and for free to boot, it took a big and well overdue step in the right direction. It may have cost the company in certain tangential ways (including creating an unintended benchmark by which its subsequent OS releases are still being compared), but it proved to many a doubting Thomas - myself included* - that Microsoft was coming to their senses and finally getting serious about improving core security.
It was as timely a move as focusing energies and inertia on the browser a decade earlier. It also prefaced the arrival and acceptance of Windows 7 (after that premature burp known as Vista junior), in that it set the proper tone. I applaud any efforts MS makes to build on Allchin's security initiative. Vista and Win7 are welcomed steps in the right direction when it comes to improving platform protections.
[* If it hadn't been for the arrival and ultimate impact of the SP2 initiative, I was prepared to advise clients to consider throwing in the towel and seeking more secure operating platforms with the growing "threatscape" that was emerging circa 2003-2004. Up to that point the Swiss brick known as Windows coupled with IE was simply no match for comprimization and pwnage, even when locked down].
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