On Tuesday, Microsoft announced it has acquired Winternals Software, a small maker of Windows utility programs, in a deal that the software maker hopes will add key technical talent to its operating system development team.
Terms of the deal to acquire the Austin, Texas-based company were not announced. Among the software that Winternals offers is a set of freely downloadable tools known as Sysinternals.
In buying Winternals, Microsoft is getting the company"s free tools, its Sysinternals community Web site as well as several paid-for software products for businesses. However, it appears Microsoft made the deal, in large part, to hire the company"s two co-founders.
"It"s definitely about talent," Platform and Services division architect Jason Garms said in a telephone interview on Tuesday. "Mark is one of the top five or 10 people in the world when it comes to Windows internals."