I don't think he disabused too many people of their skepticism about Windows security with his rhetoric, but he at least put the issue in perspective. "At this stage we have learned a lot more about security than anybody else in world, and we need to focus in on a few things," Ballmer said. At the top of his list: engineering fewer vulnerabilities into software and educating users on how to stay more secure. He also equivocated on Bill Gates' statement that security would not be a top three priority for Microsoft two years from now. "We expect to make a boatload of progress in the next two years. Whether the statement is true or not remains to be seen. It expresses Bill's fundamental optimism about the good work he thinks we are doing in this area--if we don't get there, we will keep it [security] as a top priority until it doesn't need to be there anymore," Ballmer said.

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