Perl vs Powershell

I'm no Perl programmer.  I do a lot of VBS.  I'm learning PowerShell on the side.  However, recently I started looking into languages that I could use with Linux (I'm trying to pick up Linux as well) and I keep coming up with Python and Perl and of course the venerable C.  After looking at Perl there seems to be a lot similarities to PowerShell.  I know the PowerShell creators were from the Linux background.  What do you think is Perl similar to PowerShell?  Both are driving me crazy trying to learn--totally different paradigm than VBS.

C

Perl, PowerShell, Python, JavaScript, Ruby are all similar paradigms in the vein that they support functional programming.
All of these languages are significantly more powerful than VBScript. Powershell is arguably the weakest of the list though since it is specifically designed as a shell scripting language.

If you had to make a choice between PowrShell and Perl I would suggest going with Perl. Going straight from VBS to Perl though may make your head explode if you don't know any non-VB languages. VB languages are notorious in the programming worl for being..well...BASIC

If you don't mind I'd like to take a different vein here.

I'm looking to change my specialty from Windows based knowledge and move on into the Linux world with a view to security-specifically PenTesting.  I've already started familiarizing myself with Linux (built out a couple of desktops, used the apps etc...).  However, my big question is what language I should concentrate on.  I've got some familiarity with C, but I'm wondering if Perl or Python or even Ruby would be better choices.  Obviously VBS is not much of an option in that world, so I need to move on.  I don't really want to invest a lot of time in a language that won't be ideal.  I've been perusing forums all over the place and I getting the feeling that Python is the way to go.  In the mean time I've got to keep my Windows engineering job so I'm thinking a scripting language that I could use in both worlds which seems to be Perl.  So I'm kind of hung up on this whole decision process. 

Of course a low learning curve would be nice (but not required in my decision making process), more important to me is power and capability.  I'd like to work with sockets directly for example, analyzing packets progammatically, etc...So I'm just not sure what is the best way to go.

In a nutshell the things most important to me are:

Cross platform implementation and capability.

If I could use one for my daily tasks working with Microsoft AD and Exchange then that would be an added benefit.  So while Python seems to be the more popular language it seems Perl would suit me better.  Or maybe there's something out there that I haven't even considered...

Any thoughts on that?

Thanks
C
 

With the kinds of things your're looking to do.....My suggestion is Python.
Perl is older and has a more developed community but the language may be harder for you to learn due to its sigil notation.

Just to make it difficult for normacian: if you google "activestate python" you get ca. 90.000
hits, but ca. 260.000 for "activestate perl"; with AS Perl you get an sophisticated packet manager
to access most of (the world's most marvelous code collection) CPAN. The Sigils are at least visible
- spaces are not. I'd stick with Perl for heavy duty work.