Mark's Sysinternals Blog

Tuesday, July 18, 2006

On My Way to Microsoft!

I’m very pleased to announce that Microsoft has acquired Winternals Software and Sysinternals. Bryce Cogswell and I founded both Winternals and Sysinternals (originally NTInternals) back in 1996 with the goal of developing advanced technologies for Windows. We’ve had an incredible amount of fun over the last ten years working on a wide range of diverse products such as Winternals Administrator’s Pak, Protection Manager, Defrag Manager, and Recovery Manager, and the dozens of Sysinternals tools, including Filemon, Regmon and Process Explorer, that millions of people use every day for systems troubleshooting and management. There’s nothing more satisfying for me than to see our ideas and their implementation have a positive impact.

That’s what makes being acquired by Microsoft especially exciting and rewarding. I’m joining Microsoft as a technical fellow in the Platform and Services Division, which is the division that includes the Core Operating Systems Division, Windows Client and Windows Live, and Windows Server and Tools. I’ll therefore be working on challenging projects that span the entire Windows product line and directly influence subsequent generations of the most important operating system on the planet. From security to virtualization to performance to a more manageable application model, there’s no end of interesting areas to explore and innovate.

So what’s going to happen to Winternals and Sysinternals? Microsoft is still evaluating the best way to leverage the many different technologies that have been developed by Winternals. Some will find their ways into existing Microsoft products or Windows itself and others will continue on as Microsoft-branded products. As for Sysinternals, the site will remain for the time being while Microsoft determines the best way to integrate it into its own community efforts, and the tools will continue to be free to download.

Personally, I remain committed to the Sysinternals and Windows IT pro communities and so I’ll continue to blog here, to write about Windows technologies, and to speak at conferences. Until I know my Microsoft email address and post it you can continue to contact me at mark@sysinternals.com.

I’m looking forward to making Windows an even better platform for all of us!

posted by Mark Russinovich @ 10:20 AM

Comments:

Congratulations. Finally someone that knows how thinks work at microsoft.

Guido

# posted by Anonymous : 10:29 AM, July 18, 2006

YOu can be sure that all the sysinternals tools will now become "validate your copy before download" only.
Well that's a shame. On the other hand if we can get rid of the silly taskmanager and get procexp kind of tools built-in, that may be the saving grace.
Good luck Mark. Hopefully they'll let you do things you'd like to do as opposed to absorbing you into their bureaucracy.

# posted by Anonymous : 10:35 AM, July 18, 2006

I hope this doesn't mean no more Sysinternals freeware!

# posted by Anonymous : 10:46 AM, July 18, 2006

You drank the Kool-Aid

All I can do is scream "WHY?!" like Nancy Kerrigan.

# posted by Anonymous : 10:52 AM, July 18, 2006

Congrats, hopefully you will be able to shape things well while you are there. I for one mourn the loss of your independence from MS however.

# posted by Red_Eye : 10:53 AM, July 18, 2006

Congratulations! I always figured this would inevitably happen someday.

# posted by haacked : 10:54 AM, July 18, 2006

Congratulation to you both! This is good news for Microsoft users, and your announcement seems to indicate just how happy your are as well. I hope that all the wonderful innovation that you've made available to us will make it into Microsoft products, and that they make good use of your skills. I can't imagine either of you being happy any other way.

# posted by Anonymous : 10:56 AM, July 18, 2006

Microsoft definitely knows how to attract talents and technology again! What an excellent addition for Microsoft - I hope that doesn't mean less innovation in tools in the future. Your tools (speaking of Sysinternals) are so much better than the Resource Kit tools because it simplifies everything...you have an excellent presentation GUI version or command line version. Hope this carries over to the Resource Kit tools and innovations.

# posted by Anonymous : 10:58 AM, July 18, 2006

Congratulations.

It makes sense, I suppose, though it seems like such a shame.

# posted by Anonymous : 10:59 AM, July 18, 2006

I can see this becoming an an end of an era when sysinternals closes, and in a way we could see this coming.

Congratulations to you both.

# posted by Anonymous : 11:07 AM, July 18, 2006

Congrats!

Your tools are obviously better than MS's. They wouldn't acquire u otherwise. Let's hope MS always remembers and let you do what you do best.

# posted by Anonymous : 11:13 AM, July 18, 2006

Congratulations guys, always thought it would happen.

Check out my full reaction on my blog

# posted by Dave : 11:14 AM, July 18, 2006

Congrats!! I supposed the BSOD screen save will never see another update:( That saddens me... However, I have been using your products since the days is NTInternals when I was a lowly device driver developer. I wish you all the best!!

# posted by Anonymous : 11:16 AM, July 18, 2006

It seems an excellent business model: Develop some excellent tools and blog in a way that embarrasses the giant with the aim of getting taken over.

# posted by Anonymous : 11:18 AM, July 18, 2006

There are two freeware sites every Windows Admin should have in their toolbox. sysinternals.com and joeware.net. Lookout joe. MSFT's knockin'.

# posted by Anonymous : 11:18 AM, July 18, 2006

Congrats. Scoble leaves and you arrive... I just read earlier on your settlement, congrats on that too!

# posted by Anonymous : 11:19 AM, July 18, 2006

Congrats and Welcome (I work for MSFT too)! I guess this means you'll finally be getting a Windows source license... ;)

# posted by Anonymous : 11:29 AM, July 18, 2006

This is so cool. I have been using
your software for years! Now that you will be inside Microsoft you should be able to make great strides with their internal designs.

Now if they just buy my Outlook Profiler utility! Take care.

http://goffconcepts.com

# posted by Jason : 11:31 AM, July 18, 2006

Microsoft can only get better by having you there! ;-)

# posted by Jon : 11:31 AM, July 18, 2006

The last few posts obviously know nothing about you guys. Just to set the record straight - the company is known for their great toolsets - free and non-free; Sysinternals and Winternals respectively. But what truly distiguishes the company is their owner and level of expertise in Operating System inner workings. Check out their book, I don't think you will see much books that compare in terms of technical knowledge in the Windows world. Before the rest post about the tools as reason for acquisition...I will say that will probably be about 5% or less the reason. I would acquire these guys due to their knowledge and where I want to go with products like Vista and beyond! Thanks - LL

# posted by Anonymous : 11:33 AM, July 18, 2006

Congratulations - a very smart (albeit overdue) move on Microsoft's part.

Any chance you could package all of your tools up in a single ZIP so I don't kill your bandwidth using a web site downloader to grab them all?

I have a sneaking suspicion that many (most) of these tools aren't going to survive the Microsoft security review for publicly available downloads, so I’d like to get them while I can.

# posted by Mike : 11:35 AM, July 18, 2006

Mark,

Good for you.

Not good for the community of Windows users who have been enjoying the ever so great qualities of your software tools for all these years.

In the past, Microsoft has squashed the good out of the software of all the companies it has a acquired. It shouldn't be different with Sysinternals/Winternals.

Too bad. Let's hope Nirsoft doesn't go down the same path of destruction.

In any case, congratulations for your personal success and thank you for all your contributions to the community of Windows users.

Best regards.

# posted by Anonymous : 11:35 AM, July 18, 2006

Congratulations Mark!

# posted by Anonymous : 11:41 AM, July 18, 2006

First of all, congratulations and good luck on your career change!

Following is my analysis, as the owner of an independent company that develops for Microsoft platforms.

One one hand:
This acquisition will certainly be a boon to Microsoft and users of its products in the sense that the products will get marginally better with the influence of more brilliant people. So that's definitely a win for everyone.

On the other hand:
The great thing about sysinternals was precisely its independence from Microsoft. Take a look at the paltry tools Microsoft has allowed out to dribble out to the public in the past by contrast to what SI has done. Do you really believe it's because there aren't any smart folks at MS yet?

No, it's because anything that gets released must necessarily be filtered through many onerous layers of MS business direction and approval process. With that kind of disincentive and limitation, it's no wonder that independent smart developers can move mountains while it seems Microsoft itself has trouble getting quality software released sometimes.

Once again, this is only my (biased) viewpoint, and I acknowledge that. But anyone who thinks that Microsoft is just going to give sysinternals folks free reign to produce and release whatever awesome tools they want...just doesn't understand how the system works.

# posted by Anonymous : 11:41 AM, July 18, 2006

Upside: better software
Downside: chance of freeware going away

# posted by Anonymous : 11:41 AM, July 18, 2006

Good for you; bad for us. Please try to keep the door open on sysinternals for as long as you can. At least long enough for me to download the latest versions. ;-)

We always sing your praises, Mark.

It used to be Mark Russinovich is "the MAN." Alas, now it will be Mark is "THE man."

# posted by Anonymous : 11:43 AM, July 18, 2006

There's absolutely nothing wrong with cashing out. You've done great work and I respect your decision. But I still wish that you'd made a different choice.

# posted by Anonymous : 11:47 AM, July 18, 2006

Congrats! It's a great match...

It will be a SUPER match if MS pours additional money into your already existing teams (and products).

It will kind of suck if the tools we've come to rely on from SysInternals fade away or get assimilated in such a way as to lose their original character (i.e. like LookOut).

Still congradulations and thank you for the outstanding work you and your company has done...

# posted by Greg : 11:53 AM, July 18, 2006

This is a damn sad thing.
MS acquired a lot of companies in the past, and I cannot think of a product where the MS-branded version was suprior (or at least on the same level) than the original versions.

You were one of those guys that were pro-MS but on the other hand were still able to see where MS does badly (and either make the issues public or even fill the gaps).
But mow you idependence is gone.

Will you be allowed to write about topics like "DRM rootkits" or will you follow the MS line to keep quiet (and not even detect that rootkit with AntiSpyware/Defender)?

# posted by Anonymous : 11:55 AM, July 18, 2006

Microsoft will be fortunate to acquire such talent. We (developers) however, will lose the objectivity and truth from your tools as MS will certainly filter both of you and your tools in short time.

I probably would have taken the money too, you both are certainly worth it.

# posted by Anonymous : 12:06 PM, July 18, 2006

Congratulations , love your products hopefully we see alot of them in future resource kits.

# posted by Flemming Riis : 12:13 PM, July 18, 2006

Sigh, say goodbye to:

- This independant site
- These critical utilites
- Your personal integrity

Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow, but soon.

A sad announcement for everyone except a certain two persons accountants.

# posted by Anonymous : 12:17 PM, July 18, 2006

Mark, you are certainly the most talented hacker of MS software I've ever had the pleasure of watching work (I saw you do some amazing things at TechEd). I am sure you gave this a lot of thought prior to making the decision and I am sure you will bring good things to Microsoft. Maybe you will get MS to consider open sourcing the freeware tools. Best of Luck.

# posted by Anonymous : 12:21 PM, July 18, 2006

Mark -

Your tools are second to none, and Microsoft is lucky to have you. With you on their side, Windows might become an operating system I would be willing to install on my home PC.

- Omar

# posted by Anonymous : 12:24 PM, July 18, 2006

good job, ladies

# posted by Poopy McPoop : 12:28 PM, July 18, 2006

Lets hope you can bring about change to the microsoft way of ruining great poducts it assimilates. Congrats

# posted by Anonymous : 12:29 PM, July 18, 2006

Congratulations guys! Now maybe my Company's Websense will allow me to download your utilities at work. :-)

# posted by Anonymous : 12:33 PM, July 18, 2006

Mark's Sysinternals Blog

On My Way to Microsoft!

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