
Igloo: A simple Windows automation tool - easyigloo
https://easyigloo.org
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akersten
This is a really neat project. But the website undersells it. It took me until
reading the docs to understand that this is an alternative to many raw Windows
utilities / PowerShell commands, which (to me) are notoriously hard to
remember and have goofy capitalization.

For example:

    
    
        update
    

Instead of

    
    
        wuauclt /updatenow
    
    

Or, to enable Windows Biometrics:

    
    
        install feature biometrics
    

Instead of:

    
    
        dism /online /Enable-Feature /FeatureName:Biometrics
    

Really, really great. But both the landing page and the About page desparately
need a "quick to see" example of the project. I didn't even read past the
first paragraph in the About page, to be honest. Make it prominent what the
app is right away on the splash page.

Edit: The new About page is much better!

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ndespres
Your examples aren't Powershell commands, they are Windows command line
utilities and could be run from command prompt. Real Powershell commands are
quite intuitive, support pipelines and are object driven. Give it some credit!
For example:

Install-WindowsFeature Biometric

~~~
manojlds
Also, PowerShell comands themselves come with aliases, like cls for Clear-Host

And it's not arbitrary reason . PowerShell is closer to a OOP language than
other shells.

~~~
majkinetor
Not only that, but aliases are also guessable as they are created using the
same pattern, one or 2 letters for noun and usually 2 for verb: rjb Remove-
Job, etsn Enter-Session, gc Get-Content, gps Get-Process (but also ps for
historical and even more discovery resons)

In my book, anybody complaining about terseness of powershell knows 0 about it
and should be treated as ignorant. Give me a random bash command and I will
probably make it shorter in Powershell without any custom made mumbo jumbo.

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tbyehl
> Windows command-line interface with syntax that is terse and easy to
> understand.

Funny. The verbosity of Powershell was definitely a turn-off _before_ I
started using it... but it wasn't long before I came to see it as one of
Powershell's greatest strengths. Verb-Noun is great for discoverability and a
script that avoids aliases should be understandable by someone who doesn't
know the first thing about Powershell, what the script does, or even scripting
in general.

Terseness is an anti-feature. K&R got it wrong.

~~~
earenndil
> Terseness is an anti-feature. K&R got it wrong.

I disagree. You spend very little time learning a language, compared to the
amount of time you spend using it. It pays to take the up-front cost of
learning the language in exchange for increased productivity later.

EDIT: consistency, discoverability, and user-friendliness are all important.
But those are all as _part_ of productivity, where productivity is optimized
for people who have already spent a decent amount of time learning the shared
language; that is to say that terseness, consistency, and discoverability all
work _together_. This is why sed syntax is not so terse as machine language,
because sed is still designed to be used by humans.

~~~
pjmlp
On the contrary, that is exactly why terseness is an anti-feature.

Most of the stuff only gets written once, and is read multiple times across
the years from team members and external consultants with different degrees of
skill levels.

Automatically completion on CLI and IDEs have solved the "too many letters"
problem for decades now.

~~~
earenndil
Again, this is why user-friendliness and consistency are important. Terse code
should still be easy to read. It should be easier to read than the equivalent
less-terse code, since there is literally less visual material that you have
to parse. It's a language; you have to learn it.

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kstenerud
Very cool! Some thoughts:

1\. As a replacement shell, it's not scriptable. If you haven't already, you
should make it such that you can do one-shot commands from a regular shell
without entering the full environment. For example:

    
    
        igloo crypto connect <name>
    

2\. There is no highlights section on the website talking about why this
project is awesome. You need examples of things that any IT person will
instantly recognize as gold.

3\. I was having trouble navigating the docs section from a mobile device.
Desktop interface works perfectly, though.

4\. Change your about page. You're denigrating yourself, and making yourself
and the project look weak. This project is an amazing accomplishment, so
present it and yourself as such!

~~~
easyigloo
That is great feedback. Thank you.

I took your advice and changed the About page. Thanks for your encouragement.

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dillonmckay
How does this compare to AutoIt?

[edit]

 _Igloo simplifies Windows administration by offering pre-made aliases for
lengthy PowerShell commands. For example, displaying outbound firewall rules
in PowerShell uses the following syntax..._

Totally different.

~~~
gregmac
Yeah, unless I'm missing something, "automation" seems to be a misnomer. I was
looking at it thinking along the lines of something like Autoit, Puppet or
Ansible, which just made me confused reading the docs.

Calling it a "simplified administration shell" or "logically organised cli
shortcuts" would be closer to what it really is, I think.

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WhiteOwlLion
This wasn't that well received by sysadmin's on reddit:

[https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/bvrlh6/i_created_...](https://www.reddit.com/r/sysadmin/comments/bvrlh6/i_created_a_free_application_that_has_some_useful/)

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BubRoss
This is an alternative command line, just in case anyone thought it was going
to be something with a UI.

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t0astbread
Looks sleek! I'd definitely use it if I were still on Windows.

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sitzkrieg
neat project, but awful landing page. dont force technical users to
immediately click about to get a remote clue what it's really about

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majkinetor
tldr: Bunch of syntax sugars. No automation at all.

~~~
easyigloo
Syntax sugars are definitely a part of the app, but it does a lot more than
simple 1:1 aliases. I used it to back up the running configs of around 400
Cisco devices last week. Thanks for your feedback in any case.

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theelous3
It's entirely unclear as to what this actually is.

The blurbs read like one of those "we create solutions for complex business
needs" kind of things.

~~~
t0astbread
How so? They clearly show their set of tools in detail in the docs.

~~~
theelous3
Im sure I could eventually figure out what tensorflow is for by reading the
code, but there are correct ways to convey information about the purpose of a
thing.

