Mark Russinovich: On Working at Microsoft, Windows Server 2008 Kernel, MinWin vs ServerCore, HyperV,

Posted By: Charles | Dec 14th, 2007 @ 11:01 AM

I recently sat down with Technical Fellow and SysInternals founder Mark Russinovich to dig a bit into what's new in the Windows Server 2008 kernel. Of course, we talk about many things including HyperV, application virtualization, kernel architecture (not everybody defines an OS kernel in the same way - tune in to understand why this is the case. Mark has his own definition that may not be the same as yours....).

Recently, the MinWin project was in the press after a university video lecture by a Microsoft Windows architect was released on the net. Most people confuse MinWin with Windows Server 2008's ServerCore technology - the confusion stems from the incorrect assumption that ServerCore is a byproduct of the MinWin work. In fact, they are not at all related. Mark explains the differences and hopefully this will end the confusion...

Of course, Mark spends time on the whiteboard in this interview, drawing out the kernel architecture, explaining HyperV, touching on application virtualization (running client applications without having to install them locally - tune in to understand what I mean...).

Channel 9 is and has always been about showcasing the humans behind our technologies in addition to drilling into how we make our products, and of course why we do what we do (in a technical sense). Mark is a huge addition to the Windows family and his technical leadership is already being felt throughout buildings 26 and 43. Mark tells me about how life is going inside the Mothership, what a Techincal Fellow is (it's the highest level of engineering career stage at Microsoft), individual contribution versus management, and more.

As always, it's an honor and pleasure to spend time talking with Mark. He's one of our brightest technical minds and Windows architecture is in very good hands.

Enjoy.

Tags: Architecture, Kernel, Virtualization, Windows Server, Windows Vista

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TimP

This showing up just made by day. Big Smile The last interview with Mark is one of my top three favorite videos of all time on C9.

Charles

TimP wrote:

This showing up just made by day.

What are the other 2?
C

PS: This is a great conversation. Very deep in parts and very revealing. Perfect Channel 9 content. Mark is hero to many!

AthemeX

I defenatly agree.. it is always great to watch Mark talk about interesting stuff.. he knows so much Smiley

littleguru

*downloading right now* Smiley

This was really a cool and refreshing interview. I liked it!

dot_tom

Wonderful interview. Between them, .NET and Channel 9 are big factors behind my loyalty to the Windows platform. Great technology, great supporting tools and a second-to-none community. Dev Heaven Big Smile

I wonder what C9 has lined up for us as we approach the end of the year?

Jerrold

Fantastic conversation Mark and Charles. Good job not bogging down on the complex points. Great job summarizing the technology!

figuerres

Great chat, I may have to run it a 2nd time as I had stuff going on the first time Smiley

Mark: can you please check on / possibly talk about:

1) 64 bit WIndows on the desktop - for example the apps that would benifit from a 64 bit version but are not yet generaly published due to the lack of consumers with a 64 bit OS and the whole "chicken and the egg" thing, IE more OS and system boards would drive more apps etc....

2) vitulaization of apps on the desktop -- say some corp has a clunky old DOS app they need to keep running or some other app that just will not play well with vista. will the "Grid" stuff help ? can we get a VM that runs the app in a window so it "just works" after setup so that the user does not have to know about using a VM ?

3) Virtual PC futures: for example a lot of folks asked MSFT via connect for a few things that were not done and IMHO should be. for example some kind of better support for Video, I am not talking about a fancy GPU emulator for D3D but just a newer alternate to the old S3 support that creates issues for Linux for example. also there are some issues for large displays > 1600x1000 and full screen , USB devices -- say I need to test an app that uses a USB printer that uses OPOS ( Ole for Point of Sale) seems that VPC can not handle that.

Thanks!

Tom Servo

Since everyone's still harping about MinWin, here's an interesting question: Do we ever get a native text mode "server core"? As in no graphics mode, no window manager, no nothing, just that to keep the server core stuff running.

jonahb

Would be more pleasant without Charles' frequent interruptions: "Excellent! Absolutely! Cool!" Be quiet and let the man speak.