Microsoft's plans to ship the final public patches for Windows XP on April 8 could undo its hard-won reputation for security and hurt itself as much as the customers who end up with an infected XP system.



Von Computerworld:

A decade ago, Microsoft kicked off SDL, or Security Development Lifecycle, a now-widely-adopted process designed to bake security into software, and began building what has become an unmatched reputation in how a vendor writes more secure code, keeps customers informed about security issues, and backs that up with regular patches.

But the Redmond, Wash. company, which just touted SDL's 10-year history with a flashy, anecdote-filled online presentation, seems willing to risk torching that hard-won reputation by pulling the plug on Windows XP.

  Perspective: Microsoft risks security reputation ruin by retiring XP