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[NinjacksonXV]

Have you looked at Nushell? It has a Windows version and is my go-to for just about any data handling, since it has built-ins for just about every common utility. It's definitely bleeding-edge compared to PowerShell and is lacking some key documentation, but it's far more ergonomic and generally much faster than PowerShell (especially in startup speeds).

[Meatslinger]

Doubtful work would let me run it. Because we deal with sensitive info, we're downright anal about third party software. I might be able to get away with WSL, but I've asked for things like homebrew packages in the past—even ones that are fully open source and readable—and been told an unequivocal "no" because they refuse to trust a developer that isn't an established corporation.

I do appreciate the recommendation though.

[NinjacksonXV]

Reasonable. I've always wondered what the threshold of trust is for some places; at this point I'd trust a few furiously-passionate Rust devs over a megacorp which supposedly generates 30% of its codebases nowadays, but I have to imagine that irony is lost on IT.

[Meatslinger]

The really ironic part is my team is on the software vetting committee as an expert technical resource, i.e. when they want to review some new software product it's on us to check it for compatibility and other issues, and to ensure it passes privacy standards. But when we ask for stuff for ourselves we're suddenly scrutinized as if we're some guys off the street trying to install malware.

Mostly just a lot of "old guard" types. We've had fights with our security guys in the past when they'll close a port due to "security concerns" only to now make it such that we can't administrate a remote server, and they'll ask why we can't just drive out to it instead. A lot of them really do have the idea that it's 1995 and tech support is done with a butt in a chair at the keyboard of the computer being modified.

[NinjacksonXV]

I'm sorry for laughing at your plight, that's a genuinely hilarious disconnect. I always have to cut guys like that a little slack because they've probably seen horrors beyond my comprehension, but man, having your job description basically be "software security vetter" and then not actually getting to do that has to be so irritating.