Lots of people here suggesting the main benefit of PowerShell is its object model and indeed that is very useful, but there are other great features as well. First and foremost, PowerShell basically has a command line parameter framework built in. You also have a runtime backed by one of the best standard libraries out there (.NET) - one in which you can easily reach into anywhere in your PowerShell scripts. It also has a module ecosystem supporting development in either PowerShell or C# proper. And now with PowerShell core it's cross platform. PowerShell also supports pipelines, but I mention this last because it's obviously not a distinguisher for it with bash. It's really not even a contest, PowerShell is way more... well, powerful than bash. Since I've become proficient I would never go back to bash.