Installing Monad on XP or Win2k3

If you would like to install Monad on XP or Win2k3, you can do that by following these instructions:

1. Acquire a passport account

2. https://beta.microsoft.com

3. Logon using the guest ID ‘mshPDC’

4. Register using the registration form

5. Wait 24 hours for the confirmation email and account details.

6. Log back onto https://beta.microsoft.com and you will be automatically redirected to the content.

The build of Monad acquired from this site is actually a newer version that the build contained in the WinHec build.  Also, there is supporting documentation and collateral provided up on the beta site, as well as an active community.  So if you really want to play with Monad, you should get this build and supporting collateral as opposed to using the WinHec Monad installation described in my last post.

Oh, and if you don't know what Monad is (other than you Leibnitz Monadology philosophers out there), it is a new command shell that embraces .NET.  It thoroughly relies on the metadata provided through reflection of .NET objects to allow for dynamic scripting of behaviors on the system.  Rather than piping text output, which is the way most command line interfaces handle the marshalling of data, MSH pipes strongly typed .NET objects, allowing for much more fidelity and precision in the types of commands and scripts that can be executed in the MSH environment. But it also supports "cd", "dir", "ls" and all your other favorite shell commands. Way cool.