SAP Note 3484031 describes a few consequences, for the next release 8.10 of SAP GUI for Windows, of the future deprecation of VBScript by Microsoft. The note refers to the post Deprecated features for Windows client from Microsoft. The post by Naveen Shankar Chilla with the title VBScript deprecation: Timelines and next steps gives us more details. One very interesting part here is the deprecation plan with the deprecation timeline. The SAP note tells to us that we should approach this topic calmly, and that is the right thing to do. It will be a long time before VBScript is finally no longer available in Windows - if any. Nevertheless, we need to take a look so that this doesn't come as a surprise to us.
JScript
The SAP note describes that it is planned to extend the SAP GUI Scripting with the alternative language JScript (may be subject to change), which is also used in the SAP GUI for Java. As a first step I think this is a good consequence and I hope that the SAP GUI Scripting Recorder will be extended actually in the next release. It would be really great to have another alternative scripting language in the standard.
PowerShell
Furthermore the SAP Note tells that additional scripting languages, e.g. like PowerShell, are not planned to be supported at the moment. We will see what the future brings. JScript bases also on the Windows Script Host, as VBScript, something similar could be expected in a distant future. But that is just my personal assumption. In my opinion an extension of the SAP GUI Scripting recorder with PowerShell would be a real benefit.
Microsoft recommends in the post Features removed or no longer developed starting with Windows Server 2025 (preview) to use PowerShell as a replacement for VBScript for automating tasks, custom actions, or scripts. I know it is for server, but let us take this as an indication of the destination of this journey for the clients. I also think it makes more strategic sense to use PowerShell.
Conclusion
To summarize, we can say that the scripting language environment of Windows changes, slowly but surely. SAP GUI Scripting is not unaffected of this. Many business processes were automated with SAP GUI Scripting and VBScript, so a long-term adjustment should be made. A strategy should be defined to ensure that all automation scripts are converted to a new format, in the case of a change. When automated processes that you rely on suddenly stop working, hectic activities normally arise. This can be avoided. Even if the remaining period still seems long, this requirement should not be forgotten. Because these kind of business process automation in particular are often realized by the subject matter experts and not by the IT department.
