Microsoft buys Winternals

[Kenny]

Microsoft buys Windows tool maker Winternals
By Justin Mann, TechSpot.com
Published: July 19, 2006, 4:35 PM EST


Winternals, a small firm that produces many very powerful Windows utilities, has recently been purchased by Microsoft. The cost of the purchase hasn't been made public yet. This company produces some of the most commonly used Windows tools around, many of them freely available. They also produce a variety of enterprise-class software aimed specifically at Network Administrators, with nifty tools like Regmon and AD Explorer. One of the co-founders and lead programmers of Winternals, Mark Russinovich, will now work at Microsoft:


"I'll be working on challenging projects that span the entire Windows product line and directly influence subsequent generations of the most important operating systems on the planet," he said. "From security to virtualization to performance to a more manageable application model, there's no end of interesting areas to explore and innovate."

The other co-founder will also be working with Microsoft as a Software Architect. Most people see this as a positive thing, and it's hoped that the talent they have will be put to just as much good use as it was with Winternals. Anyone who has spent time in a repair shop or in an Admin position probably has found their software useful at one time or another.

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[apexad]

I think this is both good and bad. It is good for these guys, it is good for the operating system. However the truth of the matter is, alot of people make money on how unsafe windows is. As microsoft highers skilled programmers like theses to write tools which are more highly integrated into the operating system then ever before, it puts the little guy out of bsuiness.

 

[chicker]

What a shame! Although there are positive sides to this I only look at the negatives when a big compnay like this buys out a small one effecting probably both sides! I think that mircosoft is feeling threatened by google and macs so is trying to regain points to stay at the top

 

[labrocca]

Being bought by MS is every companies dream. However if your competition is bought by MS it's every companies nightmare.