Microsoft has released Windows Management Framework 3.0 - Community Technology Preview (CTP) #2

This software is a pre-release version. Features and behavior are likely to change before the final release.

This preview release is designed to enable the community to experience and review the preliminary designs and direction of key features in Windows PowerShell 3.0 and to solicit feedback before features are finalized.

Windows Management Framework 3.0 makes some updated management functionality available to be installed on Windows 7 SP1 & Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1. Windows Management Framework 3.0 contains Windows PowerShell 3.0, WMI & WinRM. See the bottom of this section for an overview of changes since WMF 3.0 CTP1.

Windows PowerShell 3.0
Some of the new features in Windows PowerShell 3.0 include:

Workflows
Workflows that run long-running activities (in sequence or in parallel) to perform complex, larger management tasks, such as multi-machine application provisioning. Using the Windows Workflow Foundation at the command line, Windows PowerShell workflows are repeatable, parallelizable, interruptible, and recoverable.
Robust Sessions
Robust sessions that automatically recover from network failures and interruptions and allow you to disconnect from the session, shut down the computer, and reconnect from a different computer without interrupting the task.
Scheduled Jobs
Scheduled jobs that run regularly or in response to an event.
Delegated Administration
Commands that can be executed with a delegated set of credentials so users with limited permissions can run critical jobs
Simplified Language Syntax
Simplified language syntax that make commands and scripts look a lot less like code and a lot more like natural language.
Cmdlet Discovery
Improved cmdlet discovery and automatic module loading that make it easier to find and run any of the cmdlets installed on your computer.
Show-Command
Show-Command, a cmdlet and ISE Add-On that helps users find the right cmdlet, view its parameters in a dialog box, and run it.

WMI
WMI in Windows Management Framework 3.0 introduces:
A new provider development model
This new model brings down the cost of provider development and removes the dependency on COM.
A new MI Client API to perform standard CIM operations.
The API can be used to interact with any standard WsMan + CIMOM implementation, allowing management applications on Windows to manage non-Windows computers.
The ability to write Windows PowerShell cmdlets in native code
The new WMI Provider APIs supports an extended Windows PowerShell semantics API allowing you to provide rich Windows PowerShell semantics. e.g., Verbose, Error, Warning, WhatIf, Confirm, Progress


WinRM
With Windows Management Framework 3.0:
Connections are more robust
Session disconnect and reconnect, with or without client session reconstruction, allows long-running tasks to continue even when the session in which they were started is closed and the client computer is shut down. This feature also allows administrators to reconnect from different computers to check the status of remote running tasks and get results.
Connections are more resilient
In Windows PowerShell 3.0, connections can survive short-term network failures; the client-server connection is not severed at the first sign of trouble. If network problems persist, the client is safely disconnected and can reconnect by using the Connect-PSSession or Receive-PSSession cmdlets.

Windows PowerShell Web Service
Windows PowerShell Web Service enables an administrator to expose a set of PowerShell cmdlets as a RESTful web endpoint accessible via the (Open Data Protocol (OData). This provides remote access to invoke cmdlets from both Windows and non-Windows clients.

Overview of changes since WMF 3.0 CTP1
Customer Reported Bug Fixes
Many customer reported bugs have been fixed since the WMF 3.0 CTP1. The release notes contains a list of bug titles, but please check Connect for full details.
Single Command Pane in Windows PowerShell ISE
The Command and Output panes in Windows PowerShell ISE have been combined into a single Command pane that looks and behaves like the Windows PowerShell console.
Updatable Help
The WMF 3.0 CTP1 release notes described a new Updatable Help system in Windows PowerShell 3.0 and included a copy of the help content. The Updatable Help system is now active on the Internet. To download and update help files, type: Update-Help.
Windows PowerShell Workflows
A number of enhancements have been made in the scripting experience for Windows PowerShell Workflows, including new keywords: Parallel, Sequence & Inlinescript. A document describing these changes will be published to this page shortly.
Remote Get-Module
The Get-Module cmdlet now supports implicit remoting. You can now use the new PSSession and CIMSession parameters of the Get-Module cmdlet to get the modules in any remote session or CIM session. A number of other module enhancements are listed in the release notes.

  Windows Management Framework 3.0 - Community Technology Preview (CTP) #2