I think we are going to get a stach of rumourmongering for at least a year now -mostly speculative.
I hadn't come across the name "Traut" before the demo. Either he was misunderstood, knew what he was saying, or misworded his presentation. - take your pick.
Most of the current Internet statements can be tracked back to that single APC mag blog.
Fwiw. Here is another point of view (read "rumour")
Is MinWin really the new Windows 7 kernel? | Ed Bott’s Microsoft Report | ZDNet.com Makes sense.
From my own amateur viewpoint, If they want to make it faster, then the Kernel will have to be sliced. However, as I understand it, Minwin does not have a GUI. "Windows" without a GUI - that's an anomaly!
I have read also, somewhere, that another rumoured proposal is that several of the small utilities etc, that make Windows a complete desktop, will be dropped with the option to buy the add-ons. This will also make it faster, of course - to out loss.
P.S (Bit Later)
I found this. Definitely Traut was oand taken out of context. Nowhere did he state that Minwin would be the new core for windows 7. Almost the opposite, in fact. It is the stripped down, start from scratch, inhouse kernel, on which they are now building. Hopefully all the suggestions of a faster OS will be met though, with this approach.
http://www.istartedsomething.com/20071019/eric-talk-demo-windows-7-minwin/