Developers and more advanced users who may be left with the “short” Windows that are offered as standard, very focused on interacting with the graphical interface. And yes, “inspired” by Linux, like Windows Terminal even in its name.

Windows Terminal is an application open source and free available in the Microsoft Store and on GitHub (where the source code is also included) developed externally for Windows and therefore can receive individual updates and improvements without having to wait for regular Windows updates. And in fact, it has been getting features and improvements since its launch.

Microsoft’s idea was and is clear. If the Windows console “also exists” and is an excellent choice for intermediate/advanced users and administrators to perform tasks in the operating system in a more flexible and faster way, this new tool has the opportunity to use the rest of its development. present in Windows.

Windows Terminal can handle both system symbol (the base interpreter used starting with Windows NT) as PowerShellan advanced console that launched Windows Vista, which offers more options than the command line options, as it allows you to create your own commands and scripts using the C# programming language.

Last but not least, Windows Terminal can also launch separate tabs WSL2, a second-generation Linux subsystem for Windows announced by Microsoft at the same time as Windows Terminal, built to better support Linux distributions and applications. Both are related and are meant to ensure that users who need to use the free system (especially developers) do not have to leave Windows.

And in the case of Windows Terminal, give the system a slightly more user-friendly command-line tool, well integrated with the Windows 10 and 11 interface, that can run the rest of its types of applications while maintaining the functionality of this type of software for some types of advanced tasks that either cannot be performed from a GUI, or which are performed more quickly or efficiently.

Although Windows Terminal was released by default in Windows 11, the user will be able to modify this behavior in the developer options in the general configuration tool if they want to continue using CMD or Powershell directly.