If the name Mark Russinovich sounds familiar, that's because he's been a regular figure here at Migration Expert Zone. First he hosted a roundtable about Vista deployment, then dissected the Windows 7 UAC, and finally went back to the roundtable table for a discussion of application compatibility through virtualization.

Okay, so just who is this Russinovich guy, and what's he talking about now? Well, among other things, he's a Microsoft Technical Fellow, and he played a prominent role in the development of Windows 7. Paul Thurrott, of Paul Thurrott's SuperSite for Windows fame, interviewed Russinovich shortly after the new OS launched.

It's a fascinating and revealing interview, one you'll definitely want to read. Here's an excerpt:

Paul Thurrott: So then from a general perspective of IT pros, what are the big benefits you see for Windows 7? What are their reasons to migrate to Windows 7?

Mark Russinovich: There are a few big benefits that will come when you pull in [Windows] Server 2008 R2. So there's a big benefit, but it's also a fairly good-sized investment to get to that benefit--things like BranchCache and Direct Access. If you look at just the Windows 7 client itself, you get a more efficient system, and the fact that end-users can do things more efficiently--they're happier with UI changes. So there are a whole bunch of little things--the troubleshooting packs, which you can custom write and a whole bunch built in. The Resource Monitor is vastly improved over what was in Windows Vista--in fact, it seems like a lot of the Sysinternals-type functionality up to a certain point.

It's a fairly lengthy interview, but as you can see, the conversation's pure gold. Be sure to check it out.

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