I have no idea about the Windows version, but the Linux version works completely standalone.
I wouldn't say I'm skilled at all. It just happened to be bundled with the SDK, and seemed like it would be helpful.
I more or less just figured out what was important in the output and figured out a way to directly compare results.
Having actual runtime data seems like it would be more helpful than the projections the kernel analyzer gives you.

-Una

Diapolo:
Have you tried using the APP Profiler for actual execution stats?
I've found it to be a much better way of comparing different kernel versions.
The method I've used is:

• Run it for a fixed period of time. Just a couple minutes is fine.
• Open up the csv output in a spreadsheet.
• Average the ALUBusy then the  ALUPacking columns.
• Convert the averages from percent to decimal (99.42 to .9942) and multiply them together.
• Multiply that number by the device SP count. (5770=800, 5870=1600, 6950=1400, 6970=1536, etc..)
• Divide by ALUInsts.

Now you have a number (for that specific device only) which paints a more complete picture of actual performance.
This also shows how (but not why) the last couple versions have performed slower on 69xx.
While the number of executed instructions have gone down, the overall SP utilization has also gone down.

-Una