Winternals Acquired by Microsoft

Published: July 26, 2006

by Alex Woodie

Winternals, an innovative developer of Windows backup and recovery programs and other utilities, was acquired last week by Windows kingpin Microsoft. The addition of the successful Winternals product line--including a very popular freeware site called Sysinternals--and the two Winternals co-founders, Mark Russinovich and Bryce Cogswell, is expected to positively impact the development of Windows and Windows Server.

Jim Allchin, co-president of Microsoft's Platforms and Services division, says he's had his eye on Russinovich for some time. "The work he and Bryce have completed in system recovery and data protection illustrates the depth of thinking and skill they will bring to future versions of Windows," Allchin says. "The addition of their deep kernel-level expertise to our existing strong talent will help provide us with the edge we need to continue to raise the quality and functionality bar for Windows on both the client and the server."

Russinovich rose to fame last year when he discovered the rootkit-based copy protection system that Sony-BMG included--and subsequently removed--from its music CDs. Russinovich, who becomes one of a few Redmonites to hold the honor of "Technical Fellow" at Microsoft, will likely get his hands dirty in kernel- and systems-level programming in Allchin's Platforms and Services division, while Cogswell will become a software architect on the Windows Component Platform Team.

Microsoft says it's currently evaluating how Winternals' products and technologies can be integrated with Microsoft's offerings. Some of Winternals products already integrate with Microsoft products, such as its Defrag Manager, which hooks into Microsoft Operations Manager (MOM), now called System Center Operations Manager.

Winternals is privately held and based in Austin, Texas. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

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