Talk:Windows Terminal

Product announcements

That's in the realm of WP:CRYSTAL TEDickey (talk) 23:16, 6 May 2019 (UTC)

I'm not sure what's speculative about a piece of software which is already released to the public. --RaviC (talk) 06:55, 7 May 2019 (UTC)

It's not been released: it is proposed for release in June, and there are no reliable sources supporting its notability TEDickey (talk) 08:02, 7 May 2019 (UTC)

The source code is already released; the GitHub link is in the infobox. The articles referenced confirm this will become a core component of the Windows OS, so it's obviously notable. However, if you think it needs more references, then feel free to improve the article. --RaviC (talk) 11:06, 7 May 2019 (UTC)

If you're not going to actually read the Wikipedia guidelines, there's no point in discussing anything with you. TEDickey (talk) 00:45, 8 May 2019 (UTC)

Thank you for your civility and constructive advice, as opposed to vague criticism without real meaning. --RaviC (talk) 09:35, 8 May 2019 (UTC)

Where is the documentation?

This topic states that there is documentation for the terminal, but does not point to anything more substantial than the github site, which in turn contains some working notes (in a folder named "doc") in markdown format, which total about 9 thousand lines, out of the 283 thousand lines of program source code. Perhaps there is some documentation in another place, but the github site is not the place to cite. TEDickey (talk) 20:18, 23 October 2020 (UTC)

They said "Along with this release, Windows Terminal Documentation was made available on the Microsoft Docs website", so I did a search for "Windows Terminal" on docs.microsoft.com. It turned up a bunch of pages under https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/terminal/. Guy Harris (talk) 21:08, 23 October 2020 (UTC)

Not very useful -- compare with Using the Console (but the title says "Documentation"). On the other hand, Apple (for example) provides similarly skimpy documentation. I'd suggest deleting the comment that I tagged because it is used in a promotional sense, and (without implying much), just list the page that you mentioned under external links. TEDickey (talk) 22:09, 23 October 2020 (UTC)

Naming Change

I'm not sure that renaming "Windows Terminal" to "Terminal (Windows)" was the right call. As far as I can see, the official full name is (and has always been) Windows Terminal. It can be called "Terminal" for short, but all the documentation points to "Windows Terminal" being the proper name. There is a note on the rename to a Specific version, but nothing on that version seems to be any different than old versions. For example, in the previous major version, it is again referenced as "Windows Terminal" in the title etc, and the "Terminal" title is only used when the name "Windows" was immediately used before that. Finally, the name in Microsoft Store remains "Windows Terminal", and has done so since it was published there. GSchizas (talk) 18:19, 20 February 2022 (UTC)

I agree. "Windows Terminal" is the most common name. I think Wikipedia has a policy about using the common name. Try WP:COMMONNAME or WP:MOSTCOMMONNAME or something. Aside from that, all sorts of name changing from "Windows [Name]" to "[Name] (Windows)" and vice versa, is wrong. It's just being a jerk through overt correctness. I prefer stability and consistency. Waysidesc (talk) 00:22, 21 February 2022 (UTC)

Is there some process to move this back? I don't want to step on @Ghettoblaster's toes or anything, but I do think the move was not justified. GSchizas (talk) 14:54, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

The renaming or shortening of the name of the app to just "Terminal" is continuing as can be seen in the changelog here: [1]. I think we should use the current name of the most recent release under Windows 11, even if it is still listed under the old name in the store for Windows 10. It is similar with other build-in apps that got renamed over time. Ghettoblaster (talk) 21:05, 10 March 2022 (UTC)

First of all, the name is Windows Terminal on Windows 11 in the start menu, in the process list and of course on the Windows 11 Microsoft Store (which is reading the same data as the Windows 10 Microsoft Store anyway). In the Windows 11 settings page "Privacy and Security > For Developers" (weird place to put this), you have the choice of changing the default "Terminal app" between "Windows Console Host", "Windows Terminal" and "Windows Terminal Preview". The GitHub page also refers to it as "Windows Terminal", and this seems to be to be as authoritative a source as it gets. I'm sure I can find a lot more examples.

The changelog you linked simply says that in a non-released Windows 11 version (so not really official yet) "Windows Terminal is now called Terminal under Start." (emphasis mine). It's not the name of the program, it's just the shortened version to find it in the Start menu. This doesn't seem to support the idea that "Terminal" is the new name for "Windows Terminal". GSchizas (talk) 09:37, 11 March 2022 (UTC)

As I have mentioned, the link just shows, that the renaming to the new name is in progress. The official repository already announced the new name. Soon it will be updated in Windows releases were it is included and in the store where it is listed. I see no point in waiting till the name is updated everywhere on the internet. The article for File Explorer also uses the name for the most recent release of the app even though older Windows releases still call it Windows Explorer. Another good example for this is Task Manager (Windows). Here we had the same situation. Using the latest name of the app for the name of the Wikipedia page is consistent with other instances. Ghettoblaster (talk) 06:12, 12 March 2022 (UTC)

I don't see any evidence of renaming, or even an intention of doing a "rename". The only thing you offer as evidence is that they are going to use a shorter name in the Start menu (and in the Start menu alone). The name of the program remains "Windows Terminal" in all of the documentation.

I would suggest reverting the change until at the very least the program is officially renamed on GitHub or an announcement is made on the official blog. (WP:CRYSTAL and all) GSchizas (talk) 08:59, 12 March 2022 (UTC)

After due consideration, I reverted the move, for three reasons:

1. Per WP:COMMONNAME, once a rename occurs, we must bestow additional weight to the sources that are published after the rename. Yet, Microsoft has not yet started a meaningful (or zealous) expunging of "Windows" from the app's name. Editors have previously moved Windows PowerShell to PowerShell when the app ceased to be Windows-only. That was a meaningful change. But in Windows Terminal's case, only the shortcut has changed, so that app gets sorted under T instead of W.

2. Since the app remains Windows-only the Windows prefix is more a matter of WP:NATURALDAB, even if Microsoft did intend to change the name.

3. Ghettoblaster has gone to some length to be weird and unnatural about recording the so-called name change. To wit, it reads:

"Terminal is a multi-tabbed terminal emulator that Microsoft has developed for Windows 10 and later as a replacement for Windows Console. Until February 2022 it was called Windows Terminal."

The only thing missing from this sentence is "bow before the new name, b*tches." We're not bludgeoning the process, are we? Waysidesc (talk) 14:17, 13 March 2022 (UTC)